Working with Metadata presets

[lightchaser]

Hi there,
I'm preparing for the second time to migrate vom IM 3 to 5. The first time nearly a year ago ended in a disaster! I'm not glad to do this because I have (had) a perfect workflow for my needs in IM3. But Mario convinced me to go that route. I'm still preparing the full migration of my catalogue, and I'm struggling with the new features. Would be glad to find some help:
First: should I work with the DB conversion tool (my IM3 DB ist about ten years old and I`ve a lot of categories and about 200.000 images in it) or should I go the normal route and let the software process the images and export and import categories. What are your experiences.
Second: Today I tried to set up metadata presets. I imported a folder of finished images and adapted those metadata for a special preset (e.g. Salzburg_fortress) and saved it as preset. Is this the right way? What I could not do was to bring this preset into favorites? Something wrong with my approach.
My suggestion to Mario:  make a Metadata preset a photographer can start with and easily adapt if need be so that he does'nt have to fiddle around a day and still no solution. Specialist should have all possibilities to do weird things, for others time is money! Excuse me for the straight forward words. Maybe it's just frustration ;-)
Thank you for your help.
Franz

[lightchaser]

I've to add that I plan to make Metadata presets for my main locations and that there will be a lot over time. Don't have a camera with GPS yet and my main interest with cameras is high quality sensors and not GPS and other features. I prepare the preset in an way that I only have to adapt special things of the single images.
Franz

[jch2103]

First, a disclaimer: I hadn't done much customization of my IMatch 3 database, and I simply loaded my images into a new IMatch 5 database (loading the existing metadata into the new database). So I can't offer comments on converting an IMatch 3 database to IM5.

Second a clarification of terms: Do you mean 'metadata panel layouts' when you refer to 'Metadata presets'? If you do, try the Default layout (use the dropdown in the Metadata panel). This shows you some of the most commonly used metadata tags (including GPS data); you can edit and customize it for your particular needs (e.g., delete GPS-related tags, if desired). See the gear icon in the Metadata panel to edit panel layouts.

Let us know if this is helpful or if I've misinterpreted your questions. People here are happy to assist. Also be sure to read the 'IMatch 3 to IMatch 5 Migration Guide' in the Help.

Lastly, your question should be posted in the 'General Discussion and Questions' topic of the forum. This topic is designed intended for users to post tips about how they IMatch successfully.

[lightchaser]

Thank you  jch2103,
Yes, indeed I mean Metadata panel layouts. They should replace the dozens or hundreds of location presets I have in IM3. And I'm not sure, whether IM5 can do this as good as IM3? Mario told me, that today no one would care about locations. I do! Many professional cameras don't have GPS and I don't miss it in the moment. So the customization of Metadata Presets is important for me.
My concerns: is the way I'm going to build this presets (just take the Metadata imported from IM3, adapt (delete GPS tags, insert "neutral" keywords and neutral headline for the location) okay and will I be able to easily handle those presets even if I have dozens of them? Can I make metadata favorites? Will this work?
Thank you in advance
Franz

[Mario]

Metadata Panel layouts allow you to choose from the over 14,000 metadata tags IMatch supports. This enables you to build your own metadata views, to see the metadata you are mostly interested in. The 'Default' metadata layout included in IMatch displays them most frequently used metadata tags and should be immediately useful for users working with tools like LR or other RAW processors. The 'Browser' layout shows all data in your files. I have also created other layouts for specific file formats like PDF. You can create any number of metadata panel layouts yourself.

Metadata Templates is probably what you need for your other purpose. Or, better, locations defined in the Map panel - because Salzburg sounds like you are managing location data (GPS coordinates, City, Location, Street etc.). That's what locations in IMatch 5 are for, or Metadata Templates. Also have a look at the Thesaurus topic in the IMatch 5 help system.

[lightchaser]

Thank you Mario,
maybe I'm not clear in my question: What I actually want to do is to find a way to use the Metadata Panel Layout the way the IPTC editor worked in IM3.
My try: whenever I've imported a new set of images from a location, I go to a file with similar Metadata (location, Motive) and adapt it for my needs and save it in the Metadata Panel in order to be able to easily reuse it for a bunch of images taken on this location. Of course I'll have to add specific keywords and adapt description and headline, but that way I've been working in IM3 and am used to it. My concern is, that I can't save this Presets for later use in a practical way?
Maybe there are better ways to do the Metadata way? But this step in the workflow is very important in my workflow because image libraries need valid data for their databases and I'm often in need to search for specific images in my DB and so I also do.
Any thoughts?
Franz 

[lightchaser]

Just found out that there is a problem with my approach: The time created and ... the second one will not show the actual time the image was taken but the time of that image I copied the Metadata and I was not able to find the tag that would just show the time when the image was created. Hundreds of tags but each one shows different time values, just not the time when the image was taken. Frustrating.

[Mario]

Your misunderstood what the Metadata Panel is. I think you think about the feature of the old IPTC editor in IMatch 3 which allows you to save the contents currently visible and then load them into another image?

1. IPTC metadata is dead, dead, dead and should no longer be used. It should not be used for many years, actually.
2. XMP data is a much better metadata for images you work on today. IPTC and IPTCCore and IPTCExt (the successors of the old IM3 IPTC data) are all part of XMP.
3. Don't 'think' in IPTC metadata anymore. Not unless you work for clients or agencies which still demand this legacy metadata format.

Now: The Metadata Panel is for displaying and editing metadata. You can copy metadata from one file to another within the metadata panel as well. And it has about 100 other features which I explain in the help system.

You make a new Metadata panel layout (I'm not sure what you mean when you say preset. Terms are important, else we don't understand what you mean. IMatch 5 uses certain names for certain things and I you come up with your own names, I cannot understand what you mean. If in doubt about the names of things, press <F1> to open the help. Or attach a screen shot of what you are looking at / working with.

From what I understand from your comments, I think you should use Metadata Templates. A Metadata template allows you to fill one or more metadata tags (Title, Description, GPS coordinates, City, Location and about 14,000 (!) other tags) automatically. You can create a any number of templates for any number of purposes, e.g. to fill in location data for different cities.

You can apply Metadata Templates automatically during Indexing, you can apply them via the main menu, you can apply them via the drop-down menu in the Metadata Panel, you can add them as Favorites (suggested, when you need many templates). When you create Favorites for your templates you can apply them with one click, apply them via a keyword shortcut, group them into separate Favorite panels so you can keep them organized and much more.

And, Metadata Templates don't (only) work with the abandoned legacy IPTC data, but with all metadata, including XMP, IPTC, EXIF, GPS, PDF, Office, Video, ...

Metadata Templates are, simply spoken, a much improved version of the Save/Load schema you are missing from the old IPTC editor. Did you read the For IMatch 3 users help topic yet? It's right at the top of the help system. It explains this, and many other things you may stumble upon.

[Mario]

Just found out that there is a problem with my approach: The time created and ... the second one will not show the actual time the image was taken but the time of that image I copied the Metadata and I was not able to find the tag that would just show the time when the image was created. Hundreds of tags but each one shows different time values, just not the time when the image was taken. Frustrating.

I don't understand. An image file can have maybe a dozen date and time information tags. EXIF (created, digitized, modified), XMP (created, digitized, modified, metadata modified), Legacy IPTC.

Please be so kind as to explain exactly what you are doing. Did you read the introduction topics in the help yet? Did you read the "For IMatch 3 users" help topic yet? For me it sounds like you are trying to use all the wrong features for whatever purpose you have into,

I'm sure if you bother to tell us exactly what you want to do, we can show you how to make it work in IMatch 5 efficiently. IMatch 5 is available for almost a year now, and a lot of expertise and know-how is available in this community.

[lightchaser]

Mario,
thank you very much for your help. I am thinking in terms of IPTC because I deliver my images to image libraries and there is the need that I deliver the data as I did in IM 3. Therefore I tried to just copy the metadata of imported images and save them as metadata presets. I thought this way my metadata in the image would resemble the metadata of my images I do deliver using IM3. Nothing complicated at all, one would think. But I don't find a good solution. What do I need: Headline, Caption what now is description, Byline (have not yet figured out what that is now), Author, Credit, Time taken, Time released, Keywords, Instruction (Model Release, Embargoes, Restrictions).
And then I would like to make presets like I have in IM3 where I can save the basic information of my shooting location (landscape photographer) because that's a important time saver as I understand in my current workflow. And in a former E-Mail Mario told me that presets are gone and favorites would be the successors in IM5. Therefore that was my approach.
Would be very kind of someone with similar needs (only the needs that were perfectly dealt with - at least for me - in IM3. I`m forced to upgrade as I said earlier!) to help me out and show me the way to go.
Thank you very much.
Franz

[Mario]

OK. Things become more clear now.

I here assume that you have read the help topic on Template Templates and you are familiar with all the advanced features. These can improve your workflow considerably.

IIM4 IPTC data has been retired and declared legacy many years ago by the IPTC committee.
You still need to use that old metadata format because your client demands it. No problem, IMatch by default maps between XMP and IIM IPTC data when writing back metadata - if the file already has IPTC metadata. IMatch by default does not create new IPTC metadata in accordance with the recommendations of the Metadata Working Group and current standards. New image files should contain only XMP metadata but no legacy IPTC data.

To change that for the file formats you use, go to Edit > Preferences > Metadata 2 : File Formats. Change the "Allow create IPTC/EXIF" for the file formats you use. Press <F1> in this dialog for details.

I understand from your post above that you

1. Look at one of your files.

2. In the Metadata Panel you use the command "Save as Template..." to save all tags used in the currently selected Metadata Panel layout to a metadata template.

3. You then edit the metadata template to include only the tags you want, and the info you want?

If this is your preferred workflow, I suggest you first setup an Metadata Panel layout which shows all the tags you are interested in. And only these tags. This way you don't need to edit your templates afterwards to remove unwanted tags.

If you create many Metadata Templates that way, add them as Favorites so you can access them easily.

See, for example, how the IMatch sample user Paul uses Metadata Templates and Favorites in his workflow.


4. As said above, IIM IPTC metadata is dead and legacy. IMatch favors an XMP-based metadata workflow and automatically copies XMP data to legacy IPTC data during write-back.

5. To find out which XMP tags correspond to the legacy IPTC tags you need to fill, please look up the info on the web. A good overview is here:

http://www.photometadata.org/meta-resources-field-guide-to-metadata

(For example, by-line is named "Creator" in XMP. When you update the Creator standard tag in IMatch it will be written also to "by-line" on write-back.

6. You may want to create a Metadata Panel layout which shows legacy IPTC data. This allows you to see the IPTC data in your files, and also if you update the correct XMP tags. This is easy to do, just create a new layout and select all IPTC tags you are interested in. See the help for details.

Note: IMatch automatically makes legacy IPTC tags read-only when they are mapped to an XMP tag. This prevents the situation where you update an legacy IPTC tag in a Metadata Panel and this information is then replaced by the data in the corresponding XMP tag when IMatch writes the data to the file.