and please use their services
Digikam and Darktable
- Thread starter 4tea2
- Start date
OP
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- 148
- Name
- John
- Edit My Images
- Yes
Sorry, the original post was a little brief. To be a bit more specific I am keen to see star ratings and tags work across Digikam and Darktable.
I think that I need to ensure Digikam writes to xmp sidecar files that Darktable reads. However I'm not sure if tag changes made in Darktable can be seen in Digikam.
Any thoughts?
I think that I need to ensure Digikam writes to xmp sidecar files that Darktable reads. However I'm not sure if tag changes made in Darktable can be seen in Digikam.
Any thoughts?
- Messages
- 23,521
- Name
- Toni
- Edit My Images
- No
I've not used DigiKam for the last 6 years or so, but it didn't used to do sidecar files (and only edited destructively - as I know to my cost now) though I appreciate that may have changed.
- Messages
- 23,521
- Name
- Toni
- Edit My Images
- No
It didn't corrupt images, but each change and edit made was permanent - unlike lightroom which does not touch the original image. That is destructive editing Vs LR non-destructive editing.
- Messages
- 23,521
- Name
- Toni
- Edit My Images
- No
I'd forgotten that - I tried it briefly, but moved on before long enough to properly evaluate.
OP
- Messages
- 148
- Name
- John
- Edit My Images
- Yes
I think that I've found the required settings to get DigiKam and Darktable to cooperate over tags and star ratings.
The first important point is to keep in mind that Darktable keeps all metadata in its database for fast access. This happens when an image is initially imported into Darktable. If an XMP sidecar file exists then data is taken from this file. Once an image has been imported into Darktable the database entries take precedence over the XMP file. Subsequent changes to the XMP file by any other software are not visible to Darktable.
However, a preference does exist in Darktable that will cause Darktable to look for changed XMP files at start up and ask if the database should be updated with values from the changed XMP files.
The required setting is:
look for updated xmp files on startup
Once set Darktable will ask if data from changed XMP files should be loaded.
And on the DigiKam side.....
Settings -> Behaviour - Reading and Writing Metadata
set "Update file modification timestamp when files are modified"
Settings -> Sidecars - Reading and Writing Sidecars
set "Read from sidecar files"
set "Write to sidecar files" plus setting whether data is written to "item and XMP sidecar" or "XMP sidecar"
I've left "Use a compatible file name for writing to sidecar file" un-checked, but only because I'm not sure what it means.
Well that's what I'm using at the moment. I can't promise that it is perfect, but I think it works. No guarantee!
The first important point is to keep in mind that Darktable keeps all metadata in its database for fast access. This happens when an image is initially imported into Darktable. If an XMP sidecar file exists then data is taken from this file. Once an image has been imported into Darktable the database entries take precedence over the XMP file. Subsequent changes to the XMP file by any other software are not visible to Darktable.
However, a preference does exist in Darktable that will cause Darktable to look for changed XMP files at start up and ask if the database should be updated with values from the changed XMP files.
The required setting is:
look for updated xmp files on startup
Once set Darktable will ask if data from changed XMP files should be loaded.
And on the DigiKam side.....
Settings -> Behaviour - Reading and Writing Metadata
set "Update file modification timestamp when files are modified"
Settings -> Sidecars - Reading and Writing Sidecars
set "Read from sidecar files"
set "Write to sidecar files" plus setting whether data is written to "item and XMP sidecar" or "XMP sidecar"
I've left "Use a compatible file name for writing to sidecar file" un-checked, but only because I'm not sure what it means.
Well that's what I'm using at the moment. I can't promise that it is perfect, but I think it works. No guarantee!