iView "Open With" command, ACR, and lost metadata?

[andris]

I've finally had some time to write Photoshop droplets for some of my common output actions for use in iView, and I'm coming across a troubling problem.

When delivering final images, my usual workflow is to make a set of the client select DNGs in iView, right click and 'open with' Photoshop, adjust in ACR, and use the 'Save As' button in ACR to create PSD files.  I then open these PSD files one at a time as I do my final retouching.  No problems here, all the metadata goes along for the ride and ends up in the final PSD when I catalog into my derivatives catalog.

Some of my work on actions and droplets, though, led me to discover that when I use 'open with' in iView to open a DNG into ACR and then just click the ACR 'open' button to open in Photoshop, the metadata from the original DNG isn't carried along.  When I check the file info in Photoshop via 'File -> File Info...' I see nothing but empty metadata.  When I save/save as out of Photoshop, still no metadata shows up.

All annotations have been exported to the original files in both cases, so that's not the problem.  What gives?  Is this my problem, or does this happen to other people as well?

Thanks for the help,

Andris

[peterkrogh]

Andris,
Are you saying that when you Open with ACR all metadata is stripped, but when you Save with ACR it is preserved?
I would have expected it to e the other way around.
Peter

[andris]

Hi Peter,  I know...I would have thought the same thing.

Yup, that appears to be the behavior.  Here are the exact steps I'm following:

1)  Export annotations to file in iView.
2)  Right click file in iView to 'open with' Photoshop CS3.
3)  Click 'open' in ACR to open into Photoshop.
4)  View file info with 'file - file info...'. No metadata:  no copyright, no keywords, no nothing.
5)  Save the file as a tiff, jpg, etc...no metadata on the derivative either.

but if I do this:

1)  Export annotations to file in iView.
2)  Right click file in iView to 'open with' Photoshop CS3.
3)  Click the 'save' button in ACR, and save as Photoshop PSD file.
4)  Open new PSD file with Photoshop.
5)  View file info with 'file -> file info...'.  Yay:  metadata is present!

I've seen this on both my home and work machines/software copies, so it's not unique to a single installation.

Photoshop, like most applications in Windows XP, shows the name of the open file in the window title bar.  I've always thought it strange that when you open a DNG straight out of ACR, Photoshop still shows the working file as <filename>.dng until you save it as something else...even though the file contains layers, etc.

Can someone else with current patches for XP, CS3, and iView 3.1 installed just confirm that this doesn't happen for them?  I get the behavior on all the machines I have access to, so there's no way for me to be sure this isn't a bug rather than a mistake somewhere on my part.

Thanks,

Andris

[peterkrogh]

Andris,
Testing here on the Mac, I'm seeing metadata in both versions (open and save).
No time right now to do other tests.

Have you tried to test entering metadata from Bridge and doing the open?

All versions current?

Has this always been happening, or did it recently break?
Peter

[andris]

Totally understand the not having time...the holidays are more than a little crazy around here as well.

I'm pretty sure it's a recent thing, and I wish I could say for sure.  Problem is, my usual workflow uses the ACR save button rather than the open button so I can't be positive.

I thought this might be an .xmp and .dng files in the same directory problem...but I checked and the only thing in the folders in question is the .dng's themselves.

All versions are current.  Most metadata in this case was added using Image Ingester Pro.  I'll give it a shot with bridge and let you know.

As always, thanks for the help and Happy Holidays!

Andris

[andris]

A quick update...this doesn't appear to be a global issue.  In the studio, it only happens on files from the last three shoots or so.  Older files work fine.  It's odd that it happens on my home computer, as well with files shot with a different camera.  I did update Image Ingester Pro both at home and at work, recently, though.  I'm thinking that might be the common link.

I experimented with the files showing this problem a bit more.  I know the metadata is actually in the files because I can see it with Bridge and with Breeze Browser.  Oddly, if I make a single change to the metadata in bridge (i.e. add a keyword) and then open into Photoshop via ACR _all_ the metadata is visible.

I'll keep looking...

Andris

[andris]

I think I've narrowed this down to an IIP problem.  I've started a thread in the IIP forum here:  http://thedambook.com/smf/index.php?topic=2814.0.  Sorry for the cross posting.

Andris