When is the addition of new IPTC extensions for Artwork Depicted expected?

[Damit]

Hello,

I have been very pleased with the program, especially as it seems to be highly customizable and includes many of the tagging extensions not found in other similar applications. I have just begun to scratch the surface, but so far I must give Mario (my namesake) kudos for his work.  The price is a little high, but, in the end, it is probably a great value.

Anyhow, I stumbled on this software by searching through the IPTC database of programs that work with IPTC. It was one of the few that included Artwork Circa Date, which was instrumental in tagging photos of Artwork.  However, there are a few tags from the Artwork Depicted set, found here: https://sites.google.com/site/culturalheritagemetadata/home/iptc/artwork-or-object-depicted, that are not found in IMatch, such as AOSylePeriod, AOContributionDescription, AOPhysicalDescription & AOContentDescription. Arte there plans to incorporate these into IMatch?  Is there a protocol or method in place covering the addition of metadata as it is developed, such as where I can expect a metadata to be added to the program?

[Mario]

Hi, welcome to IMatch.

The price is a little high, but, in the end, it is probably a great value.

Compared to other pro-grade DAMs which can cost thousands of dollars purchased or hundreds of dollars per year for a subscription, IMatch is dirt cheap. I think it is worth every penny and I'm sure you will agree after using IMatch for a while.

When I use the Tag Manager to search for Artwork tags in the IPTC XMP standard, I find 18 tags, including ArtworkStylePeriod, ArtworkContributionDescription, ArtworkPhysicalDescription etc.

IMatch just does not have a Metadata Panel layout which includes these tags.
Frankly, I have never heard about these tags before, which means they are not widely used by the IMatch user base. There are so many different XMP namespaces and the IPTCExt namespace alone has almost 300 tags these days.

1. If the metadata in your files already has values in these tags (metadata fields), IMatch will show the data when you switch the Metadata Panel to the Browser layout (see Metadata Browser in the IMatch Help System).

2. To comfortably see and edit values for these special tags, just create a new Metadata Panel layout containing the tags you are interested in. Or duplicate an existing layout and add the tags from the Artwork section you want to see and edit.

See Metadata Panel Layouts for more information and instructions. Let us know if need assistance with this.

3.  All tags supported by IMatch are available for all tag-related functions and variables. This means you can display the data, search for it, sort by it, output it in the Batch Processor or Design & Print etc.

[Damit]

Thank you for the quick response.  I will try to learn how to do this, but upon reading the section you linked, I did not see how I could add a tag that was not on your pre-defined list.  I created custom panels, but I did not see these tags on the list from which I could include in the panel.  Can I just write them in?  If so, please tell me where to find the instruction to do this.

As far as my comment about the price, I did say it will probably turn out to be a good value.   It is just as an amateur hobbyist (albeit a fastidious one at that), who is just doing this on the side, it is a big up-front cost. Of course, if I was a professional it would be a bargin!  Yes, there are others that are much more expensive, prohibitively so, but there are others that are less expensive or free (the product I was trying right before this one is free and had features some paid products did not). Still, there is a reason why I am trying it out.

Usually, I end up donating to free and cheap programs as I finds them useful.  For example, I have given MP3Tag at least $200 over the past 2 years because it is so useful, so considering that, I am sure this program will be found to have a good value.  I just have to discover everything it can do! The Tag Manager function looks promising. Now I just have to figure out if I can input strings for propagate tags from other tags or file data.

Once I have a good grasp of everything, I will write a review because I would want to keep a good thing going. I do believe in supporting software that makes one's life easier.

[Damit]

I tried but I could not find how to add it to my custom panel, so in the end I just copied the IPTC all panel to my custom panel and just deleted the terms I did not want. It was a dirty work around.  Was I doing something wrong?  I could not find these fields if I just try to customize a panel and do not start with IPTC all.

[thrinn]

It is really not complicated. Assuming you are in the Panel Layout editor of the metadata panel, you can create a new custom panel in one of the available Panel Layouts. I prefer to use my own (TRn Default), but you can also extend one of the standard ones.

• Create a new custom panel.
• On the right hand side, click on the plus sign to jump into the Tag Selector.

In the tag selector, I used the "Search all tags" tab. Enter "artwork" as a search string. Depending on the data in your database, you might have to disable the "Show only tags with data" option. (I had because I don't have any files with Artwork tags). This should give you a list of all matching tags. Then you can just double-click them to get them into the "Selected tags" section at the bottom. Leave the tag selector with OK, and the tags will be available in your own metadata layout.

[Damit]

Aha! That pesky "show only tags with data" box! That did the trick.  Thank you so much for pointing that out!

[Damit]

OK, it is DIRT CHEAP.  Just spent 2.5 hours reading and just the documentation alone is worth the cost. Thank you, Mario! This program seems to be what I have been wishing for. Bye Bye Lightroom, ACDSee, Zoner, Bridge, XNViewMP and others, you may serve other uses but this is THE DAM application for me. I will write a review, but only after I get a chance to get a better grasp on what I have here.  That may take a while because this program does so damn much!

[sinus]

OK, it is DIRT CHEAP.  Just spent 2.5 hours reading and just the documentation alone is worth the cost. Thank you, Mario! This program seems to be what I have been wishing for. Bye Bye Lightroom, ACDSee, Zoner, Bridge, XNViewMP and others, you may serve other uses but this is THE DAM application for me. I will write a review, but only after I get a chance to get a better grasp on what I have here.  That may take a while because this program does so damn much!

Good luck with IMatch! 
I am sure, you will be pleased, how much you can do with this great program. 

[Mario]

Aha! That pesky "show only tags with data" box! That did the trick.  Thank you so much for pointing that out!

Was this enabled for your installation? It should be off by default (to exactly avoid this confusion).
I've looked at the code and it looks OK, the "Show only tags with data" should be off initially.

[Damit]

I think it was set this way.  I do like to tinker with things before I should, so maybe I changed it. Unfortunately, I am not sure. If I get a chance, I will install it in another computer and see if it is clicked or not.

[Mario]

I have verified this and the default indeed was wrong.
The TagManager uses this with default off, but the Tag Selector did not. I have corrected this.

Since this was the case for many years, I give this a "low impact" rating and include the change in a later IMatch version.