Error: Unable to save IPTC info

[jgammon]

I am tagging tiff files that were converted from multi-page tiffs to single page tiffs using Multi Page Tiff Editor version 2.4.2.623.  When I apply IPTC tags either with the editor box or Stationary Pad, they apply fine.  However if I subsequently add additional fields, then I get the error message:  "Error:  Unable to save IPTC info".  After the error, the existing data added initially is erased and upon closing the file, it is no longer readable by PM or Windows.  I'm using Windows 7 and PM 4.6.8. 

[Kirk Baker]

Can you provide a sample image for us to try and reproduce the problem?  Please click on my name to the left of this message, then click on the 'personal message' link.  I will respond with upload instructions.

Thanks,

-Kirk

[dennis]

I took a look at one of the TIFF files you uploaded and noticed that the data for the IPTC record (which only has the IPTC Source field) is defined to be 32 bytes long, but should really only be 28 bytes long.  Unfortunately the TIFF table, which follows the IPTC record in this file, therefore overlaps with the IPTC record.  This is a NO-NO (improperly formatted TIFF) and this can cause problems with PM when it tries to update.  So this is a case of "garbage in, garbage out" I'm afraid.

My recommendation is to load these TIF files into Photoshop then save them out as a brand new file.  Then edit those Photoshop-written files with PM.  If you save these as 100% quality JPEGs from Photoshop then I don't think you need to worry about losing any quality.

--dennis

[jgammon]

Photoshop will only open the first page of a multi-page TIFF file.  Do you have any recommendations on a reliable TIFF-splitting software that follows TIFF/ IPTC protocol to avoid this problem?  Saving as a 100% quality JPEG in PM still causes the City, Location, State and Country fields to be deleted.  Any suggestions there also? 

Thanks, Joe

[Kirk Baker]

Joe,

Photoshop will only open the first page of a multi-page TIFF file.  Do you have any recommendations on a reliable TIFF-splitting software that follows TIFF/ IPTC protocol to avoid this problem?  Saving as a 100% quality JPEG in PM still causes the City, Location, State and Country fields to be deleted.  Any suggestions there also? 

You already have split the images out into single image TIFFs, right?  (They are just poorly formatted for metadata update purposes, but the image loads fine in Photoshop, correct?)  Then open each one with Photoshop and save them as a new TIFF file (Photoshop will create a new TIFF file, not a copy) and then work with them in Photo Mechanic.  Or since you've indicated that you eventually want to save them out as JPEGs anyway, save the split-out TIFFs as JPEGs from Photoshop and then caption the JPEGs with Photo Mechanic.

HTH,

-Kirk

[jgammon]

This is doable, but very manual and time consuming.  Just not sure if I have time to  do this manually... I have a large production project of 100's of photos split and tag over the next 10 days.  Is there an ETA for for correcting PM's problem with reading these files?  Other TIFF tagging software programs have no problem reading and tagging these files without corrupting them and making them unusable as PM does.  PM would definitely be my first choice for tagging because of its efficiency, if there is a quick fix on the way. 

FYI 1--- I have tried a second automated TIFF-splitting software, Tiff Merger Split v 2.2.0.  PM processed the first 100 or so single-page tiffs extracted by this program flawlessly, with no problems.  Then with the next batch PM began treating these files the same way as those split by Multi Page Tiff Splitter, producing error messages and corrupting the files as previously.   

FYI 2-- The open in" Adobe, copy, save new file" work around works so far.  But so did FYI 1 until it stopped working. 

Better solution is to fix PM to adapt to these type files.  There must be a solution for PM to be able to deal with these files, since other tagging programs can without problems. 

[Kirk Baker]

Joe,

This is doable, but very manual and time consuming.  Just not sure if I have time to  do this manually... I have a large production project of 100's of photos split and tag over the next 10 days.  Is there an ETA for for correcting PM's problem with reading these files?  Other TIFF tagging software programs have no problem reading and tagging these files without corrupting them and making them unusable as PM does.  PM would definitely be my first choice for tagging because of its efficiency, if there is a quick fix on the way.

We will not be modifying PM to work with files that are already damaged.  The samples you sent us have errors in their layout.  It is likely that other software completely rewrites the TIFF file when changes are made.  PM does not do this.  It updates the files in-place.  It's one of the things that accounts for the speed of Photo Mechanic.  PM is incapable of updating these damaged files.  The best we could do is identify the damaged files and refuse to work with them. Either way that wouldn't be a solution for you.
 

FYI 1--- I have tried a second automated TIFF-splitting software, Tiff Merger Split v 2.2.0.  PM processed the first 100 or so single-page tiffs extracted by this program flawlessly, with no problems.  Then with the next batch PM began treating these files the same way as those split by Multi Page Tiff Splitter, producing error messages and corrupting the files as previously.

I'd suspect that this additional software also has issues with the way it formats TIFF files.  The TIFF format is no simple file format and it is easy enough to get it wrong.   Without having sample files to verify, I can only speculate.

FYI 2-- The open in" Adobe, copy, save new file" work around works so far.  But so did FYI 1 until it stopped working. 

Better solution is to fix PM to adapt to these type files.  There must be a solution for PM to be able to deal with these files, since other tagging programs can without problems.

We will not be changing PM to accommodate improperly formatted TIFF files.  Even if we were to do so (and drop all development effort on the upcoming PM5 product) we likely wouldn't have a solution ready for release in 10 days.  You wouldn't have time to finish your project.

I have suggested a couple of workarounds (save as new TIFF, save as JPEG) and you can automate this procedure by creating 'Droplets' from Photoshop 'Actions' that can be driven entirely from Photo Mechanic's 'Send to Droplet' command on the Image menu.  Unless your 100's of images is really closer to 1000 images I would expect an automated conversion process to take no more than a few hours.

Photo Mechanic was designed primarily to work with images generated by modern digital cameras.  While it often works well with other non-camera file formats, they are not Photo Mechanic's focus.

-Kirk

[Hayo Baan]

This is doable, but very manual and time consuming.  Just not sure if I have time to  do this manually... I have a large production project of 100's of photos split and tag over the next 10 days.  Is there an ETA for for correcting PM's problem with reading these files?  Other TIFF tagging software programs have no problem reading and tagging these files without corrupting them and making them unusable as PM does.  PM would definitely be my first choice for tagging because of its efficiency, if there is a quick fix on the way. 

Instead of manually doing the file open, save as thing in Photoshop, you can automate this by creating an action / droplet to do so. Another probably simplest solution is to use the Image Processor script (File|Scripts|Image Processor…). The image processor allows you to quickly and easily save a bunch of images as JPG, TIFF, or PSD. Exactly what you want I think.

Hope this helps,
Hayo