Live Ingest and ftp

[jdandanell]

Live Ingest works like a charm but I lack the ability to use ftp in "Destination processing"
Are there any way around this?

[Kirk Baker]

Live Ingest works like a charm but I lack the ability to use ftp in "Destination processing"
Are there any way around this?

Get the 4.6.1 beta from the Announcements section of the forums.  It solves the issue you're describing.  Please write back to confirm that it solves your problem, or it doesn't.

Thanks,

-Kirk

[jdandanell]

Downloaded the 4.6.1 beta but it did not solve the issue
There is no way for me to point out a ftp-connection as a destination during the live ingest

[Kirk Baker]

Downloaded the 4.6.1 beta but it did not solve the issue
There is no way for me to point out a ftp-connection as a destination during the live ingest

Do you mean that you want Live Ingest to start a FTP Upload?  It doesn't have that capability.

I thought you were referring to the FTP template and issues with setting the Destination path.

-Kirk

[jdandanell]

Do you mean that you want Live Ingest to start a FTP Upload?  It doesn't have that capability.

I thought you were referring to the FTP template and issues with setting the Destination path.

-Kirk

Yes, I ment the Live Ingest to start a FTP Upload.
To bad it doesn't have that function since it's very common in a wireless workflow.

Now I have to use a second software for the automatic FTP Upload.

[william]

I'm actually looking at trying to do the opposite.

I'd like to know if it is possible for PM4.6 Live Ingest to watch a folder on an ftp server and download photos as they drop into that server?

Basically, we're not getting a lot of support from our IT department and I'm trying to cobble something together on my own.

We have an FTP server outside our newspaper's firewall that the photographers drop their images into when they are filing from outside the building. Right now we are manually connecting to the server from inside our office with Transmit/Fetch, grabbing the photos and dropping them into a folder on a server inside our firewall that then puts the images into our "live" system for page designers and everyone else to get to.

What I'd like to be able to do is have PM4.6 somehow connect to the FTP server, watch the drop folder in the server, grab the photos that appear there, and then move those images to the folder inside our firewall that handles everything else.

Two issues I don't know how to solve:

1) How to automatically connect to and watch an FTP server.

2) How to keep the program from grabbing the pictures before they are done dropping into the FTP server (for example, when a photographer is on a slow internet connection).

We are on G5 intel macs running various flavors of OS 10.4 and 10.5

I've messed around with various combinations of transmit and automator, but can't seem to "tune" the grabbing of the photos so that it happens fast enough for newspaper workflow but slow enough to not grab incomplete pictures.

Kirk, I'm hoping you and the PM folks can come to the rescue as you have in the past.

Thanks in advance,

William

[Kirk Baker]

William,

I'm actually looking at trying to do the opposite.

I'd like to know if it is possible for PM4.6 Live Ingest to watch a folder on an ftp server and download photos as they drop into that server?

Basically, we're not getting a lot of support from our IT department and I'm trying to cobble something together on my own.

We have an FTP server outside our newspaper's firewall that the photographers drop their images into when they are filing from outside the building. Right now we are manually connecting to the server from inside our office with Transmit/Fetch, grabbing the photos and dropping them into a folder on a server inside our firewall that then puts the images into our "live" system for page designers and everyone else to get to.

What I'd like to be able to do is have PM4.6 somehow connect to the FTP server, watch the drop folder in the server, grab the photos that appear there, and then move those images to the folder inside our firewall that handles everything else.

Two issues I don't know how to solve:

1) How to automatically connect to and watch an FTP server.

2) How to keep the program from grabbing the pictures before they are done dropping into the FTP server (for example, when a photographer is on a slow internet connection).

We are on G5 intel macs running various flavors of OS 10.4 and 10.5

I've messed around with various combinations of transmit and automator, but can't seem to "tune" the grabbing of the photos so that it happens fast enough for newspaper workflow but slow enough to not grab incomplete pictures.

Kirk, I'm hoping you and the PM folks can come to the rescue as you have in the past.

There is no way to get LiveIngest to watch via FTP.  But if you can mount the disk that the FTP server is storing its received files as a volume on your Mac, then LiveIngest could watch the folders on the mounted disk.

HTH,

-Kirk

[william]

Kirk,

Yes, I can mount the ftp server on my desktop as a mounted volume and access it through the normal functions in the finder.

But when I point PM into the folder inside the FTP server that we are dropping the images into, PM just sits there waiting. The Ingest Task dialogue box just says,"Waiting for files to ingest....." and the dots keep moving but nothing happens.

Suggestions?

[william]

OK, I may have spoken a little too soon.

I can indeed connect to the FTP site through OSX's "connect to server" command. The FTP site mounts like a disk on the desktop and I can go look in the folders on that server to see what's in there. The problem seems to be that although the server will remain mounted, it does not appear to update the folder contents as things are put in the various folders.

So what I did the first time to cause the problem was that I mounted the server and pointed Live Ingest at the folder I wanted. Then I added the test file to the FTP folder and waited. But nothing happened, since the folder shown on my desktop does not update unless you disconnect and reconnect to the FTP site.

The second time, I put the file in the appropriate FTP folder first, then mounted the FTP server and then pointed Live Ingest at it. This time I got a lot action. The file downloaded, and continued to download about a 100 times in just a few minutes. I had to disconnect the server to get PM to stop downloading the file. Apparently, since the FTP folder on my desktop does not update unless I disconnect and reconnect, PM thought the file was still there and repeatedly down loaded the test image.

So I'm not sure what to do from here. This may just not be something that is possible through PM and the FTP connection option built into OSX 10.5.

[Kirk Baker]

OK, I may have spoken a little too soon.

I can indeed connect to the FTP site through OSX's "connect to server" command. The FTP site mounts like a disk on the desktop and I can go look in the folders on that server to see what's in there. The problem seems to be that although the server will remain mounted, it does not appear to update the folder contents as things are put in the various folders.

So what I did the first time to cause the problem was that I mounted the server and pointed Live Ingest at the folder I wanted. Then I added the test file to the FTP folder and waited. But nothing happened, since the folder shown on my desktop does not update unless you disconnect and reconnect to the FTP site.

The second time, I put the file in the appropriate FTP folder first, then mounted the FTP server and then pointed Live Ingest at it. This time I got a lot action. The file downloaded, and continued to download about a 100 times in just a few minutes. I had to disconnect the server to get PM to stop downloading the file. Apparently, since the FTP folder on my desktop does not update unless I disconnect and reconnect, PM thought the file was still there and repeatedly down loaded the test image.

So I'm not sure what to do from here. This may just not be something that is possible through PM and the FTP connection option built into OSX 10.5.

No, that's not possible.  What I meant for you to do is mount the folder of the server on your system via AFP or SMB (Apple Share, or Samba) so it is a file system, or run the FTP Server on your own machine so that the folder being uploaded into is just a local folder.  Then it should work fine.

-Kirk

[vAfotoriporter]

Do you mean that you want Live Ingest to start a FTP Upload?  It doesn't have that capability.

I thought you were referring to the FTP template and issues with setting the Destination path.

-Kirk

Yes, I ment the Live Ingest to start a FTP Upload.
To bad it doesn't have that function since it's very common in a wireless workflow.

Now I have to use a second software for the automatic FTP Upload.

On a Mac using certain FTP softwares you can setup Droplets allowing you to drag files onto them having programmed actions started with the given files. If you can setup such a droplet to send the files to the FTP you on it, maybe PM Live Ingest can send your files to the droplet.
I don't know much about how to create droplets on Windows and dont even know if it does work on a Mac since I rarely use droplets and never used Live Ingest, but maybe a thought worth checking possibilities.

[Jason Miller]

Is there any way to set up a watched folder for FTPing files in PM? A feature like that would be ideal for this type of thing.

You could set your watched folder to be the same folder live ingest is downloading to. Then PM would start uploading any new files as soon as they appear. I know there are third party ftp programs that do this but it would be great if it all happened in PM.

Jason

[Paul Smith]

Is there any way to set up a watched folder for FTPing files in PM? A feature like that would be ideal for this type of thing.

You could set your watched folder to be the same folder live ingest is downloading to. Then PM would start uploading any new files as soon as they appear. I know there are third party ftp programs that do this but it would be great if it all happened in PM.

I agree. This would be a dream feature for major events like the Oscars. Here's how I would love to see it work.

1.  Selected images transferred from camera via wifi to watched folder on laptop.

2.  PM automatically ingests from that folder applying any IPTC data that has been set up and renames images.

3.  PM uploads resized images to pre-designated ftp server.

OK, Kirk, we've got five months until the Oscars. How about it?   

Cheers,

Paul
Featureflash.com

[nmf]

For those looking at the option of using droplets or, creating an automated workflow using scripts and automator actions do check thoroughly what is delivered to your client. I looked into using an automator workflow that would do various things such as resize and then upload from a hot folder to which I had saved edited and captioned images. The first version resized everything to the correct pixel dimensions but changed the resolution from 300dpi to 72dpi. The second stripped out the embedded IPTC data. Both used readily available actions as I don't have the knowledge to write my own.

Obviously the latter will not matter to those who are only looking for fast distribution to an off site editor however, for those of you who distribute directly to your clients this is clearly important.

[dell2405]

I had the same problem issue.  Here is what I did:

1)  cameras transferred to computer over wifi to PM watch folder(INCOMING) using LIVE INGEST.
2)  PM set to caption images.
3)  Live ingest transfers captioned image to (TRANSMIT) folder.
4)  PC Program called FOLDERFTP($25) uses TRANSMIT folder as a watchfolder.  Automatically FTPs any incoming images to server.  You can also
bypass Photomechanic entirely using FOLDERFTP as it has a basic IPTC template for adding a stock caption to images that it uploads to the server.

Is there any way to set up a watched folder for FTPing files in PM? A feature like that would be ideal for this type of thing.

You could set your watched folder to be the same folder live ingest is downloading to. Then PM would start uploading any new files as soon as they appear. I know there are third party ftp programs that do this but it would be great if it all happened in PM.

I agree. This would be a dream feature for major events like the Oscars. Here's how I would love to see it work.

1.  Selected images transferred from camera via wifi to watched folder on laptop.

2.  PM automatically ingests from that folder applying any IPTC data that has been set up and renames images.

3.  PM uploads resized images to pre-designated ftp server.

OK, Kirk, we've got five months until the Oscars. How about it?   

Cheers,

Paul
Featureflash.com