A lot of event photographers use numbered cards on ID cards etc to identify customers in images and then have a workflow to provide access for those images for the customer.
This could be made considerably easier with the ability to read the content of 2D barcodes (i.e. QR codes) and remove the need to manualy catalogue and organise image data and tagging.
A lot of fax and office document image workflow processing software uses barcode recognition to process an image workflow (ingest, rename, resave, read key data) - but none of it has the facility to put the read data into an IPTC data field.
What I would like is a "scan for barcode" option (including a batching capability), which reads any barcodes and generates a variable {barcode} ? which as with all the other variables we are familiar with then has the option to put the output into an IPTC field, filename, keywords or any other part of the stationary.
The ability to keep using a barcode (2D = those square QR codes) across successive images in a batch process until the next barcode is recognised would help put sequences of images together even though the identifying barcode is not visible after the first "ID" shot. (or the variable could be populated with a default null text i.e "no barcode")
This would help event photographers to do their job faster.
and then code replacements could be used too...
Additionally it would open up the world of businesses involved in logistics or manufacturing to the world of photomechanic - where images acquired of items on an assembly line or delivery system could automatically be tagged with the barcoded information - making their audit and control systems more thorough. Things like live ingest on a webcam taking stills of a items on conveyor belt would be a whole new world of potential business for Camera Bits.
I think we are a log way away from football and rugby players haveing a small 1" square on each arm and front and back of their shirts and shorts, holding their player number and team but we can live in hope too.
I am looking at using QR codes instead of numbers for the images I take for customers - and as I get through about 1.2million a year - given that OCR of numbers is incredibly unreliable (I know my competitors have tried and dropped it) - I'm looking for the reliability of QR codes to help with my workflow process and reduce the amount of manual keying we do in the office.
Similarly if anyone knows of an API or standalone software that can do QR code reading and embedding into IPTC description field - I'd be interested to hear from you. (I've found lots of SDK - but I'm not a programmer!)
Many thanks in advance
Anthony
