Visual proxy

[DigPeter]

What is a visual proxy?

[ChrisMatch]

Sorry for not answering your question directly but: Have you read about it in the help and don't understand a certain aspect? If yes, which one?

[DigPeter]

Sorry for not answering your question directly but: Have you read about it in the help and don't understand a certain aspect? If yes, which one?

I first came across it in the Versioning help, but then did a search on teh the term and looked at all the 8 or so results.  Nowhere is the term explained.  I realise it is probably rather basic, but some of us are not technically literate.

[ChrisMatch]

This is what the help says about "Visual Proxy"
A visual proxy ('As Visual') is used instead of the master file whenever the file is to be displayed, e.g., in the Viewer, the Slide Show or the Quick View Panel.

Visual proxies are helpful in the following situations:

RAW Processors
You work with a RAW processor. Usually the changes made to a RAW file are only visible within the RAW processor unless you export the RAW with these changes to a TIFF or JPEG file. Many RAW processors offer a feature to export a JPEG file for the RAW which renders the RAW image as you see it in the RAW processor itself. These files are written to the same folder as the RAW.

If you setup a relation definition which links this JPEG to the RAW and enable the visual proxy option, IMatch will use the JPEG file when it creates the thumbnail or displays the RAW in the Viewer or the Preview panel. The image will look exactly in IMatch as in your RAW processor.

File formats IMatch cannot display
Another typical use for visual proxies is when IMatch cannot extract an image from the master because it does not understand the format. IMatch can still manage the master file, but cannot produce a visual representation from it. It only displays the icon associated with the unsupported format.

If you can produce an image from the master in another application (e.g. by exporting the unsupported file to a JPEG image), IMatch can use this JPEG image as the source instead and thus display the master file as well.

So with versioning you can define a relation between to images.
One is the master (e.g. your RAW file) one is the version (e.g. a JPG that represents the final image after doing your edits).
If you activate a version to act as a "visual proxy" then iMatch can display this JPG (the Version) instead of the RAW (the master).
So you can look at your RAW images but you will see how your final image looks like.

[DigPeter]

Chris, thank you for that.  In which Help did you find this?  I have great difficulty in finding stuff there - it is so comprehensive and large - pin and haystack syndrome.

[ChrisMatch]

Glad I was able to help 

Mario mentioned somewhere that he is trying hard to get the index up to date and useful.
So the index is a good starting point to search for typical iMatch terms.

Help -> Index -> "Visual Proxy" >> gives me one entry and two topics that contain this term
and on the page "File Relations: Versioning" you can find the text (at the bottom)

[cytochrome]

If I may risk a personal opinion (for what it's worth ) using a jpg proxy is a much simpler and space saving way than resorting to DNG to see ones edits in IMatch.

For me DNG is not a choice because ASP, my raw converter does not handle DNG, but even if it could I would use the jpg as a proxy. Of course there may be other reasons to use DNG...

And, as Sinus says in an other post, just a click shows the raw and jpg together, interesting comparison..

Francis

[DigPeter]

Glad I was able to help 

Mario mentioned somewhere that he is trying hard to get the index up to date and useful.
So the index is a good starting point to search for typical iMatch terms.

Help -> Index -> "Visual Proxy" >> gives me one entry and two topics that contain this term
and on the page "File Relations: Versioning" you can find the text (at the bottom)

Thank you again

[DigPeter]

If there are two or more versions, how is the proxy specified or selected by IM?

[Mario]

From the File Relations help:

The order of the relation definitions in this list is important. Relations are applied in the order they appear in this list. The last definition found matching "wins". This allows you to specialize relations, aka to handle version chains. Usually you don't need this but it is supported for special cases.

[DigPeter]

From the File Relations help:

The order of the relation definitions in this list is important. Relations are applied in the order they appear in this list. The last definition found matching "wins". This allows you to specialize relations, aka to handle version chains. Usually you don't need this but it is supported for special cases.

Thanks Mario.  I had read that,but did not make the connection with visual proxy.  So, if matching is by time (say 1 minute) and you have versions A1.jpg and A2.jpg in the same folder, it would be A2.jpg (being  the last) which wins?

[Mario]

The last rule which produces a match wins. I suggest you just try it out and see how it works.

[ChrisMatch]

One additional note:
If you have different rules - the last one matching wins.

If you have one rule that matches more than one file - the help file states:

Order of Versions
If there are multiple version files for the same verb, IMatch sorts the versions by file name and uses the first file for the verb. For example, you setup a relation definition to link a RAW file to JPEG files. You configure the JPEG files as a visual proxy. If the relation yields multiple JPEG files for the same master (because you have created multiple variants), IMatch uses the first JPEG after sorting all versions by file name.

This method allows you to control which file becomes the file for a specific verb by choosing appropriate file names.

If you really have read the whole section about 'Visual Proxies' but didn't understand how it works
I suspect that Mario would be interested in how to improve the help.

[DigPeter]

One additional note:
If you have different rules - the last one matching wins.

Ah - as I read it, this quote does not refer to visual proxies, it does not appear under the heading "Visual proxy" and it seems to contradict  the next quote.

If you have one rule that matches more than one file - the help file states:

Order of Versions
If there are multiple version files for the same verb, IMatch sorts the versions by file name and uses the first file for the verb. For example, you setup a relation definition to link a RAW file to JPEG files. You configure the JPEG files as a visual proxy. If the relation yields multiple JPEG files for the same master (because you have created multiple variants), IMatch uses the first JPEG after sorting all versions by file name.

This method allows you to control which file becomes the file for a specific verb by choosing appropriate file names.

Yes - I had read this, but not fully understood it.  I am coming at this fresh, with minimal experience in the dark art of versioning.  What is a "verb" in this context?  I assume it is not the grammatical sense a word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, ..... .  Neither does the quote specifically apply to visual proxy.
Edit I think the penny has dropped about "verb".  Is this a transliteration problem - would "Action" be more appropriate?

If you really have read the whole section about 'Visual Proxies' but didn't understand how it works
I suspect that Mario would be interested in how to improve the help.

Once I am more clear about this, I might attempt a re-draft of this section.

[Mario]

If you have comments or suggestions about Help topics, please use the official way: Click on the link at the bottom of the help page so send me direct feedback. This goes into another queue which helps me a bit.

[ChrisMatch]

Once I am more clear about this, I might attempt a re-draft of this section.

I think this would be a great help for other users.

[DigPeter]

If you have comments or suggestions about Help topics, please use the official way: Click on the link at the bottom of the help page so send me direct feedback. This goes into another queue which helps me a bit.

Done that.