Messages

16

ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / Viewer window caption bar problem in Win7

« on: 2011-06-20 08:22:25 »

Well, Phillip actually just changed this in build 3537. The Viewer window in v7 and v8 had a minimal size requirement, which some users found limiting to their requirements. AS a result, build 3537 can now display even the smallest images with the least amount of screen space.
This comes in handy if you need to open a larger number of images that are all very small (i.e. icons).

[img=left]images/uploaded/201106201216174dff3a1175692.jpg[/img]
The window controls in the upper right corner may interfere a little bit with the window title icon, but this should not interfere with its function (you should still be able to click them).

17

ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / Sorting functionality is displayed inconsistent

« on: 2011-06-13 11:35:39 »

Applies to
ThumbsPlus 8 SP1 Build 3537 and earlier

Problem
There is a disconnect between controls. You can actually select the sort order via the menu bar (Window -> sort) or via the dropdown controls right above the Thumbnails
panels. Both ways should show the same, but they are different.
Also the sorting of file names and file types is not in all cases consistent (needs more testing).
[img=thumbnail]images/uploaded/201106131529094df62cc587324.png[/img]

Solution (pending)
Needs to be fixed in a future release (TBD).

More Information
Initially reported by [link=http://forums.cerious.com/forum/index.php?mode=user&show_user=520]MCC[/link] ([msg=468]Cannot sort thumbnails[/msg]) and confirmed by [link=http://forums.cerious.com/forum/index.php?mode=user&show_user=14]hfremuth[/link].

18

ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / Cannot sort thumbnails

« on: 2011-06-13 11:27:40 »

> 1. Keyboard shortcuts do not work at all. The have never worked in v8. They used to work fine in v 7.

Press CTRL-Q and go to the new Keyboard tab. This is where you can customize the wazoo out of pretty much any keyboard shortcuts. There are some (but not all) shortcuts available for the thumbails view panel.


> 2. If I click on Window ->Sort and then use the drop downs to select a sort criteria, it sometimes works, but usually does not.  Thumbs usually stay sorted by name with no change regardless of what I select. Sometimes, however, the sort does work.

Works fine on my systems here, but there is a disconnect between controls. You can actually select the sort order via the menu bar (Window -> sort) or via the dropdown controls right above the Thumbnails panels. Both ways should show the same, but they are different. I've added this as a [msg=474]confirmed case[/msg] to be fixed in a future release.

19

ThumbsPlus Suggestions / Better multimonitor handling of view windows

« on: 2011-06-10 18:44:30 »

Like that - great suggestion, IMHO.  ;-)

20

ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / So, where to from here...?!

« on: 2011-06-01 09:59:38 »

> Also, if I do work out a script that works for me I am 100% happy to then share it here for Cerious or anyone else in the same situation as me to use (though the same applies - I can't be responsible for anyone else's database breaking or not working etc).

Mike - your offer to help here sounds awesome. Cerious is a small company, and issues like that require a ton of time to be solved (development and testing). Getting a helping hand from an expert is priceless. Please email me (I don't have your address) and I will bring this to Phillips attention ASAP!

Thanks!

21

ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / Errors converting TP7 SQL Server database to TP8.

« on: 2011-05-31 10:12:12 »

nzmike,

I moved you thread to Confirmed Issues although I can't reproduce this (I don't have an SQL Server here). It seems to work with MqSQL, see these posts: [msg]143[/msg] and [msg]30[/msg] - maybe that helps a bit.

22

ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / Checkbox 'Use multi-threaded mode' not persistent

« on: 2011-05-27 12:07:17 »

Applies to
ThumbsPlus 8 SP1 Build 3537 and earlier v8 versions

Problem
Checking the box Use multi-threaded mode does not persist when ThumbsPlus is restarted.

In addition, the current documentation (F1) about the additional settings in the Performance section of this tab needs to be tested and updated to reflect modern CPUs / recommended settings.

Solution (pending)
It's a minor bug (the checkbox issue) that needs to be fixed in a future v8 release.

More Information
Most users will not experience any difficulties with this issue, as it affects mostly users with extreme loads and very large number of files. An entire overhaul of performance settings may not be implemented until the next major release (TBD).

Initially reported by [link=http://forums.cerious.com/forum/index.php?mode=user&show_user=274]MetcalfeP[/link] and confirmed by [link=http://forums.cerious.com/forum/index.php?mode=user&show_user=14]hfremuth[/link].

23

ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / How to keep the database clear of 'Orphans'

« on: 2011-05-27 09:38:38 »

>   For me, the chief attraction of the app is its editing functions.
>  I definitely do not want or need the database functions. Frankly, it's a mystery to me why they are still included...
Well ThumbsPlus is an image management solution for your pictures (and movies and PDF files...). What does that mean in real life? It is supposed to (1) help you organize your stuff and, to a lesser extend, (2) touch them up a bit - pretty much in that order.

> 1. Is Pro V. 8 the right version for me, or is there a more
> lightweight version that leaves out the database bloat but retains
> the very useful batch editing capabilities?

ThumbsPlus v7 is still a very capable solution, and there are mostly minor improvements in the area of editing in v8. Nevertheless, v8 has a vastly refreshed code base that will work on more systems, with the most up-to-date functionality. Please take look at the [link=http://www.cerious.com/release_notes8sp1.shtml#general]v8 Release Notes[/link] to see all the improvements that happened in v8.

> 2. Is there a way to just switch off the persistent database
> thumbnail storage in V. 8 and force the app to read the directory
> structure and generate thumbnails on the fly when I point it at a
> particular directory?
No, not really - this is a core feature since v2. But to be honest: creating Thumbnails on-the-fly costs you the same time as creating it once and then load that folder the second time in a split second. There is NO performance penalty for making Thumbnails!

> 3. I noticed as I used the app that it retains obsolte directory
> references even after i've deleted directories from the system.  This is bizarre.
> The program seems to assume that users' systems are more static
> than they in fact are.  I have lots of USB sattelite drives and
It's in the nature of ThumbsPlus to gobble everything up and make Thumbnails - until you decide to dump it. ThumbsPlus calls Thumbnails of files that are no longer available Orphans. There are a number of ways to get rid of them, the best way is to start by adjusting the base setting under preferences (F9):

Set the check box so that orphans are not shown and also that they are automatically removed. If you already have a bunch of orphans (i.e., on deleted folders, removable volumes such as USB sticks or CDs) that show on your folder tree, use the context menu to get read of them:


This way, you can keep your ThumbsPlus database small and squeaky clean, without any orphans.

24

General Discussion / Overview to modern Iptc fields

« on: 2011-05-22 10:23:05 »

> I do have a question about the Image Details box... I see how to add/remove fields and to move them... but if I want Keyword to appear at the top of the list.. it doesn't seem I can move it out of its "section"... this is very limiting and I would love to arrange these items and save them as profiles.
This is pre-configured for common use. If you want to go this deep and customize the groupings, you need to edit the file xmpnames.dat.

> In addition, we should be able to define our own XMP schemas for usage within the XMP file section... if I want to add latin family/genus info about a plant - I'd want to do this in a custom schema like I can do currently in Idimager.  Thoughts?
Hmm...adding custom XMP fields is a big deal, if you want to actually 'own' them. This requires that you define a URI-compliant namespace and namespace prefix to be used inside the XMP packet. I assume Idimager simply "hacks" this and adds its own namespace to it (not really in the spirit of XMP).
Long story short: you could do this much more elegant, but this requires a bit more XMP knowledge. The xmpnames.dat file that contains ThumbsPlus' XMP configuration could then be easily extended to fully detect and load these custom fields.

25

General Discussion / Overview to modern Iptc fields

« on: 2011-05-20 11:03:52 »

If you've had a boring morning, need to get your head spinning or just simply like to get confused beyond recovery: take a close look at the newly released overview chart of all commonly used metadata fields in professional environments:
[img=thumbnail]images/uploaded/201105201430284dd67b048395f.png[/img]

Now, in case you are a professional photographer, this is no horse play for you! There are a bunch of fields that are critical and should be filled, depending on what your role is. If you plan to sell your images to a stock agency, you should really fill all fields marked red (stage 1) shown in the following chart:
[img=thumbnail]images/uploaded/201105201434524dd67c0c6316b.png[/img]

Rules are different for news photography. If you want your pictures used in the news industry, you need to take a close look at the red and yellow fields here:
[img=thumbnail]images/uploaded/201105201436464dd67c7e18044.png[/img]

[img=right]images/uploaded/201105201503324dd682c496e3f.jpg[/img]If you don't sell your work, you can sit back and relax - you really don't need to worry about too many fields, but focus at least on these:

[*]Creator - most likely the person behind the view finder
[*]Location - where was it shot?
[*]Description - meaningful account about what the picture is about
[*]Keywords - single common words (i.e. persons shown, event type, location), avoid writing variations (ie. either singular or plural)
[*]Date/Time - usually added by the camera (Exif)
[*]Rating - your personal rating (helpful i.e. if you want to spare your audience to fall asleep due to a tsunami of pictures during a presentation)
[*]Copyright - no copyright is a problem if you post them on public websites (Flickr, Facebook)
[/list]

ThumbsPlus 8 Info Panel
In case you want to get your hands dirty, you can take a look at how ThumbsPlus 8 handles metadata fields by opening the file C:\Program Files\ThumbsPlus\Data\xmpnames.dat. All metatdata fields are addressed by their XMP field names, even if its corresponding values are actually stored inside an Exif or IIM  block (the older Iptc standard for storing descriptive metadata fields).

26

ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / View window: Menubar disappears

« on: 2011-05-16 09:17:01 »

Gary Cannon over at the old Facebook discussion page discovered the easiest workaround:

[*]close T+
[*]open Thumbs8.vconfig8 file with a text editor
[*]search for "BarInfo0"
[*]the line should start like this: [*] remove the Visible="0"
[*] restart T+, open a picture: menu bar is back!
[/list]

27

ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / View window: Menubar disappears

« on: 2011-05-13 08:26:15 »

Not sure how I managed this, but while I was trying to replicate your issue, I also used the F6 key a couple of times. As a result, my menubar is gone (I have to use the known workaround to get it back).

28

ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / Import from TP7

« on: 2011-05-09 13:16:01 »

> Do you then switch between your photo database and the clipart data? Or is there a way to keep more than one open at a time?

ThumbsPlus can only open one DB at a time.

29

ThumbsPlus v7-v9 Questions / Import from TP7

« on: 2011-05-09 09:25:15 »

> I have added a lot of images since I was using 7. Were I to convert that data, is there a way to move the offline CD branch to a different database?

You have two choices:

[*]Create a dedicated ThumbsPlus database for offline discs. I did this years ago for a collection of cliparts and fonts, worked fine for me. Simply take your v7 database and convert it to v8. Then, remove all thumbnails other than the offline volumes and run the command "Database -> Advanced -> Compact and repair..."

[*]Keep everything in a single v8 database but without thumbnail bitmaps. This is a new option in v8, which is great! This way, the database file will no longer hold the actual bitmaps, only a reference to a thumbnail file on your hard disk. The advantage is that you can grow your DB more or less endlessly large. Keep in mind that accessing external thumbnails may slow down ThumbsPlus (depending how fast your hard disk is).
[/list]