PROBLEM
I have been working in a catalog but now I want to switch over to a session workflow. How can I accomplish this without losing the work I have already done so far?
SOLUTION
As a Catalog contains all the information about the adjustments made with images, getting those images and adjustments into a session will take some effort to make sure that everything is transferred properly.
1. Create a session.
Creating a session is not crucially necessary at this step but it will be good to start arranging everything. Select File -> New Session and choose your destination folder.
Once the session is created, feel free to close it as you will need it later.
2. Export the images from the catalog to the new location.
Open the catalog with the images you would like to export. This can be a small set of images or an entire catalog. As an example, we will be exporting 52 images out from our catalog. Select the collection you would like to relocate. As we are going to move all images, the All Images option in the Catalog Collections is selected. Then select Edit -> Select All (this will select all the images in the collection).
3. Navigate to Choose File -> Export Images -> Originals to continue.
4. Select the destination where you would like the images and the adjustments to be placed. In this particular example, we will be exporting images to the session folder created in Step 1.
In the Location section, in the Destination field, we have set the Catalog_To_Session_Migration folder created in Step 1.
In the Sub Folder field, we specify that the images should go to the Capture folder in that session. The items following "Capture/" are tokens that help to sort the images by their original capture year, month and day. This part is flexible, so each user can select any tokes that would help to sort the images in further.
In case you simply want to locate all the raw files in one folder, you can choose that folder in the Destination field from the dropdown list and leave the Sub Folder field blank.
5. In the Naming section, choose the Text and Tokens option from the dropdown menu in the Method field and set [Image Name] token in the Format field. This will maintain the names of the images during the migration from a catalog to a session.
6. Make sure to tick the Include Adjustments and the Pack As EIP checkboxes. Otherwise, the raw files will be copied but any adjustments that were applied to them in the catalog will not be transferred.
7. Click Export [number] Originals. Consider that it may take some time to copy the files and transfer them from a catalog to a session folder.
8. Close the catalog, navigate to File -> Open and choose the session folder created earlier. Your images and adjustments will be in the subfolders as described in the Export Originals dialog earlier.
Comments
9 comments
Holy moly this is complicated. What if you don't want to physically move the files? I have a folder scheme I'm not interested in changing and ideally we could create development settings in place.
Exactly! Waaaaaaay too complicated! Me too, I'd want to leave the file just where they are, because that's where they are supposed to be and indexed by my DAM application and referenced by the backups, etc, etc
Why not simply (!!!!) export the settings files to where the images are???
I would also like to just export the settings files alongside where the images already are stored.
Use case is have a secondary method of storing edits for backup outside of catalog.
I think it's just explained a bit more complicated than needed but it's actually very simple:
Yes, this does copy the originals one level deeper into the "Capture" folder but that's how Sessions are setup in order for the automatic import to work.
Well, it worked.
Even without the "Pack As EIP" ticked (C1 14.0.2).
But it is super inconvenient: by far too many clicks to do. Please add a "Export Folder as Session" function.
The total bummer: C1 is still not aware of .psb and .afphoto files. If you forget to copy them manually, you're lost.
There is also till no possibility to export/import the adjustments of a single or selection of images independent of the database structure. Like the XMP files in Lr/ACR.
Missing also: panorama stitching. The settings of ACR/Lr in the panorama DNGs created by the Adobe products are ignored, even crop and even it is saved into the DNG. This is one of the big benefits of DNG, no XMP needed (as JPG and TIFF). I have no idea, why C1 is not aware of this.
The lack of panorama stitching and ignorance for .afphoto files still causes me to stuck with the Adobe subscription. That's really bad. As soon Serif comes up with a usable RAW editor and images manager such as Lr/Bridge/C1 are, this means "bye-bye C1".
Cheers,
Roland
This isn't working for me. I've followed the guide carefully, but the images are not loading once I open the new session. Any suggestions?
EDIT 1:
The workaround I've found was to export as .EIP and start an import of the newly exported files from the new session capture folder.
EDIT 2:
I spoke too early, the new session only generates low-res previews and no matter what I do, they won't load properly.
I have tried:
- regenerating previews
- unpacking the EIPs
- regenerating previews after the unpacking
- importing as raw instead of EIP
- moving EIPs or RAWs to capture folder instead of importing
- exporting from catalog to capture folder,
and all of the above in different order, multiple times. Nothing works...
I've checked the raw files and they look fine outside Capture One.
Besides the one listed above, this is another procedure I've followed, and the result is low res-previews.
Please help!
When can we expect to get a function which synchronizes the image adustments from catalog to session ( .cos and .comask files) in the location where the images are referenced by the catalog (into the CaptureOne subfolder, respectively)? No copy or move of the image files, just a plain synchronization of the adjustments?
Boy, I wanted to do just the opposite, Session to Catalog and there doesn't seem to be any help here. Also, I just want to move the metadata, not the actual DNG or RAW files. Can I just do that into a new catalog and then open the catalog? The way you have set this up is actually way too complex and I have to wonder... I bring all my best images out as TIFF files and then work from them. I rarely go back into C1 to re-edit an image or use C1 as a Library. I have a very orderly system using Bridge and P.S. and can find and replicate anything very quickly. I wish C1 would just leave meta-data next to the RAW file so that it could be easily found, copied and moved when needed. Any thoughts?
I hate to say this, but your system seems way too complex and aimed at amateurs. Having to go back into a RAW file to make images for a client a year after the job was finished seems crazy to me when I have them stored as useable images on my server and can just send my client a link with a URL in an email.
Russell Abraham
In a new catalog go to File > Import Session. That will do what you want and will leave the files referenced where the reside inside the session folder. You can import as many sessions as you want into a catalog. This is a one-way, one time process per session. There is no synchronizing between sessions and catalogs.
In a Session you can export edited RAW files into the Output folder. You can retain those output files forever and send them to clients in the future as needed.
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