Unable to render

[jla]

I am brand new to Photo Mechanic. Version 4.6.2.1 on an up-to-date version of Windows XP Pro.

Everything's been going along swimmingly except that I've noticed here and there black thumbnails with red text saying 'Unable to Render Image'. I noticed today that I'm even seeing it on images that were fine yesterday. Is this a virus that's spreading? When I try to open them in My Pictures or any other graphics software they appear to not exist anymore.

The little black thumbnails I'm looking at right now, that used to be photographs, are jpg's off my digital camera, just like hundreds of others. They have not been edited or fooled around with at all, just downloaded off my camera. I can't think of a single reason why a random batch would be afflicted and not the others. Of course, afflicted at all is a major concern. Is Photo Mechanic going to continue gobbling up my photos until there's not a single one left?

[Kirk Baker]

I am brand new to Photo Mechanic. Version 4.6.2.1 on an up-to-date version of Windows XP Pro.

Everything's been going along swimmingly except that I've noticed here and there black thumbnails with red text saying 'Unable to Render Image'. I noticed today that I'm even seeing it on images that were fine yesterday. Is this a virus that's spreading? When I try to open them in My Pictures or any other graphics software they appear to not exist anymore.

The little black thumbnails I'm looking at right now, that used to be photographs, are jpg's off my digital camera, just like hundreds of others. They have not been edited or fooled around with at all, just downloaded off my camera. I can't think of a single reason why a random batch would be afflicted and not the others. Of course, afflicted at all is a major concern. Is Photo Mechanic going to continue gobbling up my photos until there's not a single one left?

Photo Mechanic doesn't write to your photos unless you tell it to.  Why do you think that Photo Mechanic is responsible?  What operations have you done in Photo Mechanic with those images besides view them as thumbnails or previews?

What are the sizes of the files?  What is their last modification time?  What modified them?

I'm certain that if Photo Mechanic had a bug in it that is responsible for what you're claiming, you would not be the only one bringing this issue to our attention.

-Kirk

[jla]

Why do you think that Photo Mechanic is responsible?

Because I didn't have this problem until I started using Photo Mechanic. Because I'm talking about pictures that are years old and have been fine until now.

What operations have you done in Photo Mechanic with those images besides view them as thumbnails or previews?

Nothing on most of them because I can't 'see' them. On other ones - I've added GPS co-ordinates and IPTC-info.

What are the sizes of the files?  What is their last modification time?  What modified them?

There are so many marked 'unable to render image' scattered throughout my many photo folders, I will pick one at random, and here's the info:

Size: 138kb, Windows says, although it won't actually show the photo. Date taken: 3/15/05, IPTC address, city, state added on December 10, 2009 using Photo Mechanic. There are 21 photos in that section of my 2005 photos that say "unable to render image" - nothing has been done to any of them for months or years besides adding the IPTC address, city and state using PM on December 10, 2009 at 8:56 PM PST. I scan through my photos regularly and have never seen any of them 'unrendered' before.

I'm not the only person bringing this issue to your attention. When I joined the forum today, the first thing I did was search for the phrase 'unable to render' and came up with a long page of posts, but nothing I could see that addressed simple jpg's.

[Kirk Baker]

Why do you think that Photo Mechanic is responsible?

Because I didn't have this problem until I started using Photo Mechanic. Because I'm talking about pictures that are years old and have been fine until now.

What operations have you done in Photo Mechanic with those images besides view them as thumbnails or previews?

Nothing on most of them because I can't 'see' them. On other ones - I've added GPS co-ordinates and IPTC-info.

What are the sizes of the files?  What is their last modification time?  What modified them?

There are so many marked 'unable to render image' scattered throughout my many photo folders, I will pick one at random, and here's the info:

Size: 138kb, Windows says, although it won't actually show the photo. Date taken: 3/15/05, IPTC address, city, state added on December 10, 2009 using Photo Mechanic. There are 21 photos in that section of my 2005 photos that say "unable to render image" - nothing has been done to any of them for months or years besides adding the IPTC address, city and state using PM on December 10, 2009 at 8:56 PM PST. I scan through my photos regularly and have never seen any of them 'unrendered' before.

I'm not the only person bringing this issue to your attention. When I joined the forum today, the first thing I did was search for the phrase 'unable to render' and came up with a long page of posts, but nothing I could see that addressed simple jpg's.

There are many things that can cause PM to print that message on a photo.  File formats that are un-supported, files that are damaged, etc.  For a photo that is damaged, what is its size compared to an image in the same folder that is not damaged?  How were these images generated?  From a camera or by some other means?  If by a camera, then what camera make and model was used?  If you duplicate one of the undamaged images and then modify it with Photo Mechanic, does it get damaged as well?

What Windows OS are you running?  Can you post one of these images that cannot be rendered?  Use the 'Additional Options...' link to upload your sample when you're creating your reply.

Thanks,

-Kirk

[jla]

I brought several dozen jpg's back from backup disks, re-annotated them in PM, and they seem to be fine now. I have idea what was wrong there. But the problem is fixed.

I, also, have a handful of tiff's that are reading 'unable to render'. The ones I copied from the backup disks also seem to have a problem (pre-Photo Mechanic days) but I didn't know about it because they look fine in Adobe Elements Editor and the Windows viewer and that's the only places I would have seen them before. In searching further I found that they are considered 'broken' in Adobe Elements Organizer and XnView. I didn't realize there was a problem until I saw them in Photo Mechanic. Again, not PM's problem. I have pictures from all over the place, not necessarily my own, so there's details I can't account for; camera makes, models and all that.

[jla]

I've tried four times to upload a 2MB tiff and the forum software won't let me.

[Kirk Baker]

I've tried four times to upload a 2MB tiff and the forum software won't let me.

If you'd like to upload them to our server for investigation, then please click on my name to the left of this message, then click on the 'personal message' link.  I will respond with upload instructions.

-Kirk

[jla]

I'm thinking the upload problem might be caused by the pictures not existing although they seem to in some sense. How can a photo exist and not exist at the same time?  Anyway, will try your personal message option.