dispatches

Enough geekspeak already

You know, it's been really hot in Seattle lately, like in the 80's. You in the rest of the country will laugh, but a high temp over 80 is above the fold material for the newspapers here. I've been spending an excessive amount of time in the cool, dark basement studio communing with my monitor and talking way too much about programs.

The heat wave just broke; I can apparently think about other things again. Over on Art and Perception I have my bi-weekly riff on the process of artmaking. For a break, go there.

Another CS3 rant

I really want to like the new Photoshop CS3. I really do. There are so many fabulous new adjustment options in the newest Camera RAW that are making my images look better than ever.

But CS3 keeps betraying me.

For one, RAW processing is still slower than in CS2, and it’s not just that there are so many more opportunities to tweak adjustments. That alone causes a productivity hit—so many more choices, so little knowledge of how to choose. But the program is sluggish to respond to any action. In CS2 it’s instant. You click, and you’re there. In CS3 there’s always a hesitation, when selecting an image, when making an adjustment, and especially when using the new Fill or Recovery slider. It’s a little like checking your email on a web server vs. using an email program on your computer where you've already downloaded your messages (it’s why web mail drives me crazy). It causes an added frisson of aggravation with everything I do. Nobody needs more aggravation in their life.

But here’s the real killer bug. There’s a ceiling on how many files you can batch process. It dies after about two to three hundred. Before the latest upgrade the program accused me of being out of memory. Now it has more obscure, and harder to trace failures: "command not available," "ddl file not found". Weird stuff. It does so much work, and then it gets tired.

I used to spend two days adjusting a couple thousand files, set it on Batch Process at the end of the day, and by morning I’d have the works converted to jpgs for my client. I have lost a key component of my workflow.

Expression Media a big dud

As demonstrated by the comments in the last post, and confirmed by the forum posts I've been reading, the new version of Iview Media Pro, Expression Media, is a big disappointment. Not only is this crash prone program still crash prone and buggy, Microsoft has introduced a host of new bugs and problems into it.

The flame to information ratio on the Iview and Microsoft forums is not helpful, so for the best, level headed thread on the problems, go here on the DAM forum.

The sense I'm getting is that, if you're committed to a workflow that includes Iview Media Pro, don't upgrade. And wait and see if Lightroom gets its digital asset management act together.

Expression Media (formerly Iview Media Pro), is here

The Microsoft makeover of Iview Media Pro has just been released. If you are a registered user of version 3, you should have gotten an email with a link to download the free upgrade. Otherwise, go here.

I have not run it through its paces yet, but I do have some installation tips. First, you'll be prompted to download the latest version of Apple Quicktime (7.1.6). Be careful with the default settings on the download page--Apple is only exceeded by Real Networks in foisting unwanted choices on you in hidden checkboxes when you download one of their products. You will have multiple opportunities to subscribe to and buy something you don't want, and the selects are pre-checked. Pay attention.

When you fire up the new Expressions, you need to manually put in your license code. It didn't work when I copied and pasted it from my Iview registration email. So, when you first go to the download page, copy and paste the license code that Microsoft is displaying, and use that when you start the program for the first time.

If you're not currently an Iview user, Microsoft has a generous 60 day free trial.