a) ASP edits disappeared; b) Jump to LR or OpenSource?

[coolrat]

Months ago, I excitedly bought Aftershot Pro finding it on sale, and dreaming that I'd one day soon move back to Linux and be able to continue to use ASP

I've been happy enough with ASP, but have noticed its very slow development and that there seem to be far too many disgruntled users, whom Corel seems to largely ignore (why they would ignore users really makes me wonder).
I have two major questions:

1. I made edits to hundreds of photos. I did not use the "Library" feature because I have all my photos in a folder structure that I devised years ago and wish to continue to use. I used the "File System" to open each folder and do edits. I loved the way the non-destructive editor allowed me to make changes, and view the history of each version. But today, when I looked at photos I edited previously, the "HISTORY" docker no longer shows the step-by-step edits that I made to each photo. It only displays "initial settings". What happened? Why did the history of all the painstaking edits made to each photo simply disappear? Is there any way to avoid this from happening in the future? I still have thousands of photos I need to edit from my 4 years of field research.

2. I fear that ASP will fade away, and I'll have no way to open and edit the photos that I have painstakingly spent hundreds of hours editing. Thus, I am greatly inclined to "jump ship" to another program regardless of cost - I'm more concerned about its longevity. Can Light Room import my ASP collections and the xml files which contain the edits? Can any other program import ASP's edits?
Would DXO Optics be my best bet? Or should I start working with DarkTable in the hopes that it will develop into a truly professional tool?

If I can, I'd love to continue to use ASP. Nothing would make me happier than to hear that Corel is releasing a huge update, or even a new version.

[SteveCase]

" Can any other program import ASP's edits? "

Nope. They are ASP only, much like any other editing program. They all use different internals to process photos. So there is no common ground to work from.

[afx]

But today, when I looked at photos I edited previously, the "HISTORY" docker no longer shows the step-by-step edits that I made to each photo. It only displays "initial settings". What happened?

Works as designed.
If you do not use the catalog, only the history of the current session is maintained. If you want a persistent history, you need the use the catalog.

Why did the history of all the painstaking edits made to each photo simply disappear? Is there any way to avoid this from happening in the future? I still have thousands of photos I need to edit from my 4 years of field research.

If you think specific history steps are important, save versions with those settings.
In my >80K image collection, I never ever needed the history outside of some before after comparisons while editing.

2. I fear that ASP will fade away,

It is already dead. Corel worked really hard on killing it.

Image edits are not transferable between programs.

IQ wise PictureNinja and LR are currently your best bet.
To use Darktable you need to have totally warped brain.
UI wise they all suck major compared to AS. Inefficient and slow as molasses.

cheers
afx

[coolrat]

Thanks very much for your reply.

I just found out about PhotoNinja today after going to their website.
It doens't run on Linux it seems. I was hoping for a full-cross-platform tool so I can get away from Windows and Mac.

Its disappointing to hear there is no way to output the history of edits into another program.
But its reassuring to hear that you feel there is no need to keep a history of the edits of all your photos.

With the LIBRARY feature, am I correct in understanding that ASP will copy all of the RAW photos to the Library? That means there's I would have to copy all of my RAW to a new location and have 2 copies? That's not a very practical solution. My photo library is simply too big right now to afford another 6tb mirrored drive setup.

With some luck, Corel will not kill ASP, but take some action to save it. There must be a lot of users, and there's no similar cross-platform tool. (that's the reason I bought it). So it would seem sensible they would develop it.

[afx]

I was hoping for a full-cross-platform tool so I can get away from Windows and Mac.

AS is the only game in town.
Unless you are willing to experiment with WINE (I have LR running in WINE, needs a patch though, but it is easy to apply).

With the LIBRARY feature, am I correct in understanding that ASP will copy all of the RAW photos to the Library?

Horror, no!
It references the files in place.
And if you set up the library appropriately, AS will write XMPs so even if the library is lost, you can recover your settings (without the history

With some luck, Corel will not kill ASP, but take some action to save it. There must be a lot of users, and there's no similar cross-platform tool. (that's the reason I bought it). So it would seem sensible they would develop it.

Have you read these threads?:
http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=49584
http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=47591

I do not expect any sensible or logical action from Corel. That company is a complete mess. Nothing but hot air.

cheers
afx

[coolrat]

Thanks AFX!

Horror, no!
It references the files in place.
And if you set up the library appropriately, AS will write XMPs so even if the library is lost, you can recover your settings (without the history

How can I set it up appropriately so that I have this failsafe built-in. This sounds really very good!
If I change the names of of the photo folders, I would imagine that the LIBRARY won't be able to find it and re-index? I suppose I'd better be sure I have firmly decided on the names of the folders before I import to the LIBRARY
I thought that the LIBRARY would make an entire new copy of everything. It sounds like using the LIBRARY is idea!

A new question that I am have been trying to figure out all day, is how to add keywords to multiple photos at the same time.
I'm watching Youtube videos in an attempt to figure this out- I read the ASP manual and was having trouble figuring out how keywords and keyword grouping work. Nor could I figure out how to get keywords to apply to mutiple photos.

Thanks for your help. I'll simply hold onto the irrational hope that Corel will properly develop ASP. (I used to be a huge Corel fan back when WordPerfect was big. But switched to OpenOffice because WP did not support writing in Chinese or Japanese text and never replied to any of my emails inquiring about this)

[jakkul]

afx: I guess, that you must have the wine patch process detailed somewhere. Can you please share it with us? Does LR 4.3 run as well on it?

[afx]

How can I set it up appropriately so that I have this failsafe built-in. This sounds really very good!

Preferences->General->Allow Automatic AfterShot XMP creation

If I change the names of of the photo folders, I would imagine that the LIBRARY won't be able to find it and re-index?

Yup, re-import would be needed.

I suppose I'd better be sure I have firmly decided on the names of the folders before I import to the LIBRARY

A decent structure is generally a good Idea.
Been using
/YYYY/MM/YYYY-MM-DD-Project
for more than a decade now. Works. Scales. No fuss.
And a download queue in AS can easily put the files there without much user interaction. (Use [jobname] for project).
Try doing the same in LR for example. Totally bonkers.

A new question that I am have been trying to figure out all day, is how to add keywords to multiple photos at the same time.
I'm watching Youtube videos in an attempt to figure this out- I read the ASP manual and was having trouble figuring out how keywords and keyword grouping work. Nor could I figure out how to get keywords to apply to mutiple photos.

Select all images and then use the keyword tool and not the metadata tool.
The keyword tool works on multiple images.
(Make sure multiview is turned off!)

cheers
afx