> The combination of iMatch and DarkTable is currently my preferred > replacement of LightRoom 6 (perpetual licence). Experienced iMatch > users are advising me that any and all metadata changes that I wish to > make to my images should be performed in iMatch, not in DarkTable. What > DT functionality do I lose if I follow this advice?
Can you be a bit more specific about your workflow? How does DT fit into it? What you'll lose depends on what do you use DT for. What does DT write > into the 'filename.raw.xmp' file Basically, a copy of all it needs to work and keep track of the editions you make (everything is also saved into its database). This includes both DAM metadata and the full darkroom pipeline and history of the image. - a file type that iMatch cannot > understand because it is not covered by the agreed metadata structure > and content standards (so I am told). DT uses standard metadata structures and the XMP files it uses are perfectly readable by other programs, if they care to interprete them. The XMP "standard" defines the structure of the file, not the tags that should be used nor the name a sidecar must have. In particular, it allows for namespaces that each program uses for it's "private" info, like darktabke:.. for DT, lr:.. for Ligthroom. Usually, this private namespaces are read and written by the respective program and ignored by the others. DT in particular uses its namespace to save the editing history of the image. Having said that, there are certain xmps tags that are more or less common for photography metadata, and DT reads most of them on import, keeps them in the correct namespace in the XMP files, and exports them to the final JPG. This includes creator, copyright, and subject tags, for example. So, it's hard to tell what they mean by "is not covered by agreed metadata structures and content standards”. Why cannot DT write to the usual > .xmp sidecar files? > The reason I heard once was that this allows DT to work with the XMP file as a database backup without worrying about most other programs touching it. It also allows to import the metadata attached by other programs in XMP files without worrying about destroying them afterwards. But I'm not a DT developer, so take it with a pinch of salt. Best regards, Guillermo > ____________________________________________________________________________ darktable user mailing list to unsubscribe send a mail to [email protected]
