IMatch version 3.5 contains over 50 new features and enhancements of exisiting functionality. This page presents the manor changes in the new release at a glance.
Please also see the IMatch 3.5 Migration Guide to see the new functionality in action.
New Features at a Glance
The user
interface of the 3.5 release keeps the
non-distrating
look
of previous IMatch versions
with a bit more style.
Drive Nodes for Easier Removable Media Handling
The Database View in IMatch now optionally groups media/folders into so-called Drive Nodes. When you work with removable drives like CD or DVD, this results in a much less cluttered view on the physical layout of your images.
For example: You have a DVD drive named E:, and you index 10 DVD's from this drive in your IMatch database. With the old version, this results in at least 10 root folders in the Database View in IMatch - one root folder per media. In addition, you'll see the folders scanned from your hard disk or other drives in your system.
The new version allows you to "fold" all media indexed from drive R: into a "parent node" (blue box in the image).
Relocate all Folders from a Disk in a Single Step
You now can relocate all folders from a specific drive to another drive with the commands available for each drive node.
Drive/Media Filter
You now can also dynamically filter folders and media in the Database View:
- Hide off-line folder and media
- Hide remote (network) folders
- Hide removable media like CD/DVD
This will allow you to "clean" the database view from currently unavailable folders, and also helps for the users who have "slow" CD/DVD drives which take long to respond and hence slow IMatch down. Also pretty useful for users working with network shares and WLAN connections/tunnels which are not always available.
Of course this feature works well in conjunction with the new Drive Node feature.
Thumbnail Handling and Display
Thumbnail handling and display features have been greatly enhanced in the new release.
The thumbnail size in your database is no longer fixed. You can now change the size of the thumbnails at any time using the Database Wizard.
The Database Wizard allows you now to control the maximum thumbnail size for your database as a global option. This tells IMatch how large the thumbnails should be created and stored inside the database.
You can change the global thumbnail size at any time via the Database Wizard.
This image shows some of the new features available in thumbnail panels.
The information shown in the panel is a mixture of pre-defined attributes and user-defined data. Using variables you now can show IPTC, EXIF, Properties and XMP data in the thumbnail panel - with full control over alignment, font size, typeface and more. XMP is the preferred format IMatch can directly retrieve this information from its internal caching for best performance.
The Thumb Lens feature has been replaced by a flexible zoom control that gives you the ability to control the display size of thumbnails in thumbnail windows between 2% and 200%.
IMatch allows you to set individual zoom ratios for each of the three level-of-detail modes (LOD modes). Different zoom ratios can be used for for folders views, category views, and the "My Bookmarks" Collection. You can either use a scale (percentage of the thumbnail size) or a fixed pixel size - whatever better fits your requirements.
Existing thumbnails remain fully usable, IMatch can mix different thumbnail sizes in a thumbnail window. When you re-create thumbnails in a folder (by adding new images, updating already existing images or rescanning the folder with the option "force refresh") the new thumbnail size will be automatically used.
This gives you to ability to migrate an existing database to the new flexible thumbnail format at your own pace. If you want larger thumbnails for a folder, you just rescan it with the force refresh option. For off-line media, IMatch will keep the smaller thumbnails until you decide to change the thumbnail size by rescanning the folders on the removable media.
Freely configurable thumbnail panels
The thumbnail panels now can display any piece of information accessible via a variable in IMatch. You now can show IPTC/EXIF data under the thumbnail, configurable for each of the three LOD modes. This includes EXIF data, IPTC data, Property Data and even XMP data.
Using the IMatch simple formatting language you can display information in different fonts, colors and even table layouts.
Thumbnail Panel and Border
The thumbnail border (current: red) and fill color (current: black) can now be changed, and even hidden completely. You now have fully control if a border is displayed and in which color.
The black frame that is used to fill the remaining space around the thumbnail is now also configurable and can even be hidden.
To disable the frame, go to Options > Preferences > Thumb View. To change frame colors, go to Options > Preferences > Colors.
Potential Replacement for Off-line Cache Images
The new, larger thumbnails can be used as a replacement for Off-line cache images.
The preview window automatically uses thumbnails (at 100% magnification) for off-line files without an off-line cache image. They are also used when you set the "Use off-line cache images even if image is on-line" setting and there is no cache image.
The same logic is available in the slide show. If you set the option "Use low-res preview..." the slide show will check for an existing off-line cache image for the current image. If no cache image is found, the slide show uses the thumbnail of the image. If the thumbnail is large enough you will be able to run full-size slide shows with an amazing speed - since IMatch can use the highly optimized thumbnails there is nearly no delay when you switch between images.
Added Support for XMP™ Metadata.
XMP is a new meta data standard defined by Adobe®. See the Adobe XMP web site for more info on the principles and technologies behind XMP.
IMatch fully supports loading and displaying XMP information from .XMP sidecar files and embedded XMP data in .JPEG, DNG, TIFF, PSD, JPEG2000.
Embedding of XMP is supported for these file formats: JPEF, TIFF, DNG, PSD, JPEG2000 and of course .XMP sidecar files.
Directly embedding of XMP in image files is considered beta (use it on your own risk. Try with some sample images first and test completely to ensure compatibility with your other applications!). XMP is still new, and not all interactions between XMP supporting applications and file formats have been tested yet. If you base your workflow on XMP and multiple applications, please ensure that they all work together and adhere to the XMP standard. Since XMP is still in flux, changes may made at any time by Adobe to XMP, and other application vendors need to implement these changes in their applications too.
Writing to .XMP sidecar files (files with the same name as the associated image file, but with the .XMP extension) is done using Adobe's reference XMP implementation and is considered safe and the suggested method to add XMP meta data to RAW files since the original image file is never touched during this process. IMatch currently does not write XMP data to any RAW format.
In addition to just displaying XMP data, IMatch does much more:
- Automatic import / merging of XMP meta data with embedded IPTC and EXIF data. There is currently only little support for converting proprietary maker notes from RAW formats into XMP EXIF or EXIF/aux fields
- Fully automatic caching of XMP data in the IMatch database.
- XMP Editor with thesauri and synonyms based on your existing IPTC thesauri. The same set of keywords is available in both the IPTC and XMP editor.
- Write-through of XMP data to the original file or XMP sidecar file.
- Access to cached XMP data for off-line images and images on removable media.
- Full access to XMP data via the standard IMatch variables. This allows you to use XMP data in the slide show, batch processor, contact sheet builder and everywhere in IMatch you can use variables
- Ability to define dynamic categories based on XMP queries.
- Automatic XMP full text index and search (Search menu in IMatch).
- Full access to Adobe® Bridge® compatible Rating and Labels.
- New category formulas to auto-create categories based on Label and Rating of your images as defined in Adobe tools and applications.
- Filtering based on XMP data
XMP Editor included
IMatch now comes with an embedded XMP editor. This editor is fully integrated and allows you to edit XMP data in multiple images at once. It even integrates your existing IPTC thesauri and keyword/category lists, automatically imports existing IPTC and EXIF data from your images.
The built-in XMP Editor in IMatch
To access more commands, use the right-mouse button context menu or the toolbar.
XMP Category Formulas for Rating and Labels
Also added new category formulas to make the new XMP labels and ratings available for categories. The new @Rating and @Label formulas to allow you to create categories containing images with specific XMP ratings and labels.
For example, when you include the expression "@Rating[1]" in a category formula, IMatch will return all images with a rating of 1 (star). The syntax is "@Rating[<Number>]" where <Number> is a numerical value between 1 and 5. To get all images without a rating, use "@Rating[0]".
To create a category showing all images with a certain label, use the expression "@Label[Red]" instead. This expression uses the syntax "@Label[<Color>]" where <Color> is the color of the label you're interested in. To get all images without a label use "@Label[]".
Adobe™ currently uses the colors Red, Yellow, Blue, Green and Purple in their applications, but other vendors may use other color codes. IMatch can handle all labels, but itself sticks to the standard Adobe colors for easier corporation with Bridge and Photoshop.
IMatch ships with pre-built XMP categories in all standard category setups. These categories are below the @All category, under the common XMP parent category.
For existing databases, please use the Database menu > Import and Export > Import Category Definition feature to import the "7 XMP Rating and Label.imcs" category schema.
Sorting using XMP data
IMatch supports XMP even in Sort Presets (Tools > Sort Presets). Thanks to the new caching technology IMatch uses for XMP storage, sorting using XMP is fast even for large databases or a large number of images.
The Sort Preset dialog presents all XMP files IMatch has cached as usual in the list on the left. Just double-click any of these entries to add it as a sort criteria.
Automatic Buddy File Retention
IMatch adds special treatment for XMP files in the file processor. Even if not explicitly defined as a buddy file, the file processor keeps XMP sidecar files with the master file.
If there is one XMP file for two master files (e.g. a NEF and a JPG with one XMP file) and you move one of the master files, IMatch will automatically retain a copy of the XMP with the other master file (automatic buddy file retention).
Buddy Files configurable via Options > Preferences > Buddy Files
A new dialog has been added which allows you to configure buddy files without manually editing the imlinks.dat file (which is no longer used).
Improved Formatting Options for Property Windows
For the IPTC, EXIF and the new XMP property window, IMatch allows you to apply formatting using the new HTML-like formatting language (layout engine). This allows you to display whatever piece of information you want in one of the property windows, with full control over font size, color and layout.
Layout Engine also included in Contact Sheet Builder
I have also improved formatting options for the contact sheet builder. Using the IMatch formatting language you now can include information in different fonts, colors and even table layouts. This works for headers, footers and the information rendered next to each image on the contact sheet.
Layout Engine included in Slide Show
You can also use the layout engine in the slide show for both the information display at the bottom of the slide show and also the tooltips used for the film strip window. If you do on-screen presentations or sit with your client at the PC to choose images, this gives you more formatting options. You can even use large fonts to make the text better readable with beamers or trade show presentation technology.
EXIF date and time now integral part of the database
The EXIF date/time embedded in an image file is now automatically imported and available for display, sorting, searching and as a variable. When you rescan a folder, this information is automatically extracted from the image file.
Otherwise IMatch extracts and stores this information in the background when the EXIF information of the image is accessed.
For image formats not supporting EXIF information or images which are off-line and hence not accessible, IMatch uses the Windows "last modified date/time" like before.
Intelligent Tooltips
IMatch now uses "intelligent" tooltips in many areas. These tooltips show extended information or provide command links applicable to the current situation. They are intended to help new users, or to support experienced uses with infrequent tasks.
The following image shows an intelligent tooltip for a folder that is currently off-line:
All the information about the folder is shown right in the folder tooltip. The tooltip is shown for off-line folders even if the "InfoTip" feature of IMatch is disabled.
The next tooltip is shown when you move the mouse on a bookmarks (or at the position where the bookmark is normally shown):
You can directly toggle the bookmark from the tooltip, and also switch to the "My Bookmarks" collection.
For off-line files, IMatch now shows a tooltip like this when you move the mouse on the off-line indicator:
which is a big help for new users, and also allows experienced users to directly use the new Single File relocation command to relocate all selected files.
Slide Show Enhancements
This version of IMatch includes a rather cool new film strip window to the slide show.
This new feature allows you to see upcoming and already seen images as well as directly navigating to a specific image. You can toggle this new window with the <S> key or the corresponding command in the context menu.
The film strip window shows a thumbnail, a tooltip with user-configurable information, the Rating and Label of the image. Rating and Label can be changed by clicking the Rating Bar.
A new option for the slide show to enlarge smaller images to fit the screen size. If this option is set, IMatch will stretch smaller images to fit the available screen estate while keeping the aspect ratio. To control this feature, check Options > Preferences > Slide Show.
In addition to the categories and the read-only state of the selected image, the slide show now shows the Rating and Label of the image in the lower right corner. By clicking on the Rating Bar, the rating and label can be changed via the context menu. Of course the keyboard shortcuts for ratings and labels work in the slide show.
The Slide Show now also allows you to configure the information displayed under the image with many more options, including fonts, font sizes, and other layout options. Using the IMatch HTML-like formatting language gives you more options in this area, e.g. using really large fonts for Beamer presentations or while selecting images together with a client in the studio.
The slide show also uses the new global display sharpening feature to give you control over dynamic sharpening.
The new gray scale preview (<G> key) allows you to temporarily change an image into grayscale mode (desaturate). This option allows you to quickly determine how an image would look after a conversion to a grayscale / monochrome image.
Dynamic View Filters
View Filters allow you to hide images in a thumbnail window based on a variety of criteria or a combination thereof. View filters work with all thumbnail windows, for folders, categories and the bookmark collection.
The  button in the toolbar above the thumbnail window allows you to apply and manage view filters.
Examples of use:
- Show or hide specific file formats in thumbnail windows
- Hide .THM and or other sidecar files (configurable).
- Limit the display to selected file formats.
- Show only images which belong to a certain category or set of categories.
- Auto-hide buddy files (e.g. the THM for .CRW, or the .JPG for .NEF)
- In combination with XMP: Show only labeled files, or files with a certain rating.
- "Stack" image sequences (hide all images shot within a certain period of time except the first image). This option comes handy when you shoot bursts with your camera, e.g. during a sport event or press conference
- Show only images taken within a given period of time ("this month", " last week", "this year")
- Any combination of these filters
- The not yet implemented version feature (coming in a future update) will also hook into the filters panel. This will e.g. allow you to "stack" versions of an image, to show only a specific version an image.
Category Builder and the @Interactive Category
The category window (Ctrl+2) now contains an extra window. This window consists of three columns labeled OR, AND and NOT.
The screen shot above shows an interactive category combining the two categories "Root.C.c2" and "Root.A.a2" via the Boolean OR operation. The formula window at the bottom of the grid shows the category formula.
You can now interactively build category formulas by just dragging categories into this window. To combine categories via OR, drag them into the OR column. To combine them via AND, drag then into the AND column. IMatch evaluates the grid from left to right, top to bottom. All combinations of Boolean OR, AND and NOT can be easily created by dragging categories into different columns.
The current result of the interactive expression is always accessible via the special @Interactive category. This category is automatically maintained by IMatch and cannot be deleted or changed by the user. When you create an interactive category by dragging category names to the grid, the @Interactive category is updated automatically to show the results of the formula. You can change the formula at any time, or create a normal category from the @Interactive category with a single mouse click.
The Database class in the scripting language has been extended to support the @Interactive category. To retrieve the current contents of this special category, use the corresponding GetInteractiveCategory method.
Data-driven Categories
This is an exiting yet somewhat experimental feature. Starting with the new update, IMatch adds data-driven grouping to categories. This feature allows you to dynamically create child categories using cached XMP (IPTC/EXIF) data as the data source.
For example, by specifying the following grouping criteria (XMP path name) in the properties for a category:
you instruct IMatch to create a dynamic grouping based on the contents of this database field. IMatch will look at the cached XMP data record of each image in your database and create child categories for each individual lens used. The result may look something like this:
As you can see, below the parent category we defined the data-driven grouping for, IMatch has created child categories for each of the lenses used in your images (gathered from the EXIF record).
This process is fully dynamic. To refresh the category and to automatically create/remove child categories based on the current contents of your database (e.g. after loading new images), just press <F5> on the category or use the corresponding menu command. IMatch marks outdated categories with a special color.
It is currently not possible to refresh dynamic categories in the background. This would be too time-consuming and would interfere too much with your work. But you can easily refresh all data-driven categories at once with the <Ctrl>+<F5> keyboard shortcut.
Another idea for data-driven categories is to create child categories based on the EXIF original date: http://ns.adobe.com/exif/1.0/DateTimeOriginal. This creates (with some extra options) child categories for each day and assigns your images to these categories.
Or, use http://ns.adobe.com/tiff/1.0/Model to create dynamic categories per camera model used.
Or, use http://ns.adobe.com/photoshop/1.0/CaptionWriter to create child categories based on the CaptionWriter field in your IPTC records. You can of course also easily group by other IPTC contents like Country, City, or transmission reference.
Although this concept is somewhat experimental and brand-new, it works really good. Data volumne is important here of course. If you have less than 20,000 images in your database, IMatch will take a few seconds to refresh such a category. For databases with 100,000 categories it will take a while to fresh all categories.
I will continue to extend this concept over the next releases of IMatch. Of course this will be also part of the next generation of IMatch.
Data driven categories are sealed automatically.
"Sealed" Categories
IMatch now allows you to seal a category. You cannot assign images directly to a sealed category, neither from the group view nor the assignment window. This allows you to protect formula-driven categories from direct assignments.
The Category class has a new property which allows to get and set the sealed attribute from a script.
System Categories
If you work with data-driven categories, the child categories of these categories are considered system categories. You cannot change the name or properties of these categories because they are under the control of IMatch. These categories are considered volatile because IMatch may remove them or re-create them whenever you refresh the dynamic categories in your database.
The Category class has a new property which allows to get system attribute from a script. The system attribute is read-only.
Global Display Sharpen Feature
This new option allows you to apply a user-controlled dynamic sharpening for the slide show and the preview window for a much crisper display. You control the overall sharpening via the Options > Preferences > Display dialog.
IMatch uses the global value set here to apply an intelligent, size-sensitive sharpening on images displayed in the slide show, in the quick preview window and also for thumbnails larger than a certain threshold.
Single File Relocation
With this command you now can relocate individual files when you have accidentally renamed or moved a file outside of IMatch. In earlier versions, the smallest unit of relocation was a folder. This was uncomfortable when you had to split the contents of a folder between multiple disks (spanning). Now, IMatch allows you to select a range of images and relocate them to a new folder (on a CD/DVD).
To support "moving" of files to CD/DVD with disk spanning, new folders can be added to the database while you relocate. This should work pretty well with your CD/DVD software or whatever you use to burn CDs or DVDs.
You'll find the new command in the context menu of thumbnails, in the Special Tools sub-menu.
The new single file relocate is also available in the scripting language (Database object). This should enable the scripting experts to incorporate archiving tools into IMatch.
New location for personal information store
IMatch now stores your personal settings (workspace file, IPTC thesauri etc.) in a folder named "photools.com" below the official Application Data folder - outside the "My Documents" folder.
You can safely rename/delete the "photools.com IMatch" folder (after making a backup copy!) from the "My Documents" folder on your system after IMatch has been run at least once.
Selection Retention
IMatch now saves the last selected (focused) image per folder / category. When you re-select the folder / category later, the last active image is focused and scrolled into view automatically.
Display Order of Properties can now be changed
The order in which properties are displayed in the property window below the thumbnails can now be changed. To change, open the property database editor (Database menu > Database Property Editor) and use the "Up/Down" arrow buttons in the toolbar to reorder the elements of the image property set.
Updated RAW Support and New File Formats
Better color rendition and white balance for most RAW formats has been introduced with this new update.
Added support for new RAW formats: , Olympus C-70Z, C-7000Z, and C-7070WZ.
Improved auto white-balance for RAW formats with inaccessible or encrypted white balance information.
Added support for the MRW files produced by the Konica Minolta A200 and Dynax/Maxxum 5D camera.
Added support for Fujifilm S9500 cameras.
Added support for the Panasonic LX1 models and FZ* models.
Updated support for the Adobe DNG 3.2x+ RAW format variant , including full-size previews. Better color rendition for all DNG variants. Handling of DNG variants without a crop boundary tag.
Added support for the Portable Bitmap (PBM) and Portable Graymap format (PGM). These formats are e.g. used by Photoshop and other tools for large range images.
IMatch now loads the topmost page for Windows icons. This is usually the largest icon size available.
Support for Non-image Formats
The new update allows you to manage several non-image formats in the database. IMatch just maintains these files, and allows you to perform the usual file-level operations like move/copy/paste/rename etc. on these files.
You can manage these files with categories, or treat them as buddy files for image file formats (like the associated .wav or .avi files generated by certain cameras).
Of course you can use the "Open" command to open these files directly from within IMatch their associated applications. The XMP label and rating functions also work for non-image formats.
Future IMatch versions will extend the support for these non-image files.
Icons property of Adobe and Microsoft.
Smaller New Features, Enhancements, Tunings
I have introduced a wide variety of smaller and larger improvements in many areas of IMatch. I list the most important ones here, leaving out all the small improvements and fine-tuning done on this update which make your live easier.
New: Added a "case-sensitive" option to the SmartRenamer (default: off, works like before).
This option allows you to do case-sensitive file name replacements, like exchanging JPEG with jpeg and also allows you to replace lower-case/upper-case tokens only.
New: The IPTC editor keeps the current field focused when navigating between images. This allows for quicker editing of large batches of files.
New: IPTC subject location (2:92) moved to the same tab as the country field in the editor.
New: The thesaurus manager now allows you to filter the list of keywords displayed with a search expression. Especially for large keyword/category lists this is helpful.
New: The Quick Move / Quick Copy commands now show a dialog if the target folder of the copy/move operation is not indexed by the database. This feature allows you to decide if you want to add the folder to the database.
New: Variable {Image.ICC.ProfileName} added. This variable returns the name of the embedded ICC profile in the image (if the image has a profile).
New: If an image is off-line, but a Off-line Cache image exists, the "Copy All" command in the thumbnail window is now enabled. IMatch copies the OLC image to the clipboard for off-line images. This is usually sufficient for pasting an image to a document or email.
New: If the target file of a Copy Attributes operation is a .CRW file, and there is a .THM file, IMatch now copies the the EXIF/IPTC data (depending on your settings) into the THM file.
New: Added support for LZW (RGB (8,16,24,32 Bit), CMYK (24,32 Bit), YCC (24 Bit) color spaces) to the image editor, scripting, batch processor.
New: Selector Dialogs for IPTC keywords, IPTC categories, variables now allow you to filter the displayed elements. This allows for easier navigation for larger data sets.
New: The Batch Processor now allows you to delete presets.
New: The Category Assignment dialog now has a "Next" button to allow you to continue a search, e.g. to find all categories starting with "A", on all levels.
New: The Add Category button in the Category Assignment dialog works different. When you click it, a new dialog will be shown, allowing you to enter a category name. The new category will be created as a child category of the currently selected category in the dialog.
New: IMatch now can display individual color channels in addition to the lightness distribution in histogram windows (preview, slide show). You can enable this feature under Options > Preferences > Display.
New: Support for more maker notes from a variety of vendors. Added support for lens information for Nikon and Minolta. Still, there are some problems with Minolta. Only some files seems to contain lens data, or there is more undocumented stuff going on.
New: Added a Disable Coach message command to the Help menu. This command conveniently allows you to disable all coach messages. Use with care. Coach messages contain valuable information.
 How to upgrade your license to IMatch 3.5
 IMatch 3.5 does not longer support
Windows 98 (ME/SE) installations.
This is an 8 year old operating system. Almost all tool and library vendors have abandoned support for Windows 98 now. This also means that IMatch cannot longer support Windows 98 because it depends on these third-party components. IMatch 3.5 will only run on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003, and newer versions.
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