Exclude files from being handled as masters

[Schmidtze]

Hi,

I'm working with file relations and my file structurer is something like this:

|_RAW
| |_YYYY
|   |_YYYY-MM <shoot name 1>
|   |_YYYY-MM <shoot name 2>
|     |_location 1
|     |_location 2
|_Final
  |_YYYY
    |_YYYY-MM <shoot name 1>
    |_YYYY-MM <shoot name 2>
      |_location 1
      |_location 2

(also described in this topic: https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?topic=191.msg1027#msg1027)

In my RAW folders I also have JPEGs, shot for example by cameras which didn't create RAW files. So I have to include JPEGs also in my "Master Expression" for Versioning Detection: \.(dng|jpg|tif)$

The problem is now, that JPEG files in my Final folder (the folder which contains all versions exported by Lightroom) will be handled now also as Masters if there are other JPEGs which match to my Link Expression ("^(_*{name})(_[\w+\-]*)?\.(jpg)$").

So the question: Is it possible to prevent handling/identifying these JPEG files as master files? Master files are only located in the folder RAW and its subfolders??? I simply need the possibility to exclude the folder "Final" from being searched for master files.

Best regards
Friedemann

[Schmidtze]

Here you can see a screenshot of my versioning settings....

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Schmidtze]

Here you can see a screenshot of my problem: The 3 files in the red box are all versions of a DNG file in another folder. But my versioning identifies the first image as a master, which is wrong...

Best regards
Friedemann

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[P.Jones]

Hi,

I'm working with file relations and my file structurer is something like this:

|_RAW
| |_YYYY
|   |_YYYY-MM <shoot name 1>
|   |_YYYY-MM <shoot name 2>
|     |_location 1
|     |_location 2
|_Final
  |_YYYY
    |_YYYY-MM <shoot name 1>
    |_YYYY-MM <shoot name 2>
      |_location 1
      |_location 2

(also described in this topic: https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?topic=191.msg1027#msg1027)

In my RAW folders I also have JPEGs, shot for example by cameras which didn't create RAW files. So I have to include JPEGs also in my "Master Expression" for Versioning Detection: \.(dng|jpg|tif)$

The problem is now, that JPEG files in my Final folder (the folder which contains all versions exported by Lightroom) will be handled now also as Masters if there are other JPEGs which match to my Link Expression ("^(_*{name})(_[\w+\-]*)?\.(jpg)$").

So the question: Is it possible to prevent handling/identifying these JPEG files as master files? Master files are only located in the folder RAW and its subfolders??? I simply need the possibility to exclude the folder "Final" from being searched for master files.

Best regards
Friedemann

If you have JPG as Masters I think you may have to rename your master JPGs to something like 2012-08-23-155640m.jpg

Your version setting would then be something like the file below jpgs.png

If your masters are DNG files you could just use

\.(DNG)$

as the master expression.





[attachment deleted by admin]

[Ferdinand]

I am fairly sure that this has been discussed before.  There are some folder structures that make it hard to get file relations to work in IMatch 5 at present.  I spend some time testing this, but it was some time ago.  I think your JPG master case is the same, more or less. 

I don't recall all the details as I'm not personally affected by this issue - all my versions are in sub-folders of the master.  (In fact I used to use your folder structure, but early in the beta testing I reorganised all my folders because it was clear to me that this would be much easier to use in IMatch, although I didn't really realise at the time just how much easier!!)

I haven't tried to search, but I think that there is a feature request in somewhere to restrict masters to a group of folders, or something like that, in order to deal with this.

Part of the issue is that IMatch searches through files and folders in a particular order, and the first file it finds that has versions that fit the file relations definitions is defined as a master, and there can only be one master.  So in your JPG case it's clear that IMatch is finding the JPGs in the Final branch before it finds the one in the RAW branch, and whamo.  I think it does this because "Final" comes before "RAW" alphabetically, although again, I don't recall the details and so I can't be sure.

Afterthought:  I found the thread where this was being discussed.   I haven't reread it all (too long) but it may be helpful.

https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?topic=1414.0

Also, as P Jones just noted, naming your versions a bit differently may also help.  That may be mentioned in the older thread.

[DigPeter]

I am no expert in versioning, but (at the risk of being shot down) I would have thought that removing "|jpg" from the Master Expression would do the trick.  That is,if you never want a jpg to be master.

[Schmidtze]

Many many thanks to you both (now 3) for your help!!! I read it already in the help file, that it is not possible to exclude files from being handled as masters - by excluding a whole folder branch for example. I see, I have to think about renaming maybe all the master files by adding a special extension. I do not want to do it with the version files. I have to think about how to do it, as I'm working on the RAW files also with Lightroom. Renaming them in IMatch will lead to not existing files in Lightroom and vice versa 

As far as I see by now, in my opinion the option to exclude folders for master files has to be implemented in IMatch, all other ways are a kind of workarounds which may be combined with a lot of work for the user. As far as I understand this option has been added somewhere to the wishlist, so I won't do it again...

I am no expert in versioning, but (at the risk of being shot down) I would have thought that removing "|jpg" from the Master Expression would do the trick.  That is,if you never want a jpg to be master.

yes, of course that's right. But I also have JPEGs in my RAW folder which have to be handled as masters - as mentioned above already  . These JPEGs have been shot for example by cameras which didn't create RAW images, for example mobile devices. But I'm collecting all these images also in my RAW folder for developing them with Lightroom.

Best regards
Friedemann

[Schmidtze]

As I just see, it seems that my problem is solved very easily, also by reading the linked thread above, thank you Ferdinand. After refreshing the relations only on my RAW-folder, all wrong masters have been removed from my Final-folder. So this is acceptable for me at the moment  But I still think that an additional option needs to be implemented to avoid problems, misunderstandings etc...

Best regards
Friedemann

[Schmidtze]

Rescanning the RAW folder will do it also. But one have to think about it all the time, as rescanning the folder containing the versions will always switch back some versions to masters...

[DigPeter]

I am no expert in versioning, but (at the risk of being shot down) I would have thought that removing "|jpg" from the Master Expression would do the trick.  That is,if you never want a jpg to be master.

yes, of course that's right. But I also have JPEGs in my RAW folder which have to be handled as masters - as mentioned above already  . These JPEGs have been shot for example by cameras which didn't create RAW images, for example mobile devices. But I'm collecting all these images also in my RAW folder for developing them with Lightroom.

Best regards
Friedemann

Sorry, Friedman, I did not read your OP thoroughly.  I too have similar problems which I am hoping will be solved in a future issue of IM5.  Before I adopted a date based file naming system, many unrelated files were given similar names.  For instance:  I have a file Greece1001, taken on one trip and in another folder from another trip, a series beginning Greece100010, 100011 etc.  All the latter are automatically marked as versions of Greece1001.  I am at present getting around this by renaming any such masters when I find them.

[Schmidtze]

Before I adopted a date based file naming system, many unrelated files were given similar names.  For instance:  I have a file Greece1001, taken on one trip and in another folder from another trip, a series beginning Greece100010, 100011 etc. 

I'm renaming all my image files depending on the taken date for years now (e.g. 2014-10-22-195627.jpg) and for me it's the best way to get each image file identifiable - for checking the filename visually, for sorting and also mixing several image files together.

Best regards
Friedemann

[DigPeter]

I'm renaming all my image files depending on the taken date for years now (e.g. 2014-10-22-195627.jpg) and for me it's the best way to get each image file identifiable - for checking the filename visually, for sorting and also mixing several image files together.

Best regards
Friedemann

I agree that is the best solution. I just have too many files and too little time - perhaps one day.

[Ferdinand]

But I still think that an additional option needs to be implemented to avoid problems, misunderstandings etc...

I thought that there was a feature request made for this.  But glancing through that long thread I can't see a reference to it.  Perhaps you could make one Friedemann.  Your views would carry some weight.

I'd also like to thank you for all your work on Geosetter, which I still use a lot, despite the capabilities of IMatch 5.