Skip to main content

⚠️ Please note that this topic or post has been archived. The information contained here may no longer be accurate or up-to-date. ⚠️

Naming Variants

Andrew Johnston
Hi,
Is there any way to name variants of an image and/or include an identifier for the variant in the output image name? I very much like the variant concept, but I need to be able to generate separate output files for them.
Thanks
Andrew
0

Comments

10 comments

Date Votes
  • Paul Steunebrink
    Currently not. It has been a request since CO4. 😉
    0
  • Andrew Johnston
    Thanks. Do you know if there's any way I can tell by inspecting the output image metadata that it comes from a variant, i.e. is this data encoded anywhere in the output at all? If so, I can probably do something with a post-processing script I run.

    Andrew
    0
  • Paul Steunebrink
    As far as I know there is no reference in the output file for the variant it was created from. Note that the variant's order is not fixed but easily changed by the user (promote, demote, pick). This will affect any reference you make.

    You could enter a keyword per variant. This will show up in the output and allows you to identify an output file even when you rearrange your variants (or add, or delete).

    Tip: keywords can easily be stored in a preset for a fast workflow.
    0
  • Andrew Johnston
    Thanks Paul for the update.

    This definitely isn't trivial. I've had a look and there's no usable difference in the EXIF/IMPT data for the output files. (Sometimes variants seem to have some IMPT data missing, but that looks like a bug rather than something I could rely on).

    The variants are tracked in the .cos file, which is a pretty simple XML structure, but there doesn't seem to be any way of identifying them except via a complicated GUID, and there's no obvious way of working out which variant a given output file derives from.

    I'll look into your idea of using a standard keyword, but it would be much easier if PhaseOne added a standard identifier!
    Thanks
    Andrew
    0
  • Stefan Hermanek
    I'll make a feature request for an improved usage of the variant feature. This is the text, just for the
    interest of everybody else who is not satisfied with the current naming schema:

    The variants feature is very practical in terms of editing but hard to work with due to the naming
    conventions of c1. I didn't found a reliable way to identify pictures between the C1 variants, processed
    images and images in a web contact sheet.

    For example: there is 'image.nef' with two variants numbered '1' and '2'. After processing the images
    there are 'image.jpg' and 'image (2).jpg'. I just can assume that 'image.jpg' is variant '1' but I don't
    know it. Then variant '1' is processed again, the result is 'image (2).jpg'. How to find the
    corresponding variant?
    As a workaround mentioned in another thread one can give an unique IPTC keyword to every variant. Now it's possible for a processed image to find the corresponding variant in C1 by adding the keyword as
    search criteria. Vice versa it's not so easy to do by hand, one has to import the processed images into
    C1 or use a 3rd-party tool to search for IPTC keywords. It's makeable but not convenient.
    Now let's make a web contact sheet of the variants and send it to a client. What image caption should I
    use? 'Variant name'? Then don't ever pick or promote the variants because the won't correspond to the wcs anymore. The 'Variant name' aka 'photo id'? Fine, now I can touch the variants, but how do I find a
    variant by its 'photo id' in C1? Wait, I still have the IPTC keyword for my variants - but they are not
    written in the preview images of the wcs, so no luck either.

    Here is my preferred solution I ask for:
    An unique, customizable naming schema for the lifetime of a variant and the possibility to add this name to a processed images name.

    Workarounds if this takes time to implement:
    1. the possibility to add IPTC keywords to the processed images name
    2. add IPTC keywords as image caption for the web contact sheet
    3. add IPTC keywords to the preview images of the web contact sheet
    4. add the photo id as search criteria in the C1 search dialog

    Stefan
    0
  • Paul Steunebrink
    Good suggestions, Stefan. For my own understanding I recap.

    First iteration
    A good start would be to create a new variant renaming token (Capture One has several of these tokens) that can be used in the output (processing, export).

    The token reflects to the number of the variant. The format could have some variation like many other tokens like date and time currently have. For example: VAR01, -01- and so on for the number of the variant.

    Second iteration
    Allow to uniquely name the variants (B&W, contrast+1) and have these information filled into the file name with the Variants token. This prevents the issue of reordering (promoting, demoting, adding, deleting) variants and losing track between the processed and unprocessed images.
    0
  • Permanently deleted user
    Hi Stefan and Paul

    Thanks to Paul for all the info. But Phase One has sat on this very useful idea since CO4? Words fail me!

    And now to a partial work-around, perhaps. Periodically I need to rename a batch of images in one file/folder. I use a Bulk Rename Utility (just Google it) from TGRMN. It is free (£ contributions welcome) and very easy to use, and highly adaptable.

    Just a thought.

    Peter
    0
  • Andrew Johnston
    I think the required solution is pretty straightforward. Any variant can be given an optional name, but defaults to something like V01 (unless there's only one variant). This can then be used as a token in the filename, and optionally written to IPTC. Is that what everyone else is thinking of?

    Andrew
    0
  • Paul Steunebrink
    [quote="akjohnston" wrote:
    I think the required solution is pretty straightforward. Any variant can be given an optional name, but defaults to something like V01 (unless there's only one variant). This can then be used as a token in the filename, and optionally written to IPTC. Is that what everyone else is thinking of?

    Andrew

    That pretty much describes it. Thanks.
    0
  • Stefan Hermanek
    [quote="akjohnston" wrote:
    I think the required solution is pretty straightforward. Any variant can be given an optional name, but defaults to something like V01 (unless there's only one variant). This can then be used as a token in the filename, and optionally written to IPTC. Is that what everyone else is thinking of?

    Andrew


    Yes, that's it!

    Stefan
    0

Post is closed for comments.