InTheFlow wrote:Thanks for the quality feedback, Jim. I didn't know that anyone actually disliked that. Maybe it was very unpopular and is the reason it was removed. I have no idea.
I don't think the "cloud" ever became a built in feature of IDI. The script is still available from the IDI resource repository, so it hasn't actually been removed. It doesn't work with PSu though.
So, can you share how a tree view works better in your workflow than just assigning a label that has it's parent labels automatically added? I'm not trying to make you mad, simply curious how it helps make things easier.
If I have a label named 'Julie' that is set to automatically assign parent labels and the hierarchy is: People > Friends > Birthday Parties > Aunt > 1986 > 'Julie'
All I have to do to get all of the labels assigned to the image is to choose 'Julie' from my label panel. At that point, bam!...they are all assigned. I wouldn't personally want to go to a tree view and click a checkmark for each one of the labels I want. I haven't had as much experience cataloging as you so maybe there is something I'm overlooking in the example above.
An apparently simple question is going to take a long answer
First of all, you are overlooking something in your comparison! It is the label
properties that determine whether parents are also assigned, not the
method by which the label is assigned. If "Julie" is set up like that, then applying "Julie" to an image will always assign parents however you make the assignment. It makes no difference to the result whether you type "Julie" in the LAP, find "Julie" in "Recently Used", drag and drop an image onto "Julie" in the catalog, "favoritize" "Julie" in the catalog so that it appears in the new LAP section and then select from there, or (if Hert implements my preference) tick "Julie" in an assignment tree.
I don't use the same sort of label structure as your example. I would probably have "Events.Birthdays.Aunt.1986.Party" & "People.<Family name>.Julie" & "Locations.<Someone's house>.<Room/Garden etc>". Some photos might get a label in my "Themes" category - "Themes.Dancing", "Themes.Eating" ....
When I come to catalog the "shoot" some of the labels will probably already exist - People...., Locations...., Themes.... etc, but I will want to look through the catalog tree to remind myself exactly what is there, what the exact labels are, how they are arranged. I would probably create an Events label at this stage. With Hert's new Favorite facility I will be able to "favoritize" the labels I will need from the catalog view on the left of PSu, and later apply them from buttons in the assign panel - that's good, but wouldn't it sometimes be easier to go the extra mile and apply them from a catalog tree view? I often decide to do that in IDI, but the switchable catalog explorer/assignment tree tends to confuse me if I am not concentrating - am I going to assign labels by mistake when I meant to build a search, or search when I want to assign? So a separate tree & checkbox view in the LAP seems an attractive idea to me.
It comes down to what suits each individual user. I am not a professional photographer nor a professional user of photographs.
I don't
have to catalog at all, but I want to be able to find things easily. Assigning the labels to allow this is not an end in itself, and can feel very much of a chore. To find the motivation to do it I like to make it "fun" if I can, and quick and easy. Changing the method from time to time is "fun", and often I find the IDI assignment view of the catalog to be quickest and easiest, despite its pitfalls.
Scenario 1: I am labeling some photos of groups of people. Each photo contains 3 or 4 people out of a total 10 who were "there". All are different combinations. Is it easier to
tick the right "people boxes" shot by shot, deal with a constantly rearranging "recents" panel, or set them all as favorites and then unset them again later? For me it is the first of these, but it may be different for others.
Scenario 2: I am labeling photos taken on a walk somewhere local, where I often go. Subjects will be different "takes" on scenes or objects I have photographed before. What label did I create for that group of trees - "The Pines", "Five Pines", "Pine Trees at ...."? My natural instinct is to look in the catalog, using the hierarchy to get to the correct label in "Objects". Why should I then have to type this into the LAP and look through a list of possible hits to apply it? Easier to review my labels via a right hand side assignment tree and tick the one I want.
Scenario 3: Photographs taken during a long hill walk traversing a number of summits. I will have photos of "B" from "A", and later "A" from "B", as well as "C" from "A" and "C" from "B" etc. And from the next day perhaps "A" and "B" and "C" as a group taken from "D". "Recently used" will become populated with multiple instances of A, B, C etc (as camera location and as subject - "from" and "of") represented as single words without hierarchical context (unless I hover over each) and which constantly rearrange themselves and change position and order as I apply them. I could add some extra text to "from" and "of" keywords to distinguish them, but, since one of the great strengths of IDimager's line of DAM products is hierarchical labels, I should not have to.
There you are then: partly it is my personal preference and what I find convenient, and partly a belief that hierarchical labels should be applied in an environment that facilitates hierarchical label
ing.
