| Review: Idimager Pro v4.0 | May 12th, 2008 |
|---|
Ok everyone.. are you ready? I’ve been asked the same question over and over by lots of folks since I started DAMRoundup: “when are you going to be doing a review of Idimager?”. My response is always… “Soon”. Well, I finally have pulled together the review and do hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed putting it together. So without further ado…. I present my review and thoughts on Idimager 4.0.
| Application | Version | Review Date | Price | Review By | Technology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Idimager Pro Desktop | 4.0.0.7b | May 4, 2008 | $129 | Andy | PC (MAC via Parallels) |
| Website | http://www.idimager.com | ||||
General Overview
Idimager is a fully fledged DAM application in every sense of the word. Written and supported by a single developer, Hertwig van Zwietering, the product contains just about every asset management feature that both amateurs and professionals need to organize and utilize their photo collection. Before getting into the detailed review, I do want to fully disclose that Hert did provide me with a full version of the software so I could test the features beyond the 30 day trial. While I am most appreciative of this generous gesture, I assure everyone that it did not affect my review of the product in any way. Ok, with that bit of info out of the way…. let’s get on with the review!
Installation
The installation of the product went very smoothly. You are first presented with the standard license agreement followed by the location to install the files to. Notice how small the footprint to the application is - around 55MB.
The installation will continue and then will quickly present you with the final install screen where you can launch the program if you want to:
Before running the software however, you will need to validate your software. Idimager uses a secure anti-piracy method that applies your unique license code directly into the executable file. When you order the software, you will be sent a username and password that allows access to Idimager’s secure server where you can download your license program. Once the program is downloaded, you will run it:
And.. then you just need to click the “Apply license now” button:
and that’s it! Note: you will want to either keep your license file around or the email with the access info because you will need to reapply the license every time you update the application. This doesn’t bother me at all since the process is so painless… but you will need to keep the file around - perhaps just store it in the Idimager directory so it is easily findable. And that’s the install process… One other item to note: I often run across questions from users who would like to install the program on multiple PC’s or notebooks. Some software companies allow this while others require you to purchase additional licenses… I just thought I would mention that Idimager is allowed to be placed on as many computers as you’d like so long as the user of the software holds a license - very nice for folks with multiple desktops and notebooks.
Also, I should mention here that there are 2 flavors of Idimager Pro available for your consumption - Desktop and Sql Server editions. For those that need the support of a larger database, then you can use SQL Server or SQL Express and leverage as much of the power that SQL provides as you’d like. If you just want to roll with a database and won’t access the database outside of Idimager, then the desktop version will suit you fine. In either case, there is a version that will suit most users needs very well.
User Interface (GUI)
Note: As I was writing this review, I realized something that I just wanted to point out. For most of my reviews, I am using a run of the mill PC with a smallish display. I wanted to do this to illustrate the lowest common denominator when reviewing the products. As a result, I am running my display at 1024×768 using a 15 LCD display which is certainly on low end of monitor resolutions these days. As such, please realize that most users will have *a lot* more screen real estate to work with and will be able to display more panes or larger panes than I have in my screenshots below. Ok.. now back to the review! The main User Interface in Idimager is broken down into a number of panes and is highly customizable.
As you can see from the above screenshot, the UI is quite nice with multiple toolbars as well as “quick access” points. Let’s start by reviewing each major area of the GUI in detail starting with the Explorer Bar:
The Explorer Bar allows access to the various panels that will appear in the explorer (the middle part of the screen - hence the name). As you click each button, it will turn on/off each pane to allow you to customize your workspace as your work on your images. The Explorer Bar is very customizable and almost any function can be added and displayed. The various panes in the explorer bar are:
a) Catalog Explorer, b) Media Explorer, c) Image Details, d) Preview Window, e) Collection Details, f) Calendar Panel, g) Exif Panel, h) Histogram, i) Version Pane, j) Custom Icon area
Each of these panes represent a major function within Idimager which I will discuss in more detail below.
Once you have various panes displayed on the screen, you can save your setup as workspaces for recall at a later time. I have a number of workspaces that I setup to accommodate various stages within my workflow. Here is a close-up of the the workspace shortcut area:
As you can see, I have setup 3 workspaces that allow quick access to different panels that are set to different sizes. This is a nice and easy way to ensure you are maximizing the screen in the best way for your particular task. One thing that I did notice: the thumbnail size is stored along with the workspace so when you switch from one workspace to another, the size stays the same as you would expect!! This was an issue in ACDSee Pro2 and is something that I was happy to see works really well here in Idimager.
Moving along the main GUI, you’ll also notice the Main Toolbar which runs right under the main menu at the top of the screen. As mentioned above, this toolbar is also highly customizable and I have made a few modifications to display those functions that I tend to use more often than others:
I won’t go into the icon details… but do want to mention the Quick Assign and Quick Meta Search toolbars. These toolbar can be placed anywhere on the screen and allow quick access to: a) assigning catalog labels to your images and b) performing searches to find images. Both of these are also customizable so you could actually add other function icons directly on them… The Quick MetaSearch allows you to define exactly which data to run your search through:
In order to use the first 2 options, you’ll need to enable storing XMP metadata within the catalog in the preferences which I will discuss further in the article. By default, the Quick Meta Search will search on catalog labels and is a quick way to locate you photos. You can use binary operators (And/Or) to string together search terms but for really complex searches, you’ll want to use search scripts which we’ll discuss later.
Finally, there is what I’ll call the Footer Bar:
As you can see, the Footer Bar has some unique shortcuts to functions as well as info to display. Firstly, you can access various tabs such as the Main tab and Search Results tab. Each tab will display info in the Explorer window without affecting the data that exists in the other tabs. Secondly, you can quickly see how many images are currently displaying and how many are selected. If you click the summation symbol, you can see how much space the selected files are taking up which can come in handy. On the right side, you will see an indicator of how many images are queued to have their thumbnails built. The drop down arrow will bring up some functions that allow you to: a) Update Empty Thumbnails, b) Update Selected Thumbnails and c) Update All Thumbnails… basically, update thumbnails!
Finally, there are two “+” symbols - one on each side of the screen. When clicked, the plus sign on the left side of the screen will allow you to create a Virtual collection which will result in a new Tab being setup. You can then assign images to this collection. By clicking the Right plus sign, you can create or open up a Fast Collection. You can also create or add items to existing collections by just dragging and dropping thumbnails right onto the footer bar itself (on the left side for VC’s and on the right for FC’s).
You can think of both of these as baskets for images… Virtual Collections are stored directly in the database while fast collections are non-persistent but can be stored/saved for retrieval at a later time. There are various reasons why you might want to use each collection and there are lots of discussions on the forum about the use of each of these. Also, a special Fast Collection exists called the Image Basket. The Image Basket can be created by highlighting a single or multiple thumbnails and then using the Ctrl-B shortcut. Your selected thumbnails will be placed into a new Fast Collection automatically and will display on the Footer Bar:
Finally, I would like to comment about the general look of the GUI. I will admit - I’m a snob when it comes to GUI’s - particularly the graphics and icons and how it “feels” while using the application. I really like the icons and graphic elements that Hert keeps adding to the product. In particular, the thumbnail icons have been completely redone from BMP graphics to PNG’s… and just that little change makes a nice impact to the GUI as you can see below:
Well.. that about wraps up the GUI. In summation, I really like it! For anyone familiar with Idimager 3.x, you’ll immediately notice the large difference between the two GUI’s and will really appreciate the ability to move panels. The GUI allows you to control which panels you might need for the workflow task at hand and smoothly handles what you throw at it. Truly, this is one program you will enjoy using!
Metadata Handling
In general, how an application handles Metadata is one of the most important things to look at when reviewing DAM applications. Let’s face it, while it is nice to be able to burn a DVD or create a slideshow, the reading/writing and searching of metadata is where a management program with either shine or fail. Idimager provide numerous ways to handle metadata including full support for all major EXIF, IPTC and XMP fields including those used by Adobe Lightroom and Bridge. Idimager allows you to create your own XMP schema, use pre-defined schema and embed XMP data into all major file types (including RAW formats if you want to turn that feature on). Let’s take a look at some of the ways you can handle metadata using Idimager.
In the image above, I have my display setup for Image Metadata Editing using a custom workspace. The panel on the right is the Image Details Panel and is opened and closed using the pencil icon in the Explorer Bar. You use the Detail Panel to describe your images, modifying or adding items such as Titles, Keywords, Copyright and Creator details. You can also apply ratings, color labels and other details such as GPS coordinates. Another way to enter this data is by hitting Alt-Enter which will open a more detailed Image Details window and can more easily be used when modifying multiple images:
In this example, you’ll notice the new window displays similar details to the Image Details Panel, but also includes the ability to move to the Previous and Next photos, a preview of the image and the ability to zoom into parts of the image to get a more detailed view. Both of these methods provide easy and complete access to your metadata and both are quick and powerful. For instance, a great feature is the mouse over details that appear when you hover your mouse over the label title of each field:
This is a nice touch, especially the XMP field names (ie: dc:description) which is helpful when looking for this data in your XMP schema as well as for accessing these fields when creating scripts (more on that later!).
When working with multiple images, Idimager allows you to take full advantage of it’s batch capabilities which easily handle similar or distinct photos. When you are in multi-mode, there are some additional icons that will appear which provide control over exactly what fields will be replaced, appended, etc for each image:
In the image above, I have decided to edit the metadata for 2 images. After highlighting both of them and calling up the Image Details, you’ll notice that there is a new icon next to each field label. As mentioned, this icon will tell Idimager what to do with the data entered in the Image Details window as follows:
So, this will allow you to keep say the Title and Headline fields Unchanged while still appending the same Keywords to all photos. Another powerful feature, you can use the built in scripting capabilities of Idimager and existing macros here as well. For instance, say you want to add the Filename of the image as the Caption.. you’d do this by typing: %FileName in the Caption field. This would then apply the filename of the image automatically into the metadata. To take this a huge step forward, you can actually code scripts to each field too! So, as a simple example: %code result := ‘hello world’; %/code would add “hello world” into which field this script code was placed. With the full range of IPTC, XMP and Exif fields available to you, I’m sure you too can appreciate the power this provides.
Now, the most powerful way to manage your images with Idimager is via the Catalog Explorer and with catalog labels:
In the above image, you’ll see the Catalog Explorer which contains the display of the Catalog Labels. When you first load Idimager, the program predefines a number of catalog labels for you which basically correlate to the Who, What, When, Where, With questions. You can define as many top level or sub-level labels as you’d like, but it is recommended not to change the name of these existing labels as some are used by the program for other purposes.
In the above example, you’ll notice that I created a label named Animals and placed it under the Catalog label Objects. Under this, I then created another sub-label called Cats. Finally, I dragged/dropped my cat image onto this label which linked them together. The amazing thing about catalog labels is that once they are defined, you can have them set to automatically sync into XMP Keywords allowing the data to not only exist with your image but also be read and used by other programs.
There are many many many options associated with catalog labels. For instance, you can automatically link a category label to a specific XMP field. This would allow you to create a label perhaps called Home under the main Label Places and set it to fill in the Location field. When you assign an image to this label, the program would automatically write the label to the Location field when the image is sync’d. Powerful indeed! Idimager also allows you to setup what are called relationships. Put simply, it is a way to further define how images relate to catalog labels and is a really nice way to avoid having to scroll through a long list of labels. A simple example would be a photo of your wife. Lets say you have setup labels: People -> Jane and People -> Joe. You could setup a relationship between Jane and Joe that says: Jane relates to Joe as Husband to Wife. Once this is done, 2 new sub-labels are created and colored in Blue to signify the connection. Clicking one of these labels will automatically show you the photos that are in that sub-label.. for example:
In this quick example, I setup a relationship between the labels Cats and Home basically saying: Home is residence for Cats and Cats lives in Home. Now, I can quickly access other categories from another without having to scroll to the category! Good stuff.
In addition to dragging and dropping photos onto a label, there are many other ways to assign images to a catalog label. The first way is to use the Quick and Last Assigned Label drop downs:
In addition, you can also use the Quick Assign box or labels by using the drop down from the image itself:
Finally, you can use the stamper to choose one or more specific catalog labels and then just stamp those labels right onto the thumbnails:
So, in the above example, I chose the stamp tool, checked off the Home Label and then moved the stamp pointer over the Cat Photo and clicked to assign Home to my photo. Of course, you can also use scripts to write photos to labels.
Let’s see.. other things with the Category Manager:
Idimager has a number of categories that are auto-created and auto-maintained. Among these are Ratings, Color Labels and the Timeline as shown above. Each time you add a rating or color label to a photo, these auto labels are automatically maintained which is a really nice feature. You can also find your images by File Type and by the Path to the photo on your PC (Catalog Folders). One final catgeory is Version Place holders which will show your versions “buckets”. I’ll talk more about versioning below.
When you assign images to a catalog label, the information is typically only written to the catalog itself. In order for the information to get filed into the photo’s XMP, you’ll need to sync the data. Idimager provides a nice visual way of showing if an image needs to be sync’d or not:
The 3 images above show icons that appear on the Thumbnails if you have the image details turned on. In the left screenshot you can see the orange box/star which indicates the image has catalog labels but they only exist in the catalog. The middle screenshot shows you an XMP button you can click which will sync the catalog and the images - note this icon only appears if you have the overlay setting turned on in the preferences. In the right screenshot you can see the orange star has turned green which indicates the images are in sync with the catalog. In addition to these visual methods, there are scripts that can be run across selections or the entire database which will automatically sync your images.. the process is very nicely done and because you aren’t forced to auto-sync all the time, the software runs quite quickly.
Finally, an additional and unique feature in Idimager is that it is the only DAM tool that offers fully Extensible XMP (the X in XMP). XMP allows anyone to add custom fields within their own schema and add these properties to be stored and read by any other XMP supporting tool (like Adobe products). Currently Adobe offers the Extensible part of XMP in Photoshop, Bridge, and Lightroom but apart from Adobe, Idimager is the only other tool where you can do this. There is real power in being able to maintain custom fields outside the catalog and inside your images and be able to read and write them using standards adhered to by the large software vendors.
So, in conclusion, Idimager does a great job in the way it handles metadata. The software provides numerous methods to access and maintain your metadata from using the Image Details Panel, to drag-drop using Catalog Labels to the stamper tool and finally with scripts. Because Idimager fully (a key word) supports XMP, you will be assured that your data is written into your files and kept in sync with your catalog. All in all, I am very impressed!
Search Capabilities
As I continue to mention, searching for your photos is something you’ll probably do at least once each time you access a DAM application. As such, the process needs to be fast, accurate, powerful and ideally… easy. In Idimager, like handling metadata, there is a multitude of options for searching for images. The simplest search comes from the Quick Search as I had mentioned earlier. The Quick Search allows you to search catalog labels or XMP data that has been cached to the catalog (this option is typically turned off because it will slow things down):
In this example, you will see that I entered “cats” into the Quick Search Toolbar and hit enter. My images assigned to the Cats Catlog Label were displayed.
A second way to search is to use Ctrl-F or Search Meta Information (note: again, you need to have this option turned on via the preferences in order to use this search):
In this example, I set the condition to: search through my database for photos that contain the keyword “cats”. Note that last box allows you to setup complex searches by adding a modifier like AND or OR. Using this, you can create logic based searches to search on any XMP field so long as it is set to be cached to the database (done via the preferences). You can also save your searches to use them in the future! Your search results will appear in the explorer on the Search Results Tab.
A third way to search is to use the powerful scripting engine in Idimager - I’ll get into the scripting engine later in the review. There are a number of search scripts that come ready to go with Idimager. For example, you can search for images by a date range, etc. By allowing you to create scripts to search for photos, a powerful method to locate images is made available.
A fourth way to search is by using your catalog labels. You can do a straight text search for a particular label and then display the results of that label in the Explorer as shown below:
In this case, I did a search for the label home and it automatically opened the tree, highlighted Home and displayed the images from that catalog label. Neato! Similar to the label catalog search, is what I like to call the And/Or search:
What this search allows you to do is to check off multiple labels and then either to an And or an Or search to find images that meet the criteria. So, in my example, I checked off both Home and Cats. If I clicked the And button, it would do an And and only show me photos that had BOTH the Home and Cats label assigned. If I clicked the Or button, it would do a logical Or and show me photos that had EITHER the Home or Cats label defined.. basically showing me all photos in both categories. You can get fancy and use the checkbox buttons next to the AND/OR run buttons to restrict items within the catalog label from appearing (basically they are NOT commands).
So.. in conclusion, the search operations and options are everything they need to be: fast, accurate, powerful and easy. If you want to go complex, you certainly can or you can keep it nice an easy - the choice is completely yours!
Downloader
When I’m ready to add photos to my database from a memory card, I want to perform as many functions as I can right up front. I always add some metadata such as copyright and creator info and perhaps keywords if they make sense for the images. In addition, I want to convert my images from RAW to DNG and link these together as versions. Perhaps I want to also create resized JPG’s for my web gallery or rotate them based on their EXIF orientation flag. Well folks, you can do all this and more very easily using the very powerful Downloader module built right into Idimager. The Downloader is best explained with screenshot so here we go:
The screen above is the opening screen when you first start the downloader. It basically asks where you’d like to download the images from: memory card, scanner or even an email account. Hitting continue brings you here:
The screen above shows the dialog box where you choose the path to where your images are located. You have the choice of including subfolders or not. Hitting continues moves you on to:
All photos are displayed as thumbnails or a list depending on whether the Thumbs button is active or not and you can choose to sort them in various ways. You have options on how which thumbnails are marked which indicates which photos will be downloaded. Hitting continue:
Brings you to the first main screen of the downloader. There is a lot you can do from here including: advanced renaming using XMP info, scripts or macro code, image verification after download, auto-rotation based on Exif flags, Bookmarking the images, creating the thumbnails (instead of doing so when you access them) and deleting the images from the source after download. But the real power comes in the ability to run pre and post download scripts. For example, I run a post download script that converts my images to DNG and then creates a version of these images to the original. Very nice! Hitting continue we find the next major screen:
This screen allows you to add the images to a portfolio collection and has settings on how to handle RAW+JPG downloads should your camera support this feature for versioning info. Moveing right along:
We come to the Metadata screen where you can choose to add your metadata to the images and also control how this info is written to the files as we discussed above in the last section using the boxes right before the labels. The last screen will then display upon continue:
This is where you can add these items to existing or new catalog labels, keywords or stored groups. You can also control if Idimager should create a download session in the catalog for this action. I like this feature a lot because it allows you to instantly get access to all the photos that you downloaded in that session with one quick button click rather than having to search by some other means. It really is a powerful tool that is just done for you.
And that’s it! Depending on what you defined, how many photos you are downloading and the speed of your rig, the downloader will kick in and perform all your operations. A progress box is displayed that shows what the system is doing as well as the progress through that step. This can take awhile to complete if you are doing a lot of operations like rotating your images, converting to DNG, versioning and adding the photos to a catalog label. But, the upside is that it is all automated and will save you time on the backend by not having to manually do these things later. You can setup the downloader to remember these settings so you don’t need to reset them up next time around… but you will need to be sure you don’t just skip by each screen if you do need to change things like metadata or catalog labels.
So, once more, a very powerful tool that rivals even standalone download software like Downloader Pro is provided right inside Idimager and integrates perfectly with your catalog info. A really great tool.
Scripting/Batch Functionality
Along with the amazing script engine, Idimager includes a very powerful Batch Processor. The processor includes the ability to link several functions together, apply images to the main files or to versions and save or retrieve batches for future use:
Almost any command can be called from the batch processor including image manipulations (crop, resize, color corrections), metadata modifications (removing EXIF, XMP export) and actually running a script all from a single batch file. Once you choose an Effect to add to the batch, the effect window may open to setup the effects properties. For example:
So, the resize command allows you to choose the resolution, size and even choose the algorithm for the resize. Once you have multiple effects selected, you can re-order them using the up/down arrows in the Selected Effects panel. Then, you can run the Batch for all photos you selected. If you defined an output folder, the images will be added to this folder and marked as versions of the original (if this option is selected).
Next, we will cover scripting. As I mentioned many times above, Idimager has a very powerful scripting engine under its hood. In fact, using the Script Manager, you can actually develop your own stand-alone executable programs! All scripts are written using Delphi which in fact is the sample language that Idimager itself is written. The nice thing about this is you can leverage the full power of the application in any script you create and as we’ve already seen, you can use scripts in many places within the application! Let’s take a look:
Ok - the above image shows the Script Manager which is the main place you can edit, view and create scripts. When you first open the script manager, you care presented with the For Starters page which lists some example scripts that will help get you started. Notice those orange circles? Each one of those represents a script group and if you click it, will present you with scripts defined for that group. You can add your own groups as well by selecting the drop down arrow on the top right of the box and choosing a group name as well as rename existing groups. This provides a neat way to seperate scripts from one another. Note: the display can be changed to show the group names in lieu of the circles if you’d like.
Let’s take a look at a sample script that will Load, Rotate and Save an image..:
Ok.. the screenshots above show the Script Studio which will load when you go to edit or create a script. As you can see, the script studio is exactly that - a complete environment to build not only a script that will run based on code… but allows you to build your own form and GUI. In this example, the form was created to allow the user to load an image, display the image, rotate and then save the image. All necessary code will be written in the Source Code tab using Delphi Pascal. Access to all program variables and fields are available in an external help file that list all methods and functions.
If you are just designing a script that will run without a GUI, then you can access the Scripter Studio via F9. You can also access all scripts directly by right-clicking on an image and then choosing that script:
There is just so much to say about the scripting ability within Idimager, I could go on and on. Suffice it to say - if you need/want to manipulate your data, you can define a script to do it. Hert also maintains a script repository online where he and users post and exchange scripts to do a variety of complex items with the catalog data. One of my favorites is a script that will allow you call an external editor (like Photoshop) and automatically link the new version to the original. There are some other neat scripting ideas in the works including a new Script Panel that will allow you to design scripts that can be interactive directly in the program (think of things like the ability to choose an image and view it on a Google map based on GPS info embedded into the photo, etc). Neato!
Options/Preferences
Typically, I don’t go into much detail about options or preferences that exist within a program other than to say how far the developer(s) allows a user to customize the application. In this case, I did want to talk about some significant areas of customization just to demonstrate how much control Hert has provided his users in the application.
As you can see in the image above, you have lots of control over many many things in Idimager. From the usual thumbnail size and preview image quality to the more exotic like color management and XMP sync settings, you’d be hard pressed to find anything missing that you cannot change to meet your needs.
For me though, the most exciting is the ability to completely control what appears under (and around) the thumbnail for your photos. I like to have certain info appear that help me easily identify a photo and get a little overview of some of the fields. Idimager allows you to create your thumbnail display exactly how you’d like once again using its extensive scripting capabilities to provide you with a fairly open ended manner of displaying your data:
You will see above that you can change what displays around your image including whether or not you’d like to see certain indicators, the color of the background, highlight colors and border styles. The real fun comes in designing what appears directly under the thumbnail using the editor:
Although it might be hard to see, the HTML editor allows you to design your data however you’d like. In my case, I included the filename and extension, Image dimensions and a highlighted extension type, my catalog labels and then some basic exif info like fstop, exposure and focal length. This data is quickly pulled from the XMP fields in the catalog. Keep in mind that if you do pull in too much data, it can take a few seconds for the info to appear under the thumnail in the media explorer. I know this is something that Hert is working on and will hopefully get quicker in the near future.
With all the options most users need, I found this section very interesting to work on. While some users might be overwhelmed by the number of options (and implications of making changes), more experienced users will love the flexibility that is allowed and delight in the ability to tweak things to their hearts content.
Versioning
Before I get to my “kitchen Sink” category, I must promote a feature by giving it a section all to itself… and that is versioning. Versioning is a process whereby you link various copies of the same image (or less often similar images) together and is a very useful feature that is woefully lacking in all major DAM applications…. except Idimager. If you peruse the various DAM and application forums as much as I do, you’ll always come across some very unique workarounds for the lack of versioning in all the products. Using custom fields, keywords, unique naming conventions, labels and the like are all ways that users must endure until that application add this important feature in. Consider this example: You take a photo of a beautiful red car which has the filename red_car.dng. After downloading, you do some tweaking to it in Camera RAW and save a new version as red_car.tif. You pull up idimager and resize the file for upload to your web gallery and call it red_car.jpg. Finally, your best friend loves the photo.. but wants the car to be blue so you make a copy and edit it in photoshop and save it is as blue_car.jpg. So, now you have 4 different copies of the same photo all cataloged in IdImager. It would be nice to link them all together and assign them specific roles or “buckets” so when you need to email the blue car, you’ll be able to quickly find it and also quickly see the master version in case you want to make a green version of it. This is where versioning can help! Idimager implements versioning in a very straight forward way. First, you’ll want to think about what “buckets” or version placeholders you’ll need. Idimager already comes with a bunch defined: Main, Album, Web, Print and E-Mail. These can all be renamed but these standard placeholders have specific meanings within the software so I would encourage you to leave them as is. You are also allowed to create 5 more placeholders and can name these whatever you’d like. The versions panel can be opened by choosing the Versions button from the Explorer Bar and will look like this by Default:
You will notice the version panel at the bottom of the screen. In this example, I have 2 photos linked to each other: a main version and a web display version. In this example, the main version is my original JPG while the web display is a size reduce version (640×480) suitable for display in a web gallery. If I find a new image that I want to include as a version, all I need to do is drag/drop the image into the appropriate placeholder in the versions panel and voila… the images are linked.
The power in versioning comes in the form of cascading metadata. That is, once I have defined all my metadata for my master version upon download, I can setup Idimager to automatically copy this information to all my versions automatically. If I then make any changes to the metadata in the future on one image, that metadata will then be automatically applied to all attached versions. This is a great way to keep similar images in sync and allows you to always have your metadata accurately defined across you images.
You will not always be able to manually drag/drop the images however. Most often, this will be too much work and when just starting out with the application, you’ll want a way to automatically find and link the images to each other. This is where the version detection wizard comes in:
The version detection wizard is a powerful tool that will search you various drives for images that are similar to or match selected images. Let’s run through a quick example using a flower photo. In the screen below, I have chosen the flower checked my version using the version button on the explorer bar as above:
You’ll notice the image is set as the Main Version and has a Yellow bar in the thumbnail. The color and bar display is definable in the preferences but it defaults to Yellow for Master and Green for versions.. this is another quick way to see if the thumb you are viewing is a master or version.
Anyone, having noticed that I don’t have any versions yet and not wanting to find them manually, I then call up the version detection wizard using the Ctrl-Alt-V shortcut. I defined the folders I wanted to search (in my example, just a subfolder) and have all the options set appropriately. Once I run the version wizard, I get the following:
As you can see, it found 2 versions of my photo - the one I selected and another one called Photo013.jpg. Based on the file size, I know this is a web display version and should get setup as a version of the original. So, using the small drop down icon over the thumbnail, I selected the web display placeholder:
I then click the Store All Versions button at the top of the screen to write the version changes into the catalog. Once complete, I closed the wizard and viewed my versions again and lo and behold - the info is linked together:
Sometimes, you might want to include photos as a version but not necessarily assign them a placeholder. In that case, you can use the space to the right of the placeholders and just drop the photos there. They will link together, but not be assigned to an actual bucket.
From the versions window, you can do things like cascade the metadata across versions and even open all versions together into the light table. If you don’t want to open the full versions panel, you can use the version bar which is a lightweight version of the panel and can be accessed easily by choosing the diamond icon on the thumbnail or by hitting F7:
You can also view all versions together in an explorer window. All in all, Versioning is - once again - implemented very nicely in idimager. With my sample data collection, I did have some trouble getting the sunflower to sucessfully link correctly the first time. Also, the version detection wizard is a bit confusing when you first start using it. I’m not sure why my selected version appeared as a found version (perhaps I have an extra copy of it in the database) and I could only find it when using media explorer on the main folder. Choosing the image from the catalog label didn’t actually give me the versions even though the path to the photo was exactly the same… But again, it could be something with the database and I will investigate.
In conclusion, Idimager is the only DAM application to have a fully functioning versioning function which helps it stand out from the pack even more. Surprisingly, most major players in the DAM market have been very slow to offer versioning even though their user base is waiting for it. Quite surprising and that just makes Idimager even more “forward thinking” and ahead of the curve.
The Kitchen Sink
Well, this is one of my favorite sections where I try to find all the “little” bits and piece that make the application that much more fancy. In idimager’s case, these aren’t just tiny extras but major features. I won’t go into all the detail on these but do want to touch base on the big ones. So, here we go: Web Template Manager One thing that amazes me about Idimager is the amount of detail Hert places in all aspect of the program and the fact that many of these features could be standalone applications on their own; the Web Template Manager is one such feature. In a nutshell, the template manager allows you to create web galleries from your images. You can choose from over 30 pre-defined templates, tweak each of them to meet your own needs or simply create your own from scratch. Here are some screenshots of the Template Manager showing some of the screens where you can modify or create your own web templates:
In the above screens, you can see how you can change things like the colors of the webpage, the thumb row and column display and image settings such as the image size. You’ll also notice that you have full access to the HTML code so if you have web design experience, you can incorporate this into your own template. You also have access to all metadata fields - so if you want to display your image info and IPTC data with your images, it’s as easy as finding the fields and adding them to the HTML. Finally, all your resources (icons, tools, etc) will be embedded into the idimage template and automatically delivered along with your photos to your web gallery. Very nice indeed!
When you are ready to publish your gallery, you simply choose the images, select your template and choose the FTP path to upload them to. Then, just sit back and watch as your gallery is created. It couldn’t be easier…..
IDFramer
In addition to Idimager, Hert has developed an application called IDFramer which is used to create frames around your images. From quick drop shadow frames to elaborate wooden details, the program is quite nice and can be purchased for a reasonable price. Even better though… Idimager basically contains the IDFramer application and you can apply frames to your photos quickly and easily from a number of places.
Using the Frame Designer, you can choose from a large variety of frames or create your own:
As you can see above, there are a large number of frames to choose from and tweaking them is quite easy. Each frame component is its own layer so adding or removing components is just as easy as playing with the layers. The yellow buttons on top represent frame groups similar to what we saw in the Script Manager and each group contains frames specific to that group such as the Modern group seen above.
You can add frames to images via the batcher, scripts and even as you are building web templates. A very cool tool that is a real bonus to the product.
Slideshow Designer
Continuing out tour of the “extras”, we have the Slideshow Designer. Another fully featured tool that could be its own mini-application, you can create full slideshows from inside Idimager complete with over 150 transition effects, Music, Titles and Comments. I won’t go into many details, but suffice it to say it is really complete and easy to use. You can save the move as a self-running .exe, animated gif or .avi file. Featuring a timeline storyboard, it will be familiar to anyone who has used similar software in the past:
Burner/Email/Flickr
To round things out… Idimager allows you burn your images to CD/DVD:
Email images to friends and family (with an auto-resize and even frame options):
and even the ability to send images directly to popular hosting sites like Flickr and Smugmug:
and this just scratches the surface. You can create portfolio collections, archives to backup drives, image stacks for things like burst images and more. The list of items in this amazing program just keeps going on and on and one.
And there is more to come. I’ve been playing around with a new feature that will allow you to use Idimager as a webserver. That is, a windows service will be available that will enable you to access your database via a web interface to view AND modify your catalog! Thus, opening up a port into your home network will allow you and others to access your entire catalog and depending on how you setup the webpage, view and modify data as well.. This should be released within the next few days… so I’m happy to provide a preview of the functionality!
Here is a quick example I setup just to give you some ideas. I created a DHTML menu that is auto-created based on the catalog labels I have in my database and selected one of the labels to view the image thumbnails:
Once I select the image, I’m shown a screen I created that displays the catalog metadata and provides me a form to file edits back into my catalog!
Neat stuff indeed… of course, this did require some advance knowledge of both Delphi and the inner structure of how idimager uses the methods and functions it is built upon. With some assistance from Hert, I was able to get both pages created in a few days. The possibilities this opens up is endless and is just one more major feature that lurks just under the hood of this amazing program.
Conclusion
Wow… that was some long and detailed review and I hope it has provided you with a good overview and review of the product. I cannot say enough good things about what I found as I worked with the product. Idimager is just a well rounded DAM application that will meet the needs of most everyone. From the strong scripting engine to the ability to customize things to the well designed GUI, the application provides lots and lots of functionality without bursting at the seams. Sure - Idimager is complex. In fact, it has just about every tool you could want to maintain your digital assets. However, if you really spend some time with the product, read the help files and follow some threads in the forum, you will be up to speed with Idimager quickly. As you need to use the more advanced functionality, the program will gladly be there waiting for you.
Pros:
Support: I purposely put this as the #1 pro. I just cannot express how great the support for this product is. Hert is the most active, involved and responsive developer you are likely to find in this application genre and is adored by his userbase (and I’m sure by those using competing products as well). If you have a questions, Hert responds. Have a great idea for Idimager? More than likely, he will put it in the next service pack. The forums are up-to-date with an active community and moderators more than willing to help out new users and veterans alike.
Functionality: Idimager is chock full of goodness from its complete scripting engine to the metadata handling thru to its powerful search capabilities - it is a very complete application with all the major areas covered and some bonus items featured as well.
Metadata: full XMP support, easy input ability, sync and out-of-sync indicators, batch input ability
Versioning: fully implemented versioning support with the ability to cascase metadata
Flexible GUI: Nicely created GUI with the ability to control panels, toolbar and thumbnail display
Tools: Email, FTP, Slideshow, Frame Designer, and Web Template Designer all could be standalone applications instead of included with Idimager.
Searching: Complex of simple, ability to save/load searches
Cons:
Speed: Although most of the time Idimager responds well, there are occasions when the applications is a bit slow such as when displaying XMP info for thumbnails.
Complexity? I hate to include this since I didn’t find the program too complex… but I can see where an inexperienced or new user might be a bit put off by all the options and panels that Idimager offers. Perhaps in the future a “Basic” Mode can be added where most advanced options are hidden for the power user. Of course, a lite version of the product is available for free and can be used by those looking for a simpler solution.
In conclusion, this is one amazing product and I cannot recommend it enough to anyone looking for the complete DAM solution. It really does offer all the features that amateur and pro photographers might need in a DAM and coupling the product with an external RAW editor and image editing program would provide a complete package that makes handling images clean and streamlined.
May 12th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Very Nicely done review. Specially with very important screens to showoff IDI’s strength.
You did not cover powerful Downloader that can ingest all your images and do almost all your catlogging at the same time. Time consuming but once it is done you are done catalogging!
BTW, Speed has improved a lot and even in next release it gets even better.
As far as the Basic model goes. One do not have to open all the explorers and Panels to get confused. Start with only what you know and want and it will be Basic enough with Catalog Assignments explorer only.
Once again , you have done marvelous job.
May 12th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Thank you Dipak - I appreciate the feedback.
You are so right about the Downloader - I totally forgot that and it is such a huge part of the application that I will add it in right away. Thanks for pointing that out!
True about the speed and keeping the panels closed does make it easier.. really - they were about the only things I could come up with and aren’t really knocks to the program but just some things that I noticed and wanted to pass along. I agree it is getting faster all the time and improvements to this area are nice indeed.
Thx again for your kind words… these reviews are fun but a lot of work so I appreciate the feedback!
May 12th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Thanks again Dipak for reminding me about the Downloader. I just added that section to the review.
Appreciate the help!
May 13th, 2008 at 12:29 am
Andy, an excellent in-depth review! Many so-called reviews are simply regurgitations of product user guides, or even worse, marketing material. Your review shows you’ve obviously taken the time to actually use the product - and in some detail. That’s what I look for when I read a review. I’m already a very happy IDimager user, and I’m sure your review will be genuinely useful to folks researching DAM tools.
A couple of points. When I switch between workspaces, the thumbnail sizes DO adjust according to the settings I have for each workspace. Not sure why they didn’t for you? Also, you might point out the “open” nature of the IDimager database. You have the option of a SQLite database (Desktop edition), or a MS SQL Server database (SQL Server edition). Both are industry-standard database products rather than obscure (or proprietary) data storage mechanisms. That gives me a great deal of comfort regarding the future-proofing of my image data.
Thanks again for a great review.
May 13th, 2008 at 7:42 am
Thank you Len - I really appreciate the kind words!
I did use the product for about 45 days before I wrote most of the review. I feel that if you really want to report about a product, you should at least use the product for awhile to “get to know it” and see where that takes you. I feel like I now how a strong understanding of Idimager and really like what I found.
I created a style for my reviews based on what I was looking for when I try to find info about a product. As you state, many websites don’t “review” a product, they simply restate the facts from the product’s website which is not really all that helpful.
To you points:
1. Workspaces - you know - I just tried this again on a different PC and lo and behold.. it does retain the thumbnail settings!! This is a huge thing. Not sure why this didn’t work on my “review machine” but I will try it again and see. I’ve amended the review to include this.
2. You raise a good point about the database choices and I will include a discussion about that too. It is important that an industry standard DB is employed allowing many other access points and options to gather and manipulate the data.
Thank you again for your thoughts and kind words.. it helps me continue on with the site which is a lot of hard work (but fun too)!
May 13th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Hi Andy,
nice & fair review; may compliments.
Perhaps another point worth emphasizing a bit more is the full-fledged XMP support. As far as I know IDI is the ONLY DAM product that makes it easy and straightforward for the user to design custom made XMP metadata. It therefore is the only product on the market that really uses what XMP was designed for. After all the “X” stands for extensible. I am not a programmer, I am not a geek, but I managed to design and adapt custom fields to my workflow. None of the other tools out there would do that.
On a more funny side: seems like the people who are actively using IDI’s user forum also post comment here. Fact is - I find the IDI user forums almost as great a resource as IDI itself. Response times to customer requests are simply record. Well, that is something that you cannot really put into the review without it reading like a paid advertisement.
Trying to be objective: I agree 100% with you about the speed issue. IDI is probably the DAM tool with the most versatile features, but it comes at the cost of speed, unfortunately… (nevertheless this is improving a lot with almost every update).
Cheers,
Frank
May 13th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Hi Frank.. thank you very much for stopping by and providing some great feedback - I really appreciate that!
Perhaps I should emphasize the XMP features a bit more - I talked about it at the end of the metadata section:
[Finally, an additional and unique feature in Idimager is that it is the only DAM tool that offers fully Extensible XMP (the X in XMP). XMP allows anyone to add custom fields within their own schema and add these properties to be stored and read by any other XMP supporting tool (like Adobe products). Currently Adobe offers the Extensible part of XMP in Photoshop, Bridge, and Lightroom but apart from Adobe, Idimager is the only other tool where you can do this. There is real power in being able to maintain custom fields outside the catalog and inside your images and be able to read and write them using standards adhered to by the large software vendors.]
I agree that this is a great way to easily add your own fields into the catalog AND the photos themselves. As a Thumbsplus user for many years, I was always a bit dismayed that user fields were only stored in the catalog and there really wasn’t a way to incorporate them into the photos themselves… then again, the lack of any XMP support in Thumbsplus is a major roadblock but I won’t get started on T+ right now…
Yes.. from visiting the forums many times myself, I recognize you, Dipak and of course Len. I’m hopeful that more folks from other places will visit and also leave feedback as the site grows and gains in popularity. I have been receiving many hits in the last few weeks - but I’m still working on the getting the word out so anything you can do would be truly appreciated.
Idimager is very complex and I think taking advantage of that does come at a cost of speed. Granted, I’m not using a Quad or even a Dual core machine and when I have many of the “bells and whistles” turned on, Idimager lag behind a bit at times but its not what I would call slow.. just perhaps not as zippy as say Photo Mechanic - but then again, I am displaying a lot of XMP data on my thumbnails and performing some complex catalog scripts at times so all in all.. its an acceptable trade-off.
Word on the street is that the next version handles some of these items better as well and with as dedicated a developer as Hert is, I’m sure we can only expect a faster application as it continues to mature and grow.
Thanks once again for your feedback Frank… most appreciated. Andy.
May 14th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
The web link at the top of the article opens up the ACDsee site - just thought I would mention it - couldn’t see it in the other comments - havn’t read the main article yet!
May 14th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Ha.. Thx Paul.. Silly mistake - that’s what I get for a copy/paste of the into box and then not checking the link. All fixed now…
May 15th, 2008 at 10:56 am
A very full and interesting review Andy. One thing I couldn’t see mentioned- whats it like as an image viewer. The one thing I really like about ACDSee is the ease the user can go into full screen viewing and using a mouse to select an area for zooming in. I would be interested in how idimager compares.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Hi Paul.. thanks for your comment!
Yes - Idimager obviously has an image viewer that goes to full screen when you double-click an image (user definable between opening in the editor or viewer). The scroll wheel will zoom you in and out without having to draw a selection box like you do with Pro 2. You have access to all the editing tools with a right click and can also view exif, histogram and assign ratings and labels.
In addition, Idimager allows you to “area tag” your images like you can in flickr.. a neat thing if you are really detailed in your catalog labels (ie: family photos where you can area tag and label each individuals face).
I must admit that the viewer in Pro2 has a nicer interface to it. I like the fact that all the tool icons are displayed around the image and the scroll wheel moves you from photo to photo (arrows and page up/down in Idimager do the same). The viewer certainly seems faster in Pro 2 as well as I find the whole program in general does. Of course, as we discussed above, the trade off between speed vs functionality is a decision you need to make with Idimager… but it is improving all the time.
Thx again and I hope I answered your question for you!
May 16th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Paul,
Based on your remark:
“ease the user can go into full screen viewing and using a mouse to select an area for zooming in. I would be interested in how idimager compares.”
I’d like to add to Andy’s comment that in IDimager you can use a loupe in the Image Viewer by pressing Alt+Z (or click the magnifying glass in the Image Viewer’s toolbar). Then as you hover the mouse over the image, IDI will show a 100% preview of that area. Then with the mouse scroll button you can zoom the loupe in or out.
Tip; when the loupe window is zoomed you can double click on it to instantly switch back to 100%).
Btw; in IDI’s you can configure if images should always open full screen or in the embedded viewer. Also, if configured as embedded viewer (default) then you can still open the image full screen by holding the Shift key down and double clicking on the thumbnail.
Hope that answers your question.
Hert
May 16th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Thanks Andy for your reply, I look forward to your ‘comparison table’ as you mentioned in the ACDSee forums. I think I might download Idimager and give it a try.
Thanks again.
May 16th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Hi!
Since I’m looking for a decent DAM-product, I would like to thank you for a very useful review.
The main reason beeing my tons of old dias and negatives which I’m about to scan (this would certainly take time, but as retired I’ve got plenty of that!). As for now I don’t have any digital camera myself, but I recieve a lot of digital pictures since all our children (4) have gone digital.
Last year - working with a large task (a slideshow made in ProShow Gold including close to 300 pictures, 42 audiofiles an 2 video files) - I felt I needed some form of vehicle to manage all the pictures and ended up with ACDSee 9 Photo Manager.
Even if I don’t have anything special to complain about ACDSee, I find it somewhat limited. However, I would like to second Paul in the previous comment: I do appreciate the full screen viewing. Now, searching on the net I found many positive comments about IDimager and I’ve tested the Trial version of Personal Edition. In that short time I didn’t use all the “bells and whistles” but I found it very appealing.
In your experience, would I benefit from upgrading to IDimager Pro? (I noticed there is a 15% discount if I’ve got ACDSee).
May 16th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Thx Hert.. appreciate you stopping by and posting a reply! That’s good info and I’m glad you mentioned it - I had forgotten about the excellent loupe tool and the ability to do so right from the main explorer panel. I should also mention that you can configure a workspace that shows the preview pane as almost 100% on the screen with just a thin strip of thumbs to get a very nice preview right up front.
Paul - you are quite welcome and I hope Hert’s answer further helps you to give Idimager a go - its a great program. The comparison table should be up on the website by Sunday - stay tuned!
Bertil - Sounds like you have gotten some great use out of ACDsee 9. There are some big differences between ACDSee 9 and Idimager Pro - mostly how Idimager Pro handles metadata and searching along with the amazing scripting language and engine underlying the product. However, it would really depend on what your needs are with the program. The Pro edition does have many additional features than personal so perhaps you can download that version and give it a try and do a comparison. I can tell you that Idimager Pro is a great product and one that I can fully recommend to everyone. I do like ACDsee as well (the Pro 2 version I tested) but they really are different products. Good luck with your decision.. I’m glad my reviews were useful for you.
More reviews to come soon so stay tuned!
June 7th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Hallo Andy
a really good review!Would it be possible to get this as an pdf File to download?
kind regards from germany
Bruno
June 9th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Hi Bruno - that’s a really good idea!
I will compile the review into a pdf file and post it this week. I know Hert mentioned he would also link to the .pdf file on his site as well.
Great suggestion…. stay tuned! - Andy.
June 12th, 2008 at 7:45 am
Well done Andy! I have finally got to read your review and wasn’t sorry, even though I already am using IDI since last August.
For me, the greatest impression of IDI is still of the community and of Hert. I was kind of amazed when I first posted in forums, and received a usual ‘warm welcome’ from forum members. Not to mention all of my troubles or feature requests were solved almost instantly ever since!
Thanks for your efforts and contribution with this review!
Dmitri.
June 18th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Many thanks for the in-depth review. I will be giving IDImager a try to see how it behaves with 30,000+ nef files. I find Bridge to be flaky and get annoyed at how long I have to wait each time to (re)build a collection.
By the way, the link to the IDimager site now works but still says acdsee when you hover over it.
Thanks again.
Dave
June 18th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Hi David - you are welcome - I’m glad you enjoyed reading it. Idimager can handle a database of that size easily and the fact that is handles and displays the embedded jpg image automatically (if the option is turned on) means it load the files rather quickly as well. The only time I find myself using Bridge these days is as a conduit to photoshop from Idimager.. I typically bypass it altogether as it really doesn’t offer me anything but sometimes fall back on my old workflow because it is still familiar. With the ability of Idimager to load external applications and even link the new images (ie: jpg from nef) via versioning, the need to Bridge is less apparent to me.
Thx for pointing that out.. The copy/paste bug bites me again! All fixed now (I hope)…
Thx again for stopping by.. Andy.
July 10th, 2008 at 8:51 am
Hi, Andy! As you know from the NikonCafe.com thread, I am only in my second day of using IDimager. I can’t thank you enough for providing a review with such highly detailed information. I have bookmarked it and will be continually using it as “how to” reference material.
July 10th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Hi Mike - you are quite welcome. I have been following the NikonCafe thread quite regularly (as you know!) and you do seem to be getting the hang of this rather large and complex program quickly!
I’m very happy the review is useful to you in selecting a product to manage your photos.. thx again for your comments! - Andy (aka Pesto!)
July 28th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Great review!!!
Been looking for THE photo organizer for quite some time now and primarily with the no #1 feature of being able to tag/catalog images rapidly/efficiently.
The review didn’t cover the tagging workflow in too much detail (and I’m too lazy to download a trial before I know if it works).
My scenario (as with 99% of everybody): I have 20 000+ photos of which none are tagged. My wife and I really need to organize these so that we can find what we want accurately and quickly (duh…!).
In my world (I’m a systems architect) the tagging workflow should (ideally) work like this:
1) Create keywords/labels/whatever
2) Assign keyboard shortcuts to these
3) Start viewing all you photos
4) As you traverse your photo collection, press “Alt+T” for “Tommy”, press “Alt+S” for “Sandra” (my wife) and press “Alt+N” for “Nelly” (one of our daughters) for the photo that has Tommy, Sandra and Nelly in it. Then press Enter (or other) to continue.
Is this possible? Because, if I have to move the mouse or jump between sections on the screen, I will never find the courage to walk through 20 000+ photos.
Again, great review! I will give it a shot!
/Tommy
July 29th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Hi Tommy - thanks so much - appreciate your kind words. Let me give you some ideas on how you can manage your collection with Idimager.. I think you will find you like it.
1. Import images
You’ll start by importing your images into the system. you can either import all 20,000 in one shot.. or pull in about 200 at a time - either is fine.
2. Build category hierarchy
You’ll want to start building categories based on your photos in the Who, What, When, Where and Why categories. So - a family photo that has your daugther on vacation in Disney World would probably have categories:
People -> Family -> Mary
Places -> USA -> Florida -> Walt Disney World
Events -> Vacation -> March 2008
After you set this up the first time, everytime you find a photo of your daughter mary, you can just drag/drop the photo to the category, use the quick assign to type: Mary and hit enter or use the quick catalog assign (star) or F6 on the thumbnail to assign it. There isn’t a way to use keyboard shortcuts.. but I think you’ll find the other assignment methods to be quite quick.
The idea of keyboard shortcuts is a good one actually - for commonly used keywords it would be quite handy and I’ll mention it as a possibility to Hert. The main issue I see with this is that the program already has a huge number of keyboard shortcuts for functions - introducing new ones for keywords might interact and get in the way a bit.
I do recommend you download the trial and give it a shot perhaps using 100 or so images. I found the process not too bad at all once you establish the foundation of your “keyword” list.
The nice thing is.. once the category list is setup - new images you download can be auto-assigned to categories or it is just a simple assignment going forward.
Good luck.. and let me know if I can help further. - Andy.
August 19th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Nice review (so far)…. In fact I have not finished reading it! One thing caught my eye is a comment you made about versioning: “… is a very useful feature that is woefully lacking in all major DAM applications….” I know Apple’s Aperture has strong versioning and stacking capabilities and I think Lightroom does as well. So I perhaps wouldn’t say ‘woefully lacking’.
One request or something to consider. As you review more of these DAM and “DAM like” applications, it would be great if you had some kind of feature chart with checkboxes for all the apps reviewed. This chart could include say, features down the side as rows and the columns could be the DAM application names. Not sure, but in the end, after you’ve reviewed all these tools, it would be a great reference.
Examples of “rows” in the chart:
Is it a RAW converter, thus eliminating the need for separate raw converter?
Does it work well with 3rd party raw converters?
Does it show the effects of image edits made with tools like Capture NX2 for NEFs or ____ for Canon Raw files?
Does it support versioning?
Does it support “stacks”?
Does it move images to it’s own file structure or can it reference existing files?
Does it support extensive scripting to automate things like Metadata and imports processes?
Does it run on Windows?
Does it run on OS X?
Does it run on Linux?
Does it support multi-users simultaneously?
Editing: can partial or regional “paint brush” edits be used?
Editing: does it support stored profiles which can be applied to images?
Can adjustments be copied from one image and pasted “on” other images?
etc.
etc.
etc.
As a Nikon shooter on Macs, I’ve used Aperture extensively and Lightroom to an extent. I currently mostly use Photomechanic with Capture NX2 as I’ve grown proficient in NX2 and I find the layers and masks easy and fast to use (vs CS3). Photomechanic allows me to see the effects of the NX2 edits as it uses the NEF internal jpg for display…. But I’m not happy overall as I really want more DAM capabilities (e.g. Versioning without losing NX2 editing capabilities).
Anyway, long winded for sure, but it seems like you are doing a great service here in providing these detailed reviews and a summary chart might help users, with so many different requirements, to help zero in on the tool that’s best for them.
Regards,
Peter G.
August 31st, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Just starting to think about choosing a DAM product. Looks like Idimager is it. Two questions.
Can you download from a portable storage device connected to the PC via USB?
When searching, I guess you are searching the database - which could represent photos in all kinds of folders and subfolders across the C: or D: drive?
Thanks so much for the great review!
August 31st, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Is there a link to the PDF file?
Thanks!
Karen
September 2nd, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Hi Karen - thx for stopping by! Idimager is a great choice - I think you’ll be really happy with it.
To answer your questions. Yes.. and Yes!
When you attach a portable storage device to your PC, you can then either choose the Import or Download option from within Idimager to add those images to your database. The nice thing about doing this - Idimager will create previews of the images for you and add them to its database. So, even when that portable drive is not attached to the system, you will still be able to view and search those images just like they were located locally.
When you search, you are looking at the database which will contain images from all over your network. Their physical location becomes less important once they are in the catalog unless you need to edit the original image.
Hope this helps.. and thx again for stopping by!
September 2nd, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Oh yeah.. the PDF file.. you know - I totally forgot about that. Let me see if I can create something for that next week and I’ll post it here as well as in the review.
Thx for the reminder! - Andy.
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:34 am
Thanks, I have found this review to be very helpful.
I work for a small organisation that has tried using DAM software in the past to manage images, however we ran into trouble when original images were moved around between folders. We stopped using the software and reverted to having codes for filenames that we use to search for the images we need. However, we are now reassessing the idea of starting with something like iDimager. How does iDimager handle it when the original files are moved? While I am sure we can limit access to the original files, what happens if the original was incorrectly filed in the first place and needs to be moved?
Also, have you looked at the differences between Pro v4.1 and Pro v4.0? We have our photos stored on our main server and would need to be able to access the data from all computers in our network.
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:14 am
Hi Jane - Glad you enjoyed the review!
Like most DAM programs, Idimager works best if you move the images/folders from within IDI.. the only time it is ok to move them outside of Idimager is if you are going to move to a new drive but keep the exact same structure (say - moving to a NAS and drive P changes to drive Z). After you have moved the folders in Windows, you can do this by doing the following steps:
1. Start IDimager
2. Open Catalog Explorer
3. Open Catalog Folders
4. Find the old folder location
5. Right click -> Relocate this folder on disk
6. Point to the new location of the root folder
However, a rule of thumb when using any DAM application is to always move, rename or delete images from within the software to ensure these changes are monitored and understood.
There are quite a few differences (enhancements!) between 4.0 and 4.1 - I really need to find time to list them in an UPDATE section. Briefly, 4.1 offers:
- Quick Assign Panel: This panel is located in the application’s toolbar and it is intended to provide you with an even faster way to assign catalog labels to your images. With a single mouse click you can select your frequently used catalog labels and assign or revoke them to/from the active selection. But there is more; you can enter part of a catalog name in the Quick Assign Panel and the panel will offer suggestions as you type. Then as these suggestions are displayed you just have to select it to assign the catalog label.
- Dynamic Searching: With Dynamic searching you can, on-the-fly, search for combinations of images. Use it by clicking on different items in the Catalog Explorer while holding down the [Ctrl] or [Shift] key. As you click each item the search result will be populated and return all items that match your dynamic search combinations. Of course you can store a dynamic search as a Stored Group for easy future access.
- Script Panel: The far left Explorer bar now includes a new icon: the script panel. As you open the script panel you can load any panel script in the panel. Since a script can perform different tasks it provides you with a very flexible tool to expand and customize your application. By default IDimager comes with 2 panel scripts pre-installed: the Exif Analyze Chart and the Google Maps script with more to come soon.
- Speed/compatibility updates: 4.1 implements speed improvements in several areas which should offer you an improved user experience. Speed improvements are achieved in portfolio creation, working with virtual collections, working with metadata in the image details, adding and removing versions, etc.
In additon, 4.1 added a Catalog Structure Export and Import feature. This feature is compatible with Abode Lightroom and makes it easier to copy a catalog structure from IDimager to Lightroom.
Of course, there were numerous bug fixes and other tweaks too. I’ll add these to the review soon along with screen shots to demonstrate their usefulness - the Quick Assign box is simply amazing.. and really changes (for the better) how you assign images keywords - really really nice.
Hope this info helps… as always, please post back with any questions you might have or you can always send me a private email. Thx!
September 7th, 2008 at 9:45 am
When I first downloaded and started up IDImager, the splash screen was followed by a box telling me to take a note of a default password. I fumbled around for a pen to take that note only to find the box fade out of sight to be replaced by the username/password box. OK now I didn’t know the default password. (My memory is’t what it was) so I set about changing the password to something else. Oh no, can’t do that. Access denied!
I had to go trawl through the IDImage website to find the password. OK. found it. YES got a start up screen… Would it not be sensible to LEAVE that warning box up on the screen till the user clicked it off?
I’m just getting STARTED here……
September 8th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Hi Robert - the default password is always MASTER2004 for Idimager - I believe this is also in the help/quick start if you ever do forget it.
As a side note, you can just by pass the splash screen by setting up your shortcut with the following parameters:
“C:\Program Files\IDimager Products\IDimager\idImager.exe” -D “C:\Program Files\IDimager Products\IDimager\Catalog\work\idimager.cat.db” -U admin -P master2004
of couse, if you create a new database and change the username, password or location/name of the database, you would just change those in the -U, -P and -D switches above. This provides quicker access to the program as well.
Hope this helps… please feel free to post any questions you might.. and also, if you use the forums at Idimager or PM, please do not hesistate to mention this site.. Hert does monitor the posts here from time to time as well.
Thx and good luck! - Andy.
September 8th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Robert,
Thank you for reporting the login password message display time issue. It was set to display for 5 seconds, but I now changed that for the next update to stay on screen until clicked away.
Hert
September 15th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Gosh, fabulous in-depth review of what looks like an awesome product (without a doubt). Based on looking through the idi forums, it looks like there’s at least some hope for my biggest concern - lack of OSX support. As an old Pascal developer, I have a fondness for Delphi and think it’s really showing it’s power here.
September 16th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
First, I must praise Hert for his patience and excellent support - even to an impatient new user like me just trying to evaluate his product. You could not ask for a better service.
Once the programme had digested my test drive 500Gb of 25mb tiff images (it took FOREVER!),the thumbs jumped out of the screen but not the captions. Just to elaborate, all I want is filename, size, and IPTC ‘caption’ field.
Not possible by selecting a tick box.
And the folder title was not showing because the thumbs title/filename was added in the scripting of my thumbs fields as described above and the thumbs title/filename was ticked ‘off’ to save space under the thumbs. Therefore there was only an image to display for the folder and a microsoft windows yellow folder icon.
It would have been nice to have the same method of customisation for the folder itself. Yes I know there is another way, but thats it. Its Another Way. I would have prefered a set of preset defaults for both the folder and its thumbs, leaving the scripting to an ‘advanced’ option.
All this I have passed back to Hert. The slowness of the captions text draw is a show stopper for me. I shall return to this when I set IDimager up on a faster machine. Not that this machine is slow on anything else I do on it. Ho hum.
Once again, thanks Hert, I SHALL BE BACK!
October 18th, 2008 at 5:59 am
Excellent functional review of idImager, but I can only conclude that you do not do any volume testing. I really liked idImager when I was looking for a product to help put together an archive of about 500,000 scanned images. But no matter how much hardware I threw at idImager its performance was inversely proportional to the database size and it became very unstable.
Could you add some volume tests to your processes.
I selected another product, however it too has proven to be unsuitable for dealing with large volumes - so I am on the hunt again. We probably need one of the high cost, high performance products targeted at the media industry - but we are a non profit outfit with a low budget.
Whilst our volumes are large, our activity rate once the archive is built will be very low.
November 4th, 2008 at 1:13 am
Really excellent review, I had heard of this program but had no idea it was a real contender in the field. I’ve been using Lightroom now for nearly a year and it has really improved the speed at which I can deal with the 50,000 or so images I’m working with.
However, one thing Lightroom doesn’t have, and I didn’t see it here, is the ability to apply “metadata” to a folder. In other words, I have an on disk structure like this:
2008
03 Mar
20080302 Pine tree
20080305 Shoot with Sally
20080323 Earthday
etc.
What I want to be able to do is apply some kind of work flow label to the Pine tree folder such as “not looked at yet”, “initial cut”, “final cut” and so forth.
I am delighted to learn that not only is there a real database under it, but I can script in Delhi Pascal, a language I am very familiar with that avoids all the crap found in the C based family.
The main thing that really concerns me is how well it plays with Lightroom. I’ve found the negative development features there to be just the ticket for 95% of my work. I only shell out to photoshop or Helicon filter on very rare occasions now. I really like having a workflow that lets me apply the development tweaks in the same environment as my DAM. On the other hand, If I can run both together and this one will pick up on things like lightroom’s virtual copies, well now, things would be pretty good.
The database under lightroom is SQLLite and there is at least one third party vendor that provides direct access to the lightroom database for several rather neat add ons: http://imageingester.com/
November 4th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
>> I really liked idImager when I was looking for a product to help put together an archive of about 500,000 scanned images.
Philip,
I am very interested in a copy of your 500K images catalog created in IDimager.
If you still have that catalog, would it be possible to send me a copy of it?
support@idimager.com
TIA
Hert
November 4th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Hi Brandon,
>> What I want to be able to do is apply some kind of work flow label to the Pine tree folder such as “not looked at yet”, “initial cut”, “final cut” and so forth.
In IDimager you can mark your folders with color states. These work identical to color labels for the images.
You can assign a state by right clicking on the folder and then select Mark Folder. That will give you the possibility to assign any of the 5 color labels to the folder. The definitions of the different folder colors can be defined in the Options dialog. For example; you could define the “red” folder marker as “not looked at”, green = “initial cut” etc.
>> The main thing that really concerns me is how well it plays with Lightroom.
There are different topics on the IDimager forum that discuss the integration between IDimager and LR. Here’s a recent one: http://forum.idimager.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=8046&p=47411#p47411
Hope that helps
Hert
November 5th, 2008 at 12:57 am
thanks, that does help. I went over there and asked some questions.
Say, what would you think of having some kind of formulaic star rating on folders, too. Like for example, average star rating?
November 16th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Dear Andy,
Thanks for all your work on this very useful site.
As I found myself running into problems with iView MP relative to nef images (I shoot with a D200), I needed to find DAM app better able to deal with nef images which is a must for me. Your site allowed me to get a very good overview of what might be of help to me.
I tested iMatch, ACD and IDimager. I found IDI to be the solution I needed. ACD Pro seemed to lack focus and to be trying to do many things foreign to what I consider to be the core business of a DAM app. I use NX and Photoshop to edit images & Pro Show Gold to make slide shows. I don’t want or need a DAM for those chores. iMatch, while very nice, seemed to require more scripting and software skills than I posses or need.
After running tests on a few nef images (writing meta data and editing & then using Capture NX to convert) I found IDI passing all the tests. Not only that it has an immensely better feature set than does iView.
If I had a suggestion for additions to your high quality reviews and comparison charts, it would be to take into account the ability of a DAM app to provide for good comparison & analysis of images (Light Table capabilities) which I feel is an essential DAM component and also the extent to which a DAM allows for the continued existence and access of all the work one puts in - can meta data be transferred to /imported from another DAM or accessed indepently of the DAM app? One of IDI’s strong points, in my mind, is its use of a non-proprietary database and its full support of Adobe XMP.
Once again, thanks for your work.
Richard
December 20th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Hi,
Great stuff! Sounds like IDimager is a great product. I understand the positives of direct access to the developer, but what happens when he retires one day?
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:52 am
Hi Jeff - Yes - this is of course a concern - but to be honest no more so than a company going bankrupt or being purchased by another. Take Iview as an example.. was a very decent independent company and then Microsoft purchased them, changed the program name, diluted the product and then bloated it and now it is considered by many to be a shell of what it was (or could have been). Another example, Rawshooter.. considered by many to be the best of its kind in the day purchased by Adobe and discontinued so they could use the technology and create Lightroom - a totally different breed of software.
It happens all the time so my take is not to worry about it, enjoy what you have now and prepare your files for the day you might need (or want to) move on to the next thing.
Good Luck and thx for your visit and comments!
February 18th, 2009 at 5:48 am
Andy,
Really great reviews you have written! They give a very clear image of what these DAM-products have to offer.
A question: I would like to know which is the better choice: IDimager or Microsoft Expression Media. Will you also make a detailed review of the last?
Thanks in advance for your reaction.
F. Vos
February 18th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Hi F - thx for visiting and posting your comment. I do have Microsoft Expression Media (formally Iview) on my plate and do have the review about 75% complete. Unfortunately (well fortunately for me), I have been really really busy with my real life business (bookmaking) so I haven’t had time to really post as many reviews as I would have like to.
I was hopeful when I started this site that others would be interested in helping out and writing some detailed reviews as well.. I’m still looking for folks to help me write reviews and/or write updates for the products I’ve already reviewed that have new versions out…
Just shoot me an email if you’d be willing to help out.. would love to build this site into something much larger and need your help to do so!
Thx - Andy.
February 20th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Hi Andy,
Thanx for your quick response. What is your first impression comparing Expression Media versus IDimager?
I would have liked to help you out with a review, but unfortunately my DAM-knowledge is far beyond yours. In fact, I’m just beginning to explore this area. Sorry…
Compliments again for your site & reviews. I hope you will find the time to finish the Expression Media review. Lots of success with all your activities!
Grtz,
F.
February 28th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Hi Andy
Thank you for putting so much effort into your excellent reviews of DAM software products - a refeshing change from the superficiality that is the norm for reviews.
I am curious that you do not mention backup and restore facilities. Having had two databases fail with the consequent tedious slog of recreating them I am loathe to embark on creating yet another one unless I am convinced that it will allow me to back it up and, if needs be, restore it (it seems that some products allow you to back up but then cannot restore because of the changes to the physical files between when the database was backed up and when it goes down and needs to be restored).
At the moment I am inclined towards trying Idimager as it seems to be the most future proof. The full manual devotes 17 pages to backup/archiving but nothing that I could see about how to restore. Do you know whether the restore facility (there must be one!) actually works?
Once again, thank you for your excellent reviews.
Vince
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Hi F - my initial impression of EM - it is not a bad product. It certainly has all the initial DAM pieces that you need to catalog your images: IPTC/XMP support, rating-labeling ability, online and offline image searching and previews, a rather decent search engine, batch engine, etc.
Where it falls a bit short: flexibility in scripting, UI options and although I am not a hater, Microsoft has tried to roll the product a bit too much in their whole expression line. EM seems like an afterthought - where IView was a unique product developed for images - EM seems more geared toward asset management while using the other Expression products.
I also do not like the need for multiple catalogs (there is a cap to the number of images you can have in a catalog) as cross-catalog searching is a problem - again, this seems like it is more built towards asset/project management rather than a robust DAM product.
My other big complaint is simply product support - IView had a large loyal following that is similar to IMatch and Idimager and these users were happy with IView updates and communication. From reading the forum boards and the internet, this is not always the case now that MS is in control. EM 2 was an ok upgrade over EM 1 but there were many things that were looked for that weren’t provided.. .and EM 3 is not on the horizon anytime soon.
For me, Idimager is still so far ahead of the pack, it is the best DAM product on the market. Hert continues to make positive changes, the forums are lively and full of advice and the product is not only stable, but full of power that you can either choose to use or ignore depending on your needs.
Stay tuned for the final review soon… I really do promise!
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Hi Vince,
Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to comment. I’m glad you find the info on the site helpful - it is certainly what I was hoping to provide!
Restoring a database in the event of a disaster is quite easy in Idimager.. but can be done in a variety of ways.
Since idimager allows you to store all you catalog data in the actual photos/file themselves, the easiest restore method would be to use your backup photo drive. You would reinstall idimager on your computer and then set the options to read in the idimager XMP schema.. this will automatically rebuild your database and you would be able to continue moving forward.
I backup my photos and the database on a nightly basis. I use incremental backups so only modified files are captured. In the event of a problem, my images and database can easily be restored from the backup drive and the database restored.
I’d really encourage you to give Idi a try for the 30 day trial and see how it works for you - you can also give the forums a search and should be able to find lots of info on this.
Finally, if you feel inclined, you can also just post a message to Hert in the forums with your question above - I’m sure he or some of the fantastic users will respond with helpful advice in a quick fashion. Be sure to mention the DAMRoundup please… I can always use some free publicity!
:)
thx again.. and good luck with your search! -andy.
March 10th, 2009 at 6:37 am
Hi Andy
Thank you for the response - most helpful.
I do not want to inflate your ego too much but I feel compelled to say again how much I appreciate the effort you put in and the quality of your input. (You had better not publish this - people may suspect you of planting false testimonials!)
I will certainly do what I can to broadcast the merits of DAMRoundup.
Vince
March 12th, 2009 at 8:30 am
Andy,
Thanx for sharing your first impressions/evaluation of Expression Media (compared to IDimager). Really helpful information, which makes the choice a lot easier!
Grtz,
F.
April 17th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Hello Andy,
I’ve been using Canto Cumulus and want to switch to another (more friendly) digital asset management program.
IDimager does not do thumbnails of PS files and Photoshop 3 files. Is there a way around that ?
I don’t like the black background but cannot find a way to change it.
Also deleting an image from the database is not possible with the trial version, the creator should realize that testing a program is also a big job, takes a few days, and crippling the tryout is very annoying.
I’m also testing Portfolio and so far I like it better that IDimager, it does thumbnails of PS files and background colors are infinitely adjustable.
Your reviews are **really impressive** and much appreciated.
Thanks,
Andre
May 26th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Wow. Your reviews are very much appreciated. I have been looking for a good DAM product since Canto bailed out on the single user a year or so ago. I’m relieved to find your work. Thank you.
June 10th, 2009 at 3:34 am
Apologies if this is covered and I have not read your review properly… I am looking for an application that an organisation can use simply to search a library of images which have been ingested, developed and exported in and from Lightroom. Ideally the application would not be able to actually change the photos - just find them based on keywords.
Is Idimager that application?
Thanks
Alastair
September 24th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Great reviews. Thanks!
It looks like IDImager for me - once I finish a computer upgrade. Time to get this mess organized!
November 29th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I just recently e-bay’d my pentax 6X7 system and moved from my 30 year run of medium format totally over to digital. I had purchased the phenomenal Olympus C2100UZ 2.1 MP several years ago as my first foray into electronic format and had found picasa to be a really nice program for managing my photos.
That was before my friend offered me his backup Canon 450D. That was 5 months, hundreds of hours of walking, thousands of dollars of purchases and, well, after 1hr 45min, IDimagerPro is at 10% building the database for my photos from this camera on my quadcore/8G/sata machine.
Suffice to say I am now down to using Bibble5 & wega2 while doing the trial periods for IDimagerPro and Picture Window Pro 5.0. I have tried most of the free trials for the various applications out there that are available and even begged extensions on some of them but none have made it to the final cut with the exception of Bibble. DX0 is still in the running as a specialized tool but I am still putting off a final decision.
I was reading a workflow discussion on one of the countless forums I’ve been searching out and digesting when I stumbled upon your review of IDimager and fell down through to the comment section which was just as informative as the review itself which then led to the download of IDimager and a morning of reading through the forums on the website which confirm everything you’ve written.
Hopefully this afternoon I’ll be able to start using the database to finally bring a rational organization to my collection of photos.
I’m really glad I found this place. There is a maxim that guides me when I am evaluating software applications and it goes something like “choose wisely or you will suffer that choice long past the time you should have switched to something effective bound in place by familiarity and inertia to change”. IDimagerPro seems to be big enough, complex enough and solid enough to be able to do that. The fact that it is well supported and well loved by its user base is very encouraging.
January 31st, 2010 at 10:35 am
[…] Since many of the program concepts have remained, those not familiar with Idimager might wish to get a quick overview of v4 by reading my review here: http://www.damroundup.com/2008/05/12/review-idimager-v40. […]
May 25th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
Came to this site by Google looking for answers on embedding maps on my page and just wanted to say thanks for your help!