Batch convert RAW files to linked .afphoto files, and allow .afphoto files in merges

[Ian Tompkins]

First order of business: I love the updates, big thanks to Affinity and Serif for the hard work!

Onto the suggestion:

Currently, I can batch RAW files to .afphoto files, but they are embedded with huge file sizes and no option to make them linked instead. To convert RAW to .afphoto as linked files, I have to individually save each one. This is a problem for my workflow.

Also, when merging for HDR or Stacks, I cannot use .afphoto files as the source. This requires me to batch out intermediate TIFFs first, which eventually get deleted and seem like a wasteful extra step.

For context:

I shoot a lot of bracketed photography, mainly for HDR but increasingly for focus stacking. Currently, for a 5-bracket shot, I have to manually open and save each of the 5 exposures. With larger photosets following multi-day trips, this is going to be extremely cumbersome.

Bonus points:

I would love to be able to add text to the end of a filename (e.g. "_Edit") when batching, but that's a much lower priority than the requests above.

[carl123]

4 hours ago, Ian Tompkins said:

Currently, I can batch RAW files to .afphoto files, but they are embedded with huge file sizes and no option to make them linked instead. To convert RAW to .afphoto as linked files, I have to individually save each one. This is a problem for my workflow.

It's probably deliberately done this way so people don't have to keep their Raw files or to prevent the deletion/moving of the Raw files breaking the document

But to do it your desired way just create a simple macro (one line) that goes into the Resource manager and changes the embedded status to linked

Then run your batch job with that macro attached

A quick test here shows it works but I have other things to do today so can't do longer tests on this

Let us know if you do and if it works for you

 

[Rober]

Same question here - works perfectly for me.

Thanks a lot!

[Rober]

Unfortunately there is an issue with the way the links are saved.

The paths of the links are stored absolutely and not relatively in the link description.
It would be helpful if they were (alternatively) stored relatively in the link.

This way the afphoto.files would still work after moving the RAW files or moving the whole stuff into an archive (or so).
Maybe it would be useful to make absolute or relative addressing selectable.

[Ian Tompkins]

11 hours ago, carl123 said:

It's probably deliberately done this way so people don't have to keep their Raw files or to prevent the deletion/moving of the Raw files breaking the document

But to do it your desired way just create a simple macro (one line) that goes into the Resource manager and changes the embedded status to linked

Then run your batch job with that macro attached

A quick test here shows it works but I have other things to do today so can't do longer tests on this

Let us know if you do and if it works for you

 

You're right, this works—thanks! When I was not able to change an embedded RAW to linked using the interface at the top of the Develop persona, I assumed it was not possible. It's odd that you have to do this from the resource manager instead, but I'm glad to know it's possible and available in Macros.

If you have any tips on importing .afphoto files as a stack, I'd love to hear them.

 

11 minutes ago, Rober said:

Unfortunately there is an issue with the way the links are saved.

The paths of the links are stored absolutely and not relatively in the link description.
It would be helpful if they were (alternatively) stored relatively in the link.

This way the afphoto.files would still work after moving the RAW files or moving the whole stuff into an archive (or so).
Maybe it would be useful to make absolute or relative addressing selectable.

I just moved my files around to test this, and I did not have the same issue. As long as the .afphoto file was next to the RAW file (in the same folder), it worked no matter where I placed them. I agree—absolute paths when linking would break the functionality for me.

Perhaps this behavior is different given the operating system or RAW format? I don't know why that would be the case, just throwing out a guess. I'm on macOS 12.6 and working with Olympus .ORF files.

[Rober]

I have to correct myself - at least halfway.

If you MOVE the afphoto.files incl. RAW/JPG, the link is updated.
If you COPY the afphoto.files incl. RAW/JPG, the link is NOT updated.

Actually quite smart, but useful to know that you reference to the original file after copying.

OS: Win10 Pro
AP: Version 2.0.0.

[Ian Tompkins]

1 hour ago, Rober said:

I have to correct myself - at least halfway.

If you MOVE the afphoto.files incl. RAW/JPG, the link is updated.
If you COPY the afphoto.files incl. RAW/JPG, the link is NOT updated.

Actually quite smart, but useful to know that you reference to the original file after copying.

OS: Win10 Pro
AP: Version 2.0.0.

Interesting, you're right. I copied a set of files and opened the copy—it still referenced the original RAW. I wonder if this would complicate things during a system recovery, if all of your images had to be copied to a new system from a backup. Would the links break?

Not the biggest concern I suppose, since I rarely re-edit an image and it would be easy to re-link via the resource manager if I did. A good thing to be aware of, though, and maybe a reason to make the link truly relative to the .afphoto file instead.