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What DAM software there are for Mac

Jukka Vuorinen

New member
I'm currently using Lighroom as DAM software, but I feel it's lacking on DAM side. So I'd like to test some other possibilities to know if I'm just expecting too much.

What DAM/DIM software there are for Mac? LR and Aperture I already know. In Windows I few years ago used IMatch a bit, but unfortunately is Win only. It would be nice if there would be free trial version of those software available.

Thank you.
 

James Cook

New member
You haven't specified what it is that you're missing. There are programs that fall within the overall DAM category for all sorts of needs.

If you want one that deals with licensing and usage, the only one with I know of is produced by my company. That's StockView. It's also the only one that handles analog and digital equally well.

There are some QuickTime movies and you can get a free demo at http://HSLtd.us
 

Jukka Vuorinen

New member
Thank you James. I'll explore StockView when I got a bit more time.

I was a vague in my wording, because I'm not very sure what I feel LR is missing. I'm just trying to find out.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
You haven't specified what it is that you're missing. There are programs that fall within the overall DAM category for all sorts of needs.

If you want one that deals with licensing and usage, the only one with I know of is produced by my company. That's StockView. It's also the only one that handles analog and digital equally well.

There are some QuickTime movies and you can get a free demo at http://HSLtd.us

James,

I'm so impressed with your Inview and Stockview software. There is such a richness in contact info and searching capabilities. Some questions.

1. Can one import catalogs from iviewMedia Pro, ()now Microsoft Expression and also owned now by Phase One)? That's because a lot of us have all my work in that software? Same question would apply to Lightroom databases.

2. Can it work with RAW files?

3. I didn't see the specification for color space when giving output specs for files

4. Can it cover sales of prints? Or is not, how does one integrate that with other software?

Asher
 

James Cook

New member
James,

I'm so impressed with your Inview and Stockview software. There is such a richness in contact info and searching capabilities. Some questions.

1. Can one import catalogs from iviewMedia Pro, ()now Microsoft Expression and also owned now by Phase One)? That's because a lot of us have all my work in that software? Same question would apply to Lightroom databases.

2. Can it work with RAW files?

3. I didn't see the specification for color space when giving output specs for files

4. Can it cover sales of prints? Or is not, how does one integrate that with other software?

Asher

Thanks Asher. I'm particularly proud of the Contacts module and know it can stand up very well against any other.

It's been a while since I looked at iView/Expression but we do have very good importing capabilities. As long as you can get a good text file out of other software it's capable of being imported. The best is a tab delimited format. On images, there's a lot of difference in how paths are stored and used, so pointers to display images from your disk may not do well when imported.

We've chosen to leave RAW alone. There are just too many proprietary formats to reverse engineer and I've chosen to leave sidecars alone. We can read the JPEG embedded into many of them and we do handle DNG. And, sorry, but there's no color space handling built into the program. That would be a matter of using one of the existing fields to insert any specs. The role of our Catalogue is ultimately to be the source of everything you could ever want to know about any image - it's licensing history, it's earnings, release status, location of the image and copies.... And I know there's nothing close on the ability to generate licenses and/or keep track of them.

The Catalogue works quite well for tracking prints; it's what I use it for more than anything. I have the numbering set up to note prints within a series, 1-20 for instance is the first of 20. I have a master entry for each series where I collect the overall sales amounts, plus a dollar entry on each individual mage for its sale price.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
James,

I guess it's a matter of just trying to import and then see what on earth happens! What programs import cleanly?

If there's a TIFF and it's in Adobe RGB, then when your program makes say a high resolution jpg for the web, (which must, of course, be in sRGB), then the conversion works how if one doesn't designate color space? Does your software simply ignore the color space and does produce a jpg with nothing designated or is it automatically converted to sRGB or else is this merely assigned, (which wouldn't be such a great idea)?

How is the image ordering linked to the record? Do you do it by hand or is there a module for that? IOW, if on your webpage you offer pictures for sale and an order is generated, how does that get to your record in your software?

Asher
 

James Cook

New member
James,

I guess it's a matter of just trying to import and then see what on earth happens! What programs import cleanly?

If there's a TIFF and it's in Adobe RGB, then when your program makes say a high resolution jpg for the web, (which must, of course, be in sRGB), then the conversion works how if one doesn't designate color space? Does your software simply ignore the color space and does produce a jpg with nothing designated or is it automatically converted to sRGB or else is this merely assigned, (which wouldn't be such a great idea)?

How is the image ordering linked to the record? Do you do it by hand or is there a module for that? IOW, if on your webpage you offer pictures for sale and an order is generated, how does that get to your record in your software?

Asher

Since every program has its own variances in formats and organization, data doesn't move as readily as it could between a lot of them. An important influence is whether or not the program offers some ability to filter the data as it goes in or out. That allows you to re-arrange the data for a better fit.

Regarding color space, as with many software products we make use of what's readily available to us to eliminate re-invention. Apple's QuickTime is built into every Mac OS and is bundled on most Windows computers. We use QuickTime's built in processing in order to resize and convert images. With Snow Leopard, QuickTime moved to a 2.2 gamma, but at last look it still fails to make full use of color space and sRGB is ignored. So the JPEGs created from your TIFF are not being adjusted.

I've always considered the JPEGs we create to be for reference purposes. They're fine as a thumbnail in the database to show you which image you're dealing with and they work well for creating delivery memos and licenses. When having the program create HTML galleries it can convert TIFFs for the JPEGs but it's obviously better if it's simply copying high quality JPEGs originally created by software dedicated to the purpose of image processing versus a database.

For image ordering via a web site there's not an automated link to the Catalogue. When a sale occurs there or through a gallery, I locate the image and make manual notes in its record. The day when I can't keep up remains in my dreams. ;-) Automation depends too much on the server that is hosting the site and what software is, or can be, installed on it to process the transaction and update your desktop software.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Since every program has its own variances in formats and organization, data doesn't move as readily as it could between a lot of them. An important influence is whether or not the program offers some ability to filter the data as it goes in or out. That allows you to re-arrange the data for a better fit.

That's something to try. However, if one uses your software starting with a new project, then it seems to be a very good option for someone expanding their work.

Regarding color space, as with many software products we make use of what's readily available to us to eliminate re-invention. Apple's QuickTime is built into every Mac OS and is bundled on most Windows computers. We use QuickTime's built in processing in order to resize and convert images. With Snow Leopard, QuickTime moved to a 2.2 gamma, but at last look it still fails to make full use of color space and sRGB is ignored. So the JPEGs created from your TIFF are not being adjusted.
To me this means one gets to sRGB before hand! That makes it simple. However, in selling, one needs to sell Tiffs in Adobe RGB (1988) to get the art editor and printer the full value. So these pictures should be imported that way. I hate the idea of having two catalogs. It's better to have two disciplined ways of adding pics to your software.

For image ordering via a web site there's not an automated link to the Catalogue. When a sale occurs there or through a gallery, I locate the image and make manual notes in its record. The day when I can't keep up remains in my dreams. ;-)

We should all be so lucky!

Asher
 

James Cook

New member
However, in selling, one needs to sell Tiffs in Adobe RGB (1988) to get the art editor and printer the full value. So these pictures should be imported that way. I hate the idea of having two catalogs. It's better to have two disciplined ways of adding pics to your software.

I use the catalogue to keep track of all my originals and derivatives, most of which are carefully processed. It does nothing to them in getting them added; it simply notes where they're installed on my hard drive. Writing metadata to them has no affect on the image either.

The only time the image itself is processed is if I've got the Catalogue doing a conversion from one format to another or resizing. I do use that frequently to create my reference images.

As with most software, you work out your flow.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
The only time the image itself is processed is if I've got the Catalogue doing a conversion from one format to another or resizing. I do use that frequently to create my reference images.

As with most software, you work out your flow.

James,

'm so impressed with the apparent flexibility that Stockview has built into it and the wonderful help hints that appear at the bottom, ready at a glance, incase one forgets about an option. This has an obvious benefit for tracking what commitments one has already made with pictures and it's all in one place. IviewMedia Pro, (Microsoft Expression) does not have this rich capability built in.

Asher
 
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