Nested Virtual Sets

[Paul Wood]

I'm evaluating Iview MediaPro 3, and I'm a little confused about how to create nested virtual sets as described in The DAM Book (page 207).  Peter says he "uses a combination of several tools to make these sets". Can you elaborate?

I'm under the impression that if I import a file with the keyword of "cat", it would be automatically added to the catalog set created from a search for "cat" in the keywords, but I can't see how to do this. The Iview manual seems to indicate that images can only be added to a catalog set manually. If so, that seems a bit cumbersome to create a hierarchal list.

Can someone point me in the right direction?

[peterkrogh]

Paul,
Catalog sets are different from Keywords.
Try creating several Catalog Sets, and then drag them into each other.  You will see how they nest.

At the moment there is no way to create hierarchical sets from Keywords, but I hope too see that in iView soon.
Peter

[Paul Wood]

I see how they nest, but is there any way to have images added to them automatically? Not necessarily from keywords, but from any sort of search?

For example, let's say I want to have a category set for a particular location. I can do a 'find' to look for all images that have "New Orleans" in the location field. Is there any way to save this query as a category set? Or must I create the set, then add images to it manually every time I add more to the database?

Location is just an example -- I'd prefer to build catalog sets ("categories", in Imatch) and have them automatically updated as I add images to the database --  based on some, but not all, of the keywords I add to the image (wildlife, birds, water birds, etc.) . I'm pretty sure it can be done in Imatch with dynamic categories, but I haven't tried -- I really don't like to use that program, and if I don't enjoy the program's interface, it won't get done.

Or is the only way to add images to a catalog set to manually add them from a selection?

[peterkrogh]

Paul,
I don't think there is a way to do this automatically. This could be a useful tool, I think, as long as you could turn it off and could know easily that the catalog set is dynamically updated.

You CAN save a search, and run it again.
You can also click on multiple terms (city: New Orleans and Rating:2 Stars) and have only images appear that have both terms.

Also, adding images to a set is pretty quick and can be done in several ways.  I generally Right-click, although sometimes I will drag the images onto the term.

Peter

[Paul Wood]

Thanks, Peter.

I'm used to Imatch, where I've been doing all my cataloging by adding images to categories. I thought that I'd finally be able to automate that process. I've only been keywording images that I've submitted to my stock agency.

Maybe ACDSee Pro will have that feature.

I suspect my workflow will be evolving quite a bit in the next month or so.

I appreciate your help, and it's wonderful to be able to discuss your book!

[peterkrogh]

If you are poking around at PC applications, I'd take a look at idImager.  It may also do what you want.
Peter