Luminar 3 Albums
How do you add an album into another album? It doesn't drag, there doesn't appear to be any menu item. I want to get an hierarchy say e.g. 'Usa' top album, 'California' as the next level down and even a third level such as 'Los Angeles'. Any ideas?
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I initially had problems with this. Skylum don't appear to have implemented drag & drop, which is big oversight in my opinion.
What I do is - Go To LIBRARY TAB, click on the Library Folder I want to create a sub-folder in. Then go to the menu-bar and choose LIBRARY >NEW FOLDER. Alternatively use CMD + N
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Hi Phil... are you adding sub folders to Albums or Folders using this method. I believe David was talking about about sub -albums below the main album, not additional folders. The difference is that Albums are like virtual collections, while Folders are actual mirrors of the physical hard drive file structure.
At present I don't believe we can have sub menu items under albums, which is a real bummer. -
Hi Steve, I was adding sub-folders to Albums. I re-created my Lightroom Collections (which are also virtual) in Luminar Albums.
However since then I have 'switched-off' the Library functionality by creating an empty catalogue. This is because the performance of Luminar 3 was abysmal, see this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxXokR-ayoY
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Hi Phil..thanks for the reply. Ok since my first post I have found a way to add sub albums to the root album. The solution was provided by Matt Suess. This is a bit clunky, but workable, at least for me.
Starting from scratch..create your top level album, and populate out with at least one image. Then with that root album highlighted go to /Images/Create Album and create the first sub album. You will then have a new sub album under the the root album. Rename it to whatever you want.
You can then keep adding sub albums underneath the root album, or add sub albums to the sub album you first created.
I don't know how deep you can go, but it seems to work. Don't forget to add at least one file to each album before you can create the sub album.
Hope that works for you, or at does so when you start using libraries again.
I understand your pain, and reasoning for switching off the libraries. It is a good strategy from Matt. I felt similar frustration when first setting up Luminar 3. I have been experimenting with having multiple libraries/catalogs and this helps keep the library file sizes lower. I initially tried to bring in many many thousands of files in my first setup, and the thing ground to a halt.So now i have different libraries for different subjects..eg Cars & Trucks, Trips in 2017, Trips overseas etc. And I bring the files into each in a regulated manner.. sometimes there can be corrupt files, or files that Luminar doesn't like... so I know which directory caused a crash.|
This strategy has allowed me to keep on learning to use Luminar 3. If all else fails I can go back to Luminar 2018. And now that I know how to use Albums and sub albums then it will be a bit better.
It is not perfect, but then I didn't ever originally buy Luminar 2018 for its future promised DAM..I just wanted a good editor that might eventually allow me to stop using Photoshop.
Anyway hope all that made sense, and may in the future be of assistance...cheers Steve
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Hi Steve, I knew how to add sub-folders to Albums (sub-albums I suppose), see my post to David Burns.
I've just tried re-creating some Albums and Sub-Albums in my empty catalogue and I don't have to move an image in at all, Luminar allows me to create as many empty Albums & Sub-Albums I want, no issues at all. I assume you got the info from a Matt Suess video but it seems that particular piece of advice is not entirely correct.
Phil
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Hey Phil.. Matt gave me the tip on creating sub albums in reply to one of my posts in the Learning Luminar FB group.
His advice did not include anything about not having empty albums..that was something that I came across myself in testing..but must have just been something quirky going on because I just retried and empty albums were fine. Go figure,Anyway thanks for taking the time to give me feedback..cheers mate and Merry Christmas.
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I agree its shoddy and I believe done to meet a specified date, whether it was ready or not. Having said that, the image processing in Luminar and Aurora is quite good and not a subscription service like say Lightroom. Some would say that Skylum should never have attempted to implement a DAM but I purchased the very first version based on that promise. Where I think they went badly wrong was to try and create a Windows version.
Phil
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I am using version 3.1.1 and I wasn't able to create the sub-album by following Steve Kruger's instruction. When I highlighted the root album and image/create album, L3 created a new album at the same level as the root album and with the same photo in it. Just wonder if Skylum removed the capability.
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Yep Skylum have removed the functionality of creating Sub-Libraries from Luminar and decided not to tell anyone, including their own Support Team!. See my posts here https://community.skylum.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360047797971-Library-Sub-Folder-Function-Not-Working
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I presume that means it will be put back in Luminar 4, so that we have to pay for getting functionality we already had and paid for, twice in my case. This is getting beyond a joke.
Unfortunateley the world doesn't stand still and while Skylum are messing about, other companies are enhancing their products. I am currently evaluating ON1 Photo RAW and Alien Skin Exposure X4, both of which have come on in leaps and bounds recently.
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Phil, thank for providing additional information. I totally agree with you that the ability to create Album and sub-album is essential for DAM. If Luminar 3 DAM wants to pull people away from Lightroom, Skylum needs to do better than what Luminar 3 offers today.
I have considered switching from Lightroom to Luminar 3, but Luminar 3 is just not quite there yet.
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I will not be using Luminar 3, or 4.. The DAM side of it goes nowhere near meeting any normal requirements, and it was never on my agenda to need a product that included a DAM. So I am not concerned by this. At the moment I am very happy with the latest Flex, which does what I need, and I will remain happy with that, provided that they don't play around or detract from the functionality of Flex in future editions.
My original purchase was of Luminar 2018, and Luminar Flex is an update/improvement on that. I was never after a LR killer, as I use Adobe Bridge and Finder for file management.
That having been said, I do commiserate for those who have purchased L3 on the promises made re the DAM.
I did a trial on Alien Skin Exposure X4.5 and was reasonably impressed. Reasonable price and features. It wouldn't replace Flex (for me anyway) but it could be a good alternative to Bridge.
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I tend to agree with you @Steve Kruger. Alien Skin Exposure X4 does look promising, though seems to leave some folders & files on the main filesystem. ON1 looks good also but writes proprietry sidecar files if you convert a Lightroom Catalogue.
I have to ask myself why I need additional processing sotware anyway just to get a Library that works. Exposure X4 doesn't appear to be able to perform HDR merges and though ON1 Photo RAW does, its not as good as Skylum's Aurora 2019.
So I will probably stick with XnViewMP as my DAM appkication (its free!) and use Flex/Aurora 2019 for editing. There seems to be nothing to attract me in Luminar 4 and I'm loath to spend any more money with Skylum, who seem to be funding their software development by selling over-hyped beta applications.
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@Phil Hurd ... yep, that sounds like a good combination. I just checked out XnViewMP and at first look it's not too bad.A bit clunky, but then it is free, so one shouldn't complain. Do you know if you can configure the amount of metadata that you see beneath each image? It's a bit cluttered. I had a quick look, but couldn't see it, although I am sure it's there. Anyway good find.
I am looking forward to where Skylum goes with Flex (and I guess Luminar 3 and 4). I hold no animosity towards them, but as mentioned above I was not looking for a DAM. Topaz Labs have also gone down the path of "Premature Release" with their Topaz Studio 2... not sure why they do it..
Anyway thanks for the feedback...Cheers Steve
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