Sync edits between computers
Answered
It seems edits in Luminar 3 are stored in a central database on the computer where the edits are made initially.
Two very common scenarios that conflict with this approach:
1.) Two computers, a desktop with tons of storage for the photos. Also the main editing station. A laptop to work in the field, import photos, do initial rating and light editing.
The edits done on the laptop should seemengly transfer over, when I'm back in the office and move the pictures from the laptop to the desktop machine.
2.) Central NAS repository where all pictures are stored. Edits are done from multiple computers in the LAN and edits should synchronize between computers. Common scenarios are coworkers within a business or family members for private usage.
1.) Works perfectly in good old Aperture. 1.) und 2.) works perfectly in Apple Photos via iCloud or in ON1. Cannot comment on Lightroom as I don't use it but from what I read it should work too.
So Luminar 3 is a true exemption here.
The solution could be:
1.) Synchronize the Luminar database between computers. Probably the worst solution as not every computer is necessarily watching the identical picture folders in Luminar. Also synchronizing large databases is prone to break occasionally.
2.) Classic sidecar files per picture. A trusted solution, the way your competitor ON1 is doing it. Drawbacks might be less performance than a monolithic database and the folder structure holding the picture gets swamped with tons of sidecar files. Even though they are small files, some people don't like to see the clutter.
3.) Single external database file per folder. IMO the best solution. Whenever Luminar stores edits in its internal database it creates/updates a database file that holds the edits for all pictures inside that folder. When you open Luminar on another computer, it checks the last modification date of these external database files and if they are newer, the edits are imported into the internal database. That way edits synchronize between Luminar instances.
Only drawback of this approach is, you store each edit twice. But as the external database files are in the folder tree, where the pictures are stored, which on large setups are big external hard drives anyways, the additional space should not be significant. To safe space on small single drive setups you could make the generation of the external database file optional via a preference either global or per folder.
Performance penalty should be lower then in 2.) as there would be much less external files to check for new edits.
Things to take care of:
Whenever a picture is opened in edit mode a lock file must be generated to prevent simultaneous editing.
When a picture is moved to another folder the external database file for both source and destination folder (in case it is also a folder watched by Luminar) must be updated.
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I think a much better solution would be a method to sync edits from within the program’s UI to another copy of the program that is currently running. That could mean just clicking a sync button and selecting the files to sync over the network, or it could be an export file that you import into the other copy of the program.
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Robert, I've already covered different solutions with their advantages and drawbacks already in my original post.
Problem with your approach is, it is semi-automatic and requires you to have access to both instances of Luminar when initiating your sync. Well, still better than no sync at all but this is not, what I'm asking for.
I'd like to see all edits done with another instance of Luminar on another computer to pictures within a network folder by browsing that folder with my Luminar instance. The computer with the other Luminar instance originally having done the edits might even be offline at that time.
There is no way to see these "remote" edits unless they are somewhere stored within the folder hierarchy where the originals reside. Either within individual sidecar files per image or, as I suggested, external mini-databases (aka combined sidecar files) one per folder.
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@Peter,
I've got no experience with Aperture or ON1, and I don't like using Apple Photos; but I've got fairly extensive experience with this in Lightroom. There the best solution I'm aware of is create a trip catalog on your laptop for editing on the go, and later when you get home you can import that catalog into the main one that may be on your NAS or wherever it is you like to keep it. I think this is a pretty common use case as lots of photographers travel, and so being able to do some editing on the road is useful, then when they get back naturally they don't want to loose their edits or need to rework everything.
Options seem to be keep your entire catalog on an external drive and move that drive from laptop to desktop, or work with two catalogs and later do something to sync them. Another option that could work in some cases for some folks might be having a single catalog in the cloud; but what happens when your travel takes you some place where the cloud is inaccessible?
I agree that sidecar files are a nuisance and clutter things up, but I think there are lots of ways around that problem. From my perspective I care a bit less about how a solution is implemented than I do *that* a solution is implemented!
Cheers,
Steve
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I wouldn't mind if sidecar files were an option that you could turn on and off. But I was extremely annoyed a couple of months ago, when I was trying several different programs to see how I am going to replace Aperture, and several of the programs kept automatically creating all kinds of files in my folder of originals. They didn't ask permission and just started making the files in my originals folder. To try the next program, I had to go through and find all these files and delete them, because some of the other programs didn't like the files being there. If I wanted to try one of these programs again to compare some feature, I would have to delete those files all over again. To be fair, if I was using just one of these programs and not the others, I wouldn't get so annoyed because there would only be one type of sidecar file, but I still think I prefer to keep my originals folder with just the original images in it. One of the things that attracts me to Luminar is that the DAM works similarly to Aperture's DAM (in referenced mode) with the added benefit of being able to automatically add photos to the catalog when you put them into the watched folders. It is not as sophisticated as Aperture's DAM yet, but it's heading that way.
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I think L3 needs the ability to import a catalog into another catalog AND to relocate images, kind of LR can do and @Steve described above:
"create a trip catalog on your laptop for editing on the go, and later when you get home you can import that catalog into the main one that may be on your NAS or wherever it is you like to keep it"
Thanks Erwin
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MASSIVE plus one for this - I like to shoot/edit on my laptop, but it's storage capacity is way too small for all my photos; they get stored on a NAS at home, where I have a desktop. I'd love to see the option for sidecar files (user selectable) so that edits remain synchronized no matter where you move the photos to, or what computer you access them with. Simple, no fuss and close to impossible to cock up.
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Yes, "PLUS 1" for this enhancement.
Please add the ability to import a catalog from my laptop to my desktop. As said above,
@Steve described above:
"create a trip catalog on your laptop for editing on the go, and later when you get home you can import that catalog into the main one that may be on your NAS or wherever it is you like to keep it"
At present, I can use Luminar on my laptop, but then I lose my editing history when I copy my files to my desktop.
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Hi Joseph. Thank you for your suggestion! I can see how this feature would be very useful. I'll share your feedback with our developers for their consideration.
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Ahhhhh
@Austin: they should know already, the original post is about 2 (two) years old.And mine is about one year old:
https://community.skylum.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360047728691-Migration-Tool
Erwin -
Hi Erwin.
You can move your Luminar Catalog to another computer which will take all of your edits to the new machine.
If your photos are stored on an external hard drive the library should be able to detect that external drive on your new computer and you'll be able to pick up where you left off.
If the images are located on your internal hard drive, you'll need to copy those files to the new computer and then point the folders in your Luminar library to their new location (by right-clicking the folder > Locate Folder).
However, the suggestion to create a separate Luminar to Luminar migration tool sounds great and we will surely think about creating one in the future.
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