Display images in file viewer

[C-F]

Hi, my name is Franz and I am new to iMach 2018 and to this forum.
Downloaded and installed the trial software yesterday on a MacBook Pro with a Parallels / Windows10 platform.
All softwares at its default setting (unless I clicked something in iMatch in the process to resolve the following probs I have)
Everything seems to work fine EXCEPT,

- file viewer says it can not display .jpg images - during import they show up for a flash and then 'disappear' with said message; they do show in Quickview panel and Viewer just fine???

- Sony ARW images show in file viewer but are 'blocky/fussy' and minisculous (160x120) -  same in Quickview and Viewer

Not sure if it is a Windows settings issue or iMatch internal setting - as mentioned I am a new user eager to learn and use this sw.

Any help is much appreciated.
Thanks!
ps, been going through the excellent help system but unable to find anything related to what seems a basic 'operator error'

[Mario]

1. What is the exact message you see?

2. Switch IMatch to debug logging via Help menu> Support > Debug Logging.
Repeat your test. ZIP and attach the log file. This will show us if IMatch is running into problems and which. See log file for details.

3. ARW files are RAW files and processed via the installed WIC codec on your system. If no WIC codec is installed (Windows 10 has them by default) IMatch uses LibRaw automatically.
If your system has a WIC codec for ARW but it cannot handle the specific ARW variant you are using, you will get only a thumbnail. There are maybe a dozen ARW variants in use these days...

To test: Select one of your ARW files in an IMatch file window and then run Help menu > Support > WIC diagnostics.
Save the output and attach. This will tell us what we need to know about your installation.

https://www.photools.com/help/imatch/#wic_basics.htm
https://www.photools.com/help/imatch/#wic_diag.htm

[C-F]

Thank you,

will do!

Well, I tried a different batch of .jpg's and it went just fine! - The initial batch was a bunch of jpg's I had downloaded from the web will look into them as I get more familiar with iMatch...

Also, right now I am on 'trial' both with Parallels & Windows10, maybe (especially Windows) is 'trial delimited'?? - as it looks like there are several codecs 'missing'...
Aside from Sony (A6500) .ARW, the display is unsatisfactory for Olympus (TG-4) .ORF too...

On the other hand, my Nikon (D300, D700) .NEF display nice and 'crispy'... - so do several .TIF from various sources...

[Mario]

WIC codecs are only used for RAW files. IMatch users integrated codecs for JPEG, TIFF, PNG, PSD, GIF and about 100 other formats.

The idea of WIC is that camera vendors provide Microsoft with a WIC codec that handles the file formats produced by their cameras. Then all applications which use WIC can handle the files, without knowing about the internal details of the RAW format. Since no camera vendor officially documents their file formats and some even use encryption to make it extra hard to get all the data, WIC is a good thing.

Unfortunately, not all camera vendors support WIC, or even have stopped WIC support for cost-cutting. This means you Nikon and Canon!

Microsoft develops their own WIC codecs and integrates them in Windows (8 and later have them by default, for Windows 7 there is a separate install). But Microsoft may not support all RAW variants or firmware versions (some camera vendors have two dozen different RAW formats in use, all with the same file extension).

If your ARW or ORF files are not supported, the WIC diagnosis will tell you.

Go to the web site of your camera vendor to download the latest version of their WIC codecs. If you cannot find the codecs, ask the support of your camera vendor where to find them.
If they tell you that they don't provide WIC codecs, you have probably chosen the wrong camera vendor.
Providing WIC codecs cost them maybe a few developer days when they release a new camera model with yet another incompatible RAW format variant. If they are unwilling to spend a bit of money to enable their users (and buyers) to use their RAW files on Windows without the need of a 3rd party software, they are not great at support or just give a sh*t for their user base.

If the integrated WIC codecs in Windows don't handle your RAW formats and your camera vendor does not provide WIC codecs, you can force IMatch to ignore the installed WIC codecs and use LibRaw directly.
This may solve the problem. The setting is under Edit > Preferences > Application. Search for RAW on that page and set photools.com to "Yes". Then select all files which have failed and press Shift+Ctrl+F5. In the dialog choose "Force Update" to re-create thumbnails and cache images with the new settings.

LibRaw is an open source projects which tries to support as many RAW formats as possible on all operating systems.

[Mario]

The WIC diagnosis log file shows that the Microsoft WIC codec for ARW cannot handle the ARW format variant your camera uses.
Your email contained various attachments in HTML format which were removed by my firewalls. Don't know what these contained.

The log file shows quite a number of warnings about inaccessible files. It seems that all files in \\Mac\Home\Pictures\ are not accessible for IMatch, which would indicate a file permission problem perhaps? Maybe the Mac does not want Windows to access the files? You can see the file names in the log file you've sent to me by searching for W>
Maybe the problem with the ARW has the same reason and Windows cannot access the file.

Check the file system permissions in Windows Explorer or on the Mac or whatever is responsible for controlling access in your setup.  Unfortunately I cannot provide detailed help because I don't use Apple hardware.

[C-F]

Hi Mario,

thank you for your help! - Making progress!!!

- Sony .ARW has been resolved (went to their site and downloaded the codec) and is now displaying Raw as expected.

- Olympus is some other 'bag of beans' though - can not find their codec... (I tried to 'trick' it in downloading Olympus Viewer3 for windows10 and ran it hoping it would install their codec so other apps could access it..) - it shows their files just fine in THEIR Windows10 application but made no change to iMatch; so I went with with your second suggestion and changed to 'prefer photools for RAW' which then took care of the .ORF display too...

My question now is, is this setting 'global' meaning for ALL new image imports to iMatch or can it be set to only be used for these .ORF files from Olympus while the other files are being imported with their respective codec?
In other words, when adding images to the database do I have to set this option manually pending on the kind of RAW I intend to add?

As far as 'problems with access permissions' as you mentioned in your email, I am not aware of this at all as so far each and every single file I tried to add to iMatch actually did import regardless of its location (Mac folder, stick, HD, and windows virtual C: drive)...

/edit. - resolved issue with the ONE .jpg folder that would only display in Quickview and Viewer but not in Fileviewer - created a new folder and copied the files over and added the new folder to iMatch - voilá problem solved they are part of the DB now - still a mystery though as the new folder is in the exact same location as the original one and the images just copied and pasted over... (the permissions on both folders are the same... /end edit


Regards,
Franz

[Mario]

The "photools RAW processing" is global and applies to all RAW files. WIC codecs are then ignored.
I doubt that you will notice any difference, unless the SONY codec processes the files better. Nikon did a good job for NEF files in their codec, but then decided to discontinue it.

LibRaw is the core for many RAW processors on Linux and other operating systems. It should produce a good rendition of your RAW files for DAM purposes.

[C-F]

Update,

tried the Libraw route and even so the rendering was fine, it left the Sony .ARW images with a greyish 'haze'...(which I don't like)

So, for now I just have to pay attention about the 'set' of files to add to the DB and when rescanning or updating to ensure the 'right' codec source is being used for that particular file batch ( I think I can live with that...)

btw, I also tried to add some PDF files (-just to see)- they all show a 'generic' blue pdf icon - is that correct or should there be a 'mini picture' of its contents?

I also started to look at my metadata 'inventory' of years of use and abuse and as Mario stated in his Metadata help paper(s) - what a mess I found!!! iMatch does give one a wonderful opportunity to identify problems and the tools to correct them (nevertheless, a daunting and long task ahead...)
- is there a way to update the Metadata without forcing a rescan of the actual image and the cache being re-rendered?

Next stop will be to try to wrap my head around 'Categories' - 'Collections' - 'Attributes' and its respective benefits and uses; I'm getting old so it probably will take a while...

So far the venture of trying to make iMatch seamlessly and efficiently work on my MacBookPro is a lot of fun (even though Mario does not want to hear about it, lol) and the frustration level is very low considering the 3dimensionality of this challenge (Mac OS - Windows10 - Parallels coherency bridge- on top of learning a new to me software) -  the only issue I have so far is the keyboard shortcuts do not all/(most) work on the Apple OS keyboard...

[Mario]

it left the Sony .ARW images with a greyish 'haze'...(which I don't like)

LibRaw is no RAW processor, it does not perform any optimizations or image efffects or RAW processing. The way IMatch uses it produces a sufficient rendition of the RAW file for DAM purposes. Use whatever RAW processing software you have to optimize the RAW, then produce a version and use that as a visual proxy in IMatch to get 'final' results.

Or ask Olympus for a WIC codec for your camera model and after installing it, switch back to WIC-based RAW processing.

btw, I also tried to add some PDF files (-just to see)- they all show a 'generic' blue pdf icon - is that correct or should there be a 'mini picture' of its contents?

IMatch produces thumbnails for PDF files via the thumbnail feature included in Windows. Windows uses whatever thumbnail handler for PDF is installed on your system. Usually this is installed with Adobe Acrobat reader or whatever PDF reader software you use. In general, if you can see thumbnails for PDF files in Windows Explorer, you can also see them in IMatch. This usually just works.  What PDF software is installed on your system and is it up-to-date? Please always include an IMatch log file (log file) when you report such issues. There may be error messages or warnings in the log which help to diagnose the root of the problem.

It sometimes helps to switch to large thumbnails in Windows Explorer once for the folder(s) containing your PDF files.  Then perform a forced rescan (Shift+Ctrl+F5) of the folder in IMatch to re-generate the thumbnails.

Mario does not want to hear about it, lol

Never said that. I',m just no fan of Apple's golden cage system.

[Jingo]

So far the venture of trying to make iMatch seamlessly and efficiently work on my MacBookPro is a lot of fun (even though Mario does not want to hear about it, lol) and the frustration level is very low considering the 3dimensionality of this challenge (Mac OS - Windows10 - Parallels coherency bridge- on top of learning a new to me software) -  the only issue I have so far is the keyboard shortcuts do not all/(most) work on the Apple OS keyboard...

As an aside to this issue - I'm interested to hear how this all works out for you in the long run of use... I also used IM on my "hackintosh" via parallels and though the system worked - it wasn't without issues (do a search on my name here and you will find the posts).  I believe some of the issues had to do with my setup (NTFS drives/Parallels/Paragon NTFS/"hackintosh") - in the end, it was just too much of a "clunky" setup for software I used daily and since I could more readily do my work using Windows - just gave up on the MAC, went back to windows full time and have a macbook + monitor for the client work that requires a MAC. 

[C-F]

Hi Jingo,

I just posted this text in another forum and thought it would fit your request (without the 'long run part'...  

Well, I am on a MacBook Pro and installed Parallels desktop, Windows10, and iMatch2018 (all on trial for now) and ingested 31372 images (after initial smaller testing sizes of course) - NEF, tiff, jpg, ARW, ORF, iPhone and iPad images... (just picked my 2016 folder) and the whole process took give and take 4 hours. Now, I have no Catalog sets nor Collections and little I have tried, the program is VERY powerful and deep (the software has Attributes, Collections [both system and user driven], and Categories [ also both user and system defined]! So far I know I just scratched the surface but it looks like I found a new home for my hobby...- there will be a learning curve, but it can be done in 'steps'...
It has image versioning and image stacking...
I am very impressed with its capabilities and excellent documentation. My main surprise was in its responsiveness considering the 'virtual' setup through Parallels. I chose coherence mode and iMatch is running in its own desktop with access to all my folders, files, and external hard drives.(I just swipe to it just like any other MAC desktop in full screen mode) - impressive!

After looking a little closer at the ingested image sample I realized what a 'Metadata mess' a lot of them contained that didn't even show up in other software I am using - will take me a while to clean all that up but this software makes for a pleasant and fast work environment...

-It did import my structured keywords of my files... and has what seems to be a sophisticated key wording system implemented.

Overall, I am very pleased with my decision to give it a real try - still have about a week on my timer to make a final decision but for me it looks like the right thing to do ( if it just wasn't for having to deal with windows again it'd be 'perfect' for me ...lol  :lol:  :wink: )
My personally greatest difficulties I am actually having is with windows (have not used it in 10 years) and its weird ways of handling some of the details... - Apple users are just 'spoiled' that things just 'work'...

I just did a VERY expensive upgrade of my internal SSD from 500GB to 2TB from OWC (AURA PRO X) which not only quadrupled my storage but also doubled -> to tripled my speed... impressive performance on my mid 2015 system!

[Mario]

I just posted this text in another forum and thought it would fit your request (without the 'long run part'...  
(...)

He likes IMatch...

[Jingo]

I just posted this text in another forum and thought it would fit your request (without the 'long run part'...  
(...)

He likes IMatch...

That I do Mario!!

[Jingo]

Hi Jingo,

I just posted this text in another forum and thought it would fit your request (without the 'long run part'...  

Well, I am on a MacBook Pro and installed Parallels desktop, Windows10, and iMatch2018 (all on trial for now) and ingested 31372 images (after initial smaller testing sizes of course) - NEF, tiff, jpg, ARW, ORF, iPhone and iPad images... (just picked my 2016 folder) and the whole process took give and take 4 hours. Now, I have no Catalog sets nor Collections and little I have tried, the program is VERY powerful and deep (the software has Attributes, Collections [both system and user driven], and Categories [ also both user and system defined]! So far I know I just scratched the surface but it looks like I found a new home for my hobby...- there will be a learning curve, but it can be done in 'steps'...
It has image versioning and image stacking...
I am very impressed with its capabilities and excellent documentation. My main surprise was in its responsiveness considering the 'virtual' setup through Parallels. I chose coherence mode and iMatch is running in its own desktop with access to all my folders, files, and external hard drives.(I just swipe to it just like any other MAC desktop in full screen mode) - impressive!

After looking a little closer at the ingested image sample I realized what a 'Metadata mess' a lot of them contained that didn't even show up in other software I am using - will take me a while to clean all that up but this software makes for a pleasant and fast work environment...

-It did import my structured keywords of my files... and has what seems to be a sophisticated key wording system implemented.

Overall, I am very pleased with my decision to give it a real try - still have about a week on my timer to make a final decision but for me it looks like the right thing to do ( if it just wasn't for having to deal with windows again it'd be 'perfect' for me ...lol  :lol:  :wink: )
My personally greatest difficulties I am actually having is with windows (have not used it in 10 years) and its weird ways of handling some of the details... - Apple users are just 'spoiled' that things just 'work'...

I just did a VERY expensive upgrade of my internal SSD from 500GB to 2TB from OWC (AURA PRO X) which not only quadrupled my storage but also doubled -> to tripled my speed... impressive performance on my mid 2015 system!

Thx for the details C-F... I'm really glad to hear IMatch is working out for you on the MAC.  It was about 3 years ago when I experimented and I'm sure things have not only gotten faster and better with IMatch... but your system is MUCH better than my hobbled together HACKintosh was. 

Funny you should say what you do about Windows... I had the opposite experience with OSX - I just couldn't get used to it after 25 years of Windows use.  Simple things like the way windows are handled (all those individual panes!!), the whole Option vs Alt key confusion and a variety of other differences just didn't do it for me.  Funny how you get use to what is familiar!

Thanks again for sharing .... I know there are lots of folks at forums like dpreview that would love to hear about your successes with IMatch on a MAC as you use it... I tried to write some guides years ago for others - but I'm sure Mario would appreciate getting the word out about setting things up and day to day use on a MAC.

Enjoy the day - Andy.