Color class and star rating in Capture NX

[bjornh]

I am now using PM with NX2 and both ratings and colour classes set in PM show up fine in NX2. This is made possible by the fact that NX2 uses XMP for its ratings and labels.  The key to making colour classes work is that the NAME of the colour class must be identical in all three apps. The colour class is recognised by its name, not the number. All three apps allow you to customise the names of the colour labels.

With the quality of the NX2 images I am sure that a lot of people will be moving to the combination of PM and NX2. I have just completed a move of all .nef images in Lightroom to working with the PM NX2 combination. I am not yet as proficient with NX2 as I was with Lightroom, but that will come with practice.

Jim Swift

There is one small problem. You can start to set a color class in PM and it shows correctly in NX. Then you change it in NX and it shows correctly in PM. Change once again in PM and it shows a missmatch in NX - color and number doesn't match. NX seems to use a combination of color class and urgency value.

[dogear]

I have this working properly on my setup; however, the labels can't be changed once an NEF has been saved in NX. If you apply a label in PM, NX will see it. If you then process/save said NEF in NX and then change the label in PM, NX won't recognize it because (according to Jason Odell) the label info is moved to a different location upon saving. It will just show the original label.

Your best bet is to apply your labels first in PM, then process/save in NX. This is how I work anyway, so it's not an issue here. The ratings apparently aren't affected by NX saves. You can go back and change those and see the new ratings in NX.

[bjornh]

I have this working properly on my setup; however, the labels can't be changed once an NEF has been saved in NX. If you apply a label in PM, NX will see it. If you then process/save said NEF in NX and then change the label in PM, NX won't recognize it because (according to Jason Odell) the label info is moved to a different location upon saving. It will just show the original label.

Your best bet is to apply your labels first in PM, then process/save in NX. This is how I work anyway, so it's not an issue here. The ratings apparently aren't affected by NX saves. You can go back and change those and see the new ratings in NX.

Yes, I can work arround it but it would be so nice if it worked if I changed labels in NX

[Kirk Baker]

Bjorn,

Did you get the files and my description? Is it possible to solve this? I'm still evaulating PM and I really like it for the speed and I think it could be a good center in my workflow.

We are working on a solution where there will be an option to synchronize the Color Class with the IPTC Urgency field.  This should make it seamless to adjust Color Classes and color labels in each app and have them work consistently.

-Kirk

[bjornh]

Bjorn,

We are working on a solution where there will be an option to synchronize the Color Class with the IPTC Urgency field.  This should make it seamless to adjust Color Classes and color labels in each app and have them work consistently.

-Kirk

Sounds great! I have just registered and I think I'm starting to get a working workflow for my pictures.

[ostonica]

Bjorn,

We are working on a solution where there will be an option to synchronize the Color Class with the IPTC Urgency field.  This should make it seamless to adjust Color Classes and color labels in each app and have them work consistently.

-Kirk

Good to hear this, Kirk. Will this be in the next beta of 4.5.3.2, or in a later version?

Jason Odell, in the Nikonians forum, says that NX2 moves the location of the XMP data to a different location in the .NEF file when you save it.

But I find that PM can still read the colour classes in an NX2-saved .NEF file after they have been changed in NX2, but they become read-only in PM. PM cannot change the colour classes after that.

Since I use colour classes to show progress through the processing workflow, this actually works fine for me because I only change the colour class in   NX2. 

Looking forward to seeing how you implement cataloguing.

Jim Swift

[dogear]

Bjorn,

Did you get the files and my description? Is it possible to solve this? I'm still evaulating PM and I really like it for the speed and I think it could be a good center in my workflow.

We are working on a solution where there will be an option to synchronize the Color Class with the IPTC Urgency field.  This should make it seamless to adjust Color Classes and color labels in each app and have them work consistently.

-Kirk

That's great. I'm wondering if this would then make the labels visible in Expression Media as well? Unless I'm mistaken, that's where EM stores color class info.

[Kirk Baker]

Bjorn,

Did you get the files and my description? Is it possible to solve this? I'm still evaulating PM and I really like it for the speed and I think it could be a good center in my workflow.

We are working on a solution where there will be an option to synchronize the Color Class with the IPTC Urgency field.  This should make it seamless to adjust Color Classes and color labels in each app and have them work consistently.

That's great. I'm wondering if this would then make the labels visible in Expression Media as well? Unless I'm mistaken, that's where EM stores color class info.

I believe it will.

-Kirk