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[nwboater]

As our slow migration to MC for all media is evolving one big hole is Photos. I think it will be a long time before I can tear my wife away from Photoshop Elements for organizing and editing. It just works so well and easily for her. What would be wonderful though is a way to view the PSE catalog, Collections and tags in MC. This could certainly hold us over until MC further improves it's image handling abilities.

There is an old MC thread wherein cncb posted that he has a plugin that will do something like this. I believe the PSE database has changed since then so that plugin may not work now. Are you there cncb?

Anybody else have any ideas or suggestions.

Thanks,
Rod

[cncb]

Hi Rod,

I am also considering switching back to MC for my photo management as I figured out how to create an MC view similar to that presented in PSE.  Some things are still a little more difficult in MC but that's just the way it is.

As you noted, the PSE catalog has changed drastically so the old tool I wrote will not work.  In the meantime you can get the tags from PSE into MC if you select all your photos in PSE and select "Write Keyword Tag Properties and Info To Photo" from the File menu.  Then, when you import the photos into MC it will import the tags as keywords (although it will not have the tag hierarchy).  You can then manually re-establish the hierarchy in MC.

If I decide to switch I will write a tool to export the PSE collections/albums as playlists which you will then be able to import into MC.

[Matt]

I am also considering switching back to MC for my photo management as I figured out how to create an MC view similar to that presented in PSE.

Maybe you could explain this a little, as it might help others.  We could also consider it as a default view.

Some things are still a little more difficult in MC but that's just the way it is.

When you have time, it'd be helpful if you could post the top three difficulties.

Thanks.

[cncb]

Maybe you could explain this a little, as it might help others.  We could also consider it as a default view.


When you have time, it'd be helpful if you could post the top three difficulties.

I basically just finally realized/discovered that I could add my own top-level view.  So, I added one called Photos & Home Videos that shows both photos and videos (only certain file types that are from my digital camera).  I set up panes on the right side with "Keywords" first to be similar to PSE.  I then added additional items to the panes after Keywords to reflect some capabilities in PSE: "Media Types" to quickly just see photos or videos, "Year" and then "Month" to simulate the "timeline bar" in PSE (I actually prefer MC's panes to select dates).  This gives me basically everything I need in one view.  I would be glad to share this view here whenever I get around to buying v15 and can access and export the view again  .

As to things that are a little easier in PSE:

1) Drag and drop Keywords onto photos.   Clicking check boxes in panes in MC to set keywords is not bad but I had to explicitly make the rest of the items in the panes calculated expressions so that they weren't accidentally checked and changed (I don't want someone to easily change the Media Type or Month, for example).  It would also be nice to be able to drag Playlists to photos instead of the other way around.

2) Double-clicking on thumbnail takes you to a single image view.  I know you can right-click on the slider in MC to do this but it is a little clumsy.  I don't want the "Preview View" in this case because I still want to be able to set keywords while looking at a single photo.

3) Easy and/or switching with multiple keyword selections.  For example, in PSE you can select 2 people keywords and easily toggle whether you want to see photos tagged with either of the people (or)  or both of them (and).  In MC you have to customize the view to do this.  Some kind of toggle on the pane header in MC for multiple selection might work.

[nwboater]

Hi Rod,

I am also considering switching back to MC for my photo management as I figured out how to create an MC view similar to that presented in PSE.  Some things are still a little more difficult in MC but that's just the way it is.

As you noted, the PSE catalog has changed drastically so the old tool I wrote will not work.  In the meantime you can get the tags from PSE into MC if you select all your photos in PSE and select "Write Keyword Tag Properties and Info To Photo" from the File menu.  Then, when you import the photos into MC it will import the tags as keywords (although it will not have the tag hierarchy).  You can then manually re-establish the hierarchy in MC.

If I decide to switch I will write a tool to export the PSE collections/albums as playlists which you will then be able to import into MC.

Hi Craig,

Thanks for the good information. Sorry to hear that your old tool wont work (That sounds bad). I did a test with about a dozen photos using your procedure in PSE and it did get the keywords into MC. I had to re-import those photos in MC and was concerned that there may be duplication - but no it just added the keywords.

Would really appreciate seeing your 'View' when you can get 15 and send it.

"If I decide to switch I will write a tool to export the PSE collections/albums as playlists which you will then be able to import into MC."   

Well, I do hope you decide to switch so you will do the new tool! As I said earlier it's probably quite a ways off before I can wean my wife (the family photographer/ organizer/editor) away from PSE. So it sounds like if you do the export tool it would get what we need into MC. I would just have to do the export periodically as she adds new photos.

Wonder if there are others with a similar situation? Would appreciate hearing your comments on the subject.

Rod

[Gl3nn]

Wow, yes.  This is something I keep putting off but would love to accomplish. 

I've got most of my digital pictures and scanned pictures and slides in PSE 5.0!  The rest (RAW) in Lightroom.  If there was a way to easily get them over to MC15 while retaining the myriad playlist, collection and tag info, I'd do it in a second.  I'd certainly keep Lightroom to post-process, but PSE is nothing but a hold-over.

[dcwebman]

I also have a bunch of photos in PSE that I haven't imported into MC yet. That tool is sounding promising! 

[cncb]

I've got most of my digital pictures and scanned pictures and slides in PSE 5.0!  The rest (RAW) in Lightroom.  If there was a way to easily get them over to MC15 while retaining the myriad playlist, collection and tag info, I'd do it in a second.  I'd certainly keep Lightroom to post-process, but PSE is nothing but a hold-over

The PSE database didn't change until v6 so the old tool should still work with PSE 5.  I have attached the old tool below but keep in mind that I haven't tried it in a long time so be careful.  You import all your photos into MC and then run the tool and select your PSE catalog and options.  You might want to just import a few of your photos  into MC first to make sure the tool is still working properly.

[Gl3nn]

I'll try it, thanks!  Guess being tardy in updating software sometimes pays off. 

[cncb]

PSE-Like View

I have attached the "PSE-like" view I was describing earlier.  It might be a good starting point for those used to PSE.  Copy to "C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 15\Data\Saved Views", create a new root-level view ("View|Add View|Add Library View..."), select "PSE-Like View" in the list at the top, and select "(Root)" for Location.  In the Tag Window for the new view select the button at the top left corner and choose "Show Tags In Current View".


PSE Album Converter

This reads the PSE catalog (v6 and later) and creates .m3u playlists from the PSE albums that can be imported into MC.  This only converts standard albums from PSE, not the "smart" albums.  The .NET 2.0 framework is required for the tool to run.  Note that, unlike the previous tool, this doesn't interact with MC directly so it is more appropriate for a "one-time" import (sorry, Rod).  Also note that if your playlists seem to have a few extra files it may be that your PSE albums contain version sets or stacks which are not stacked in MC.

Download PSEAlbumConverter

[marko]

adding a datatype specification removes the need for numbers to sort the months, MC will sort them correctly:

FormatDate([Date,0],MMMM)&datatype=[month]

I've used MC for managing my photos and clipart for a long time now. I use an external editor, most often using the "Send To.." option, which has the really neat ability to automatically create a copy for editing, and stack that copy with the original.

I would love to see the MC image editor get some dev time, especially now that it does parametric edits, and the only other thing I need to use a third party tool for is to change (or set, for scanned photos) the EXIF "Date Taken" value.
MC needs a date shifting/setting tool so badly it hurts!!

-marko.

[nwboater]

Craig,

Thanks very much for making these available. I imported your PSE like view, after some time figuring out how to, and it really is much like PSE. It's also a very logical layout to me.

Haven't had a chance yet to run your PSE Album Converter. Since this is basically a "One time" process and wont keep MC updated with the latest Catalog I'm going to have to give a lot of thought as to how to best deal with photos. Do you know if the Converter is run multiple times if it will put duplicates in MC?

Thanks again.
Rod

[cncb]

Haven't had a chance yet to run your PSE Album Converter. Since this is basically a "One time" process and wont keep MC updated with the latest Catalog I'm going to have to give a lot of thought as to how to best deal with photos. Do you know if the Converter is run multiple times if it will put duplicates in MC?

MC imports playlists into a playlist group named "Imported Playlists".  After import you can move them to a new playlist group so that nothing will be overwritten when you import again but you will have to manually manage any albums that were imported before (delete or merge).