Changed directory names. How to update catalogs?

[larschristian]

I've changed my home folder name, and then of course ASP catalogs don't find my master files anymore. This is solved for now by creating a symlink, and that works fine. However I'd like to fix the catalogs to point to the correct paths. Is there a smooth way to do this.

I could of course write XMP's for all my catalogs and then recreate them, but this will take some time and trigger all the xmp's to be backed up again next time I sync my backup disks. I suspect this is what I'll end up doing...

The best would be if the catalog could just reference to ~/Pictures/ instead of the whole path /home/lars/Pictures.

Using moveable path doesn't seem to solve my problem either as I'm only accessing the files from one machine.

Any suggestions?

[afx]

What is the problem with movable paths?

cheers
afx

[larschristian]

By your comment I suspect the problem with moveable paths must be that I havn't understood how to use them. The help files didn't make sense to me for my situation...

[afx]

You can basically tell AS a new base location for images, so that should work.

cheers
afx

[binoyte]

You can also export your catalogue to xmp file, and then rebuild a new one.

[coolrat]

I am having a very similar problem.
Using ASP's File System Browser, I imported a number of folders into the Library.
Later, also using ASP's File System Browser, I changed the name of a folder. I expected that the folder name in the Library Catalogue would automatically change as well. But it didn't.
I then imported the folder with the new name into the Library Catalogue.

But now I have the original and the new one:
Original: 2013_01_Jan_19
New: 2013_01_Jan_19 Chilling at Xierqi home

When I click on the original folder, thumbnails appear with a red question mark on them.
When I click on the new folder, the thumbnails are normal

Now the problem is that in the Library Catalogue, I cannot delete the original folder. It seems there is no way to delete it, or to get ASP to rebuild the Library.
How do I fix this? Thanks very much!

[coolrat]

Any ideas on how to fix this?
My one Catalogue is now full of messed-up folder names- the names of the folders BEFORE I renamed the folders by using ASP's File System Browser.
Do I have to totally delete the entire Library and start again?

[afx]

Do I have to totally delete the entire Library and start again?

Yes ;-(

cheers
afx

[coolrat]

Hi AFX,
Hahaha.. thanks for your reply! You seem to know the answer to all ASP questions!

You mean there's really no way to fix it? I can't somehow rebuild it? Or delete the incorrect/outdated Library entries?
That's really a dumb design flaw. There ought to be a way to avoid such a simple, yet catastrophic loss of the user's hundreds of hours of edits and work.

[afx]

You seem to know the answer to all ASP questions!

I wish...
(see signature)

You mean there's really no way to fix it? I can't somehow rebuild it? Or delete the incorrect/outdated Library entries?
That's really a dumb design flaw. There ought to be a way to avoid such a simple, yet catastrophic loss of the user's hundreds of hours of edits and work.

The catalog system was never really fully fleshed out. Toy level at max ;-(
I do not use any permanent catalogs. Sometimes they are useful for specific tasks, but my main DB is a real DAM (iMatch).

cheers
afx

[coolrat]

Thanks for your reply.
This is indeed frustrating. I need a tool that will enable me to catalogue (add keywords and tags), do some RAW edits, to my collections so I can find photos for my various research projects.
I spent the last 2 days studying ASP and being amazed by its Library feature (which I had previously ignored), but today was dismayed to find that it can be broken so incredibly easily.

I have downloaded iMatch and will try it out. Are iMatch and PhotoNinja comparable products? I'm really lost now!
Should I drop ASP and avoid spending hundreds of hours performing edits, adding keywords, and adopt the use of something better? But what is a better tool?

Many of us appreciate your fast, accurate replies!

[afx]

I have downloaded iMatch and will try it out.

It has a long steep learning curve.
But it is extremely powerful.

Are iMatch and PhotoNinja comparable products?

One is a DAM, the other a RAW converter.
You might say they are complementary, not comparable.

Should I drop ASP and avoid spending hundreds of hours performing edits, adding keywords, and adopt the use of something better? But what is a better tool?

That is the prize winning question.

Currently I can not honestly recommend AS, as everything I see coming out of Corel is just negative.
No new cameras supported for 8 months now and all the cam support was done by the old team before Corel fired them.
No bug fixes or enhancement since the old team is out apart from partly working OpenCL support which introduces problems for some plugins, but no communication with the plugin authors from Corel.
The latest update which just starts to ship removes Noise Ninja and does not provide a suitable replacement.
And all of this without any statement form Corel apart from marketing vapors half a year ago...
Trusting in Corel to do anything sensible obviously becomes an issue of extreme faith now.

cheers
afx

[coolrat]

Am I correct in understanding that iMatch doesn't have any RAW converter/editing functions? It is mainly just a powerful DAM tool?
Thanks AFX, your post forced me to go online and do more reading yet. I've been really out of touch with photo-editing and organizing tools.

I think what drew me to ASP was its ability to both serve as a DAM and as a photo-editing and organizing tool.

Does Photo Ninja have reasonably-developed DAM capabilities that will allow me to categorize and search through my photos as well as be allow me to edit and convert RAW photos?
The developers of Photo Ninja replied in a letter to me today that they are examining the market needs and are considering a Linux release.

I'm pretty new to this. I purchased ASP many months ago, believing it would be the solution to my photo workflow and cataloguing issues. But now it seems its creating more problems than it might solve. And I must figure out which tool will suit me best. I might just hang on and see what happens with ASP. Certainly Corel sold many thousands of licenses!

[afx]

Am I correct in understanding that iMatch doesn't have any RAW converter/editing functions? It is mainly just a powerful DAM tool?

Yes.

Does Photo Ninja have reasonably-developed DAM capabilities that will allow me to categorize and search through my photos

No DAM capabilities at all.

cheers
afx

[coolrat]

I am certainly learning a lot these days!

The makers of PhotoNinja said I might try using Adobe Photoshop Elements for cataloguing (as a DAM tool), and use PhotoNinja for image editing.

Would your recommend using iMatch or Adobe Photoshop Elements as my DAM tool?

You have far more experience and have undoubtedly tried out many different tools.
Since you are using iMatch, I guess you must have many good reasons. Why did you chose iMatch?
I want to use tools that are stable, and will be around a long time, considering I invest so much time and effort into organizing and cataloging photos.

I'm using Windows now, but can envisage a day when I switch back to Linux. Basically I try to use software that is cross-platform (Win, Linux, Mac) to prepare for the day I switch.