Photo Mechanic 4.5.2 and Extensis Portfolio 8.1 Issues

[Ves]

Everything has worked well for me when using Photo Mechanic 4.4.3.3 and Extensis Portfolio 8.1 until I upgraded to PM 4.5.2...

I'm sure this problem is with Extensis (I have contacted them but not heard back from them), but, any image changed/modified/edited in PM 4.5.2 will not: A) display the correct file type (such as JPG!... Portfolio shows a question mark for file type) and B) display properly any in camera rotated images.  All vertical in camera rotated images display 90 degrees off (clockwise) in Portfolio.   Opening the file in PM or PS, all is well....  If I rotate the file in Portfolio and then open in PS, it's off 90 degrees.

It seems to be strictly a Portfolio (8.1 v or later issue).  I know they have rolled out v8.5, but before I upgrade, I want to make sure things are working.  They always like to point the finger for my problems at Camera Bits, but, I know better...    I actually have a "custom made" Portfolio application, 8.1.3, which they made a custom fix of preview issues dealing with in camera rotated images.  They claimed that I was the only one with these issues, but they did create a fix... just an FYI.

I reinstalled PM 4.4.3.3 and everything worked nicely again.  But I like PM 4.5!  I really need both of these programs to "get along" for my work flow...

Any help is appreciated.  Or, your interaction with Extensis on this is even more appreciated! 

Thanks...

[Kirk Baker]

Everything has worked well for me when using Photo Mechanic 4.4.3.3 and Extensis Portfolio 8.1 until I upgraded to PM 4.5.2...

I'm sure this problem is with Extensis (I have contacted them but not heard back from them), but, any image changed/modified/edited in PM 4.5.2 will not: A) display the correct file type (such as JPG!... Portfolio shows a question mark for file type) and B) display properly any in camera rotated images.  All vertical in camera rotated images display 90 degrees off (clockwise) in Portfolio.   Opening the file in PM or PS, all is well....  If I rotate the file in Portfolio and then open in PS, it's off 90 degrees.

These are files that end with .JPEG or .JPG?  And Portfolio doesn't know it's a JPEG image?  Is this on the Mac?  If so, maybe they are expecting the file type to be 'JPEG' which we don't set anymore.  Apple has made it clear since Mac OS 10.0 that filename extensions are to be used instead of file types.

It seems to be strictly a Portfolio (8.1 v or later issue).  I know they have rolled out v8.5, but before I upgrade, I want to make sure things are working.  They always like to point the finger for my problems at Camera Bits, but, I know better...    I actually have a "custom made" Portfolio application, 8.1.3, which they made a custom fix of preview issues dealing with in camera rotated images.  They claimed that I was the only one with these issues, but they did create a fix... just an FYI.

Well we use/update the same standard EXIF orientation tag that everyone else does.  So they should be doing the same.

I reinstalled PM 4.4.3.3 and everything worked nicely again.  But I like PM 4.5!  I really need both of these programs to "get along" for my work flow...

Any help is appreciated.  Or, your interaction with Extensis on this is even more appreciated!

I hope that explains some things.  I doubt Extensis would want to discuss things with us now that we've got plans for our own cataloging solution...

-Kirk

[Ves]

Hi Kirk-

Thanks for your reply.  These are files that have always had the ".JPG" extension.  Did you "set" the JPEG file type via your software in 4.3.3.3 and not in 4.5.2?  I indeed run a Mac.  I checked some successfully archived JPG's in Portfolio and found the file type was listed as "JPEG", although the file extension is "JPG".  These were edited in 4.3.3.3   

It seems like Portfolio follows its Window's version closely and tries to make it work on a Mac, and if the "file type" is set for Windows use in PM, I'm guessing they assume the same for Mac...  That being that it  needs to be set.  Photoshop apparently must set it as well, since the extension is "JPG".  hmmmmm.  The in camera rotation issue has been an on again/off again issue with Extensis for the past year.  Maybe since it doens't know it's a "JPG", it doesn't understand the "rotate" code by default since the file is "unknown"?  Pure speculation.

I mentioned to Extensis that your program is VERY important for working photographers work flow, and eliminating it is not an option.  My client uses their server version plus 10 clients, so they have something at stake..

I've heard from Extensis and sent them the "trouble files"...  I'll let you know what they say.  Any other ideas, please keep them coming.

Thanks again.

[Ves]

Hi Kirk-

Extensis has responded to me to let me know they have been able to duplicate the problems.  They say it's related to something that Photo Mechanic has added to the image file resource fork of any file that has been edited/modified in PM 4.5.2.

Perhaps you can accelerate my troubleshooting with them by providing me with any modifications to the file resource fork that has been added to PM 4.5.2 that was not a part of 4.3.3.3?  As mentioned, 4.3.3.3 works well with Portfolio...

They had to download your demo to get the problems to replicate, because accessing the image file from any Windows server or from a Windows environment "strips" the resource fork, and therefore, "eliminates" the problem.  So this is indeed a Mac related issue only, it appears.

I explained that I need both Portfolio and Photo Mechanic to get along for my work flow, and they have responded and are looking for a fix... your help in providing additional clues from your end is appreciated!

Thanks in advance for your response.

[Kirk Baker]

Extensis has responded to me to let me know they have been able to duplicate the problems.  They say it's related to something that Photo Mechanic has added to the image file resource fork of any file that has been edited/modified in PM 4.5.2.

It would be nice if they could tell us what specifically about the resource fork that is causing them problems.

Perhaps you can accelerate my troubleshooting with them by providing me with any modifications to the file resource fork that has been added to PM 4.5.2 that was not a part of 4.3.3.3?  As mentioned, 4.3.3.3 works well with Portfolio...

I know of no changes to how or what we write to the resource fork over what we did in 4.4.3.3.

They had to download your demo to get the problems to replicate, because accessing the image file from any Windows server or from a Windows environment "strips" the resource fork, and therefore, "eliminates" the problem.  So this is indeed a Mac related issue only, it appears.

I explained that I need both Portfolio and Photo Mechanic to get along for my work flow, and they have responded and are looking for a fix... your help in providing additional clues from your end is appreciated!

The only thing I can think of is to tell PM not to add an IPTC-NAA Resource.  Open the Preference dialog, click on the IPTC/XMP tab.  Then in the section titled "When writing IPTC/XMP:" uncheck the "Add IPTC-NAA Resource when embedding IPTC" and PM should no longer add anything to the resource fork of your images.

HTH,

-Kirk