Preview and Quick View of non-standard file types

[fincire]

My apologies if this has already been answered, I searched the forum but may have missed it.

I'm having difficulty getting Imatch to display a thumbnail preview and Quick View for Clip Studio Paint files, which use the extension .CLIP. I have a memory of them previewing fine in the past, though maybe I'm just imagining things. 

I added the .CLIP extension to the Preferences → File Formats list, and Clip Studio files do get added to the database; it's just that the Clip Studio icon displays instead a thumbnail, and nothing shows in the Quick View panel. I also use the freeware utility SageThumbs to help other apps display previews instead of icons for Photoshop documents and some other, more obscure items. 

Is there a way to set this up, and if so, how? I've review the Help file but wasn't able to find any instructions. 

Thank you!

[Mario]

.CLIP is not a format that is supported by IMatch, it is not in the file format schema file.
This means that IMatch does not index files in that format by default and that it cannot show previews.

None of the 3rd party image processing toolkits I use for IMatch handles that format. There is also no WIC codec. A quick look at the web site of the software does not reveal anything about developer support, file format documentation etc.

If the software installs a "shell thumbnail handler" to support preview in Windows Explorer (they should!), IMatch would automatically use that. If it does not, there is no WIC codex and none of the third party toolkits IMatch includes handle the file, you won't be able to see previews of .CLIP files in IMatch.

I can add .CLIP as a standard file format to IMatch. IMatch will then index these files by default.
But I have never heard about this before so I don't know if and how many IMatch users would need that. ExifTool does not support it so no read/write metadata.
Note that even when this becomes a standard format, previews won't work unless the software installs a thumbnail handler or I can find a library / code that handles the format and it would not take weeks to learn and implement support for this format.

[fincire]

Thank you for the explanation! I'm not surprised that Exiftool doesn't support it either. Clip Studio is a widely-used application in its own area: it's an industry standard for tablet-based original art, cartoons, comic books/web comics and animated webseries. It's able to open Photoshop files natively, and vice versa, but it's designed for production rather than manipulation. In Adobe terms it has as much in common with Illustrator, Animate, and InDesign as it does with Photoshop, and stuff like metadata don't really serve a purpose for it.

I'd like it to work seamlessly with Imatch because it would make my life easier, since I track and catalogue giant collections of digital art and photography, much of which is either made in Clip Studio or is used in a Clip Studio project. But I doubt my use case is very common.

That said, I was able to get Clip Studio previews working in XYPlorer. They didn't work initially and it took some tinkering, but it works flawlessly now so I wonder if there's a way to make it work here. That's why I mentioned SageThumbs in my earlier post -- I had it in my head that had something to do with it, but thinking back I'm pretty sure it was something else. Some editing of .ini files and pasting .dlls into places. If you or anyone else have thoughts or insight, I'd be very grateful.

Thank you!

[Mario]

I've made some tests and got it work

From googling I've learned that the software actually installs a shell thumbnail handler. This is why you can see the thumbnails in XYExplorer and also in Windows Explorer.

I installed IMatch 2023.6.4 in a fresh Windows 11 VM.
Then I've added a new entry to the file format schema file by hand.
Installed the trial version of Clip Studio Paint so it can install the shell thumbnail handler.
Then I indexed a folder in IMatch which contains some CLIP files I've downloaded from their gallery of sample images.
This is the result:



Neat!
The size of the thumbnails is controlled by their shell handler, but it is enough for File Window thumbnails and sometimes even for a full-screen in the Viewer!

How to make it work

1. Close IMatch.
2. Download the attached ZIP file and extract it. It contains one file named ptpiconfig.xml
3. Replace the file with the same name in the C:\Program Files\photools.com\imatch6\plugins folder on your computer.
4. Restart IMatch.
Remove the user-defined CLIP format.
Select some CLIP files in a File Window and press Shift+Ctrl+F5. Use the "Force Reload" option.
IMatch should now be able to generate previews via the shell thumbnail handler the software installed.

I have tested this only on four files, but as long as their thumbnail handler supports the CLIP variants you use, it should work for all their files.

I will include this new standard file format in future IMatch versions. In case there are other users who need a good DAM that supports CLIP. Hint. Hint. Hint. Let others know about IMatch

[fincire]

That worked wonderfully. Thank you very much, Mario! I really appreciate the help.