TIF-files not visible

[Rikard]

It has suddenly happened that most, perhaps all, tif-files are not visible in the viewer. After opening in Photoshop and then saving the thumb shows. The tif file is in the folder as before. What is happening?
/Rikard

[Mario]

It would be helpful if you switch IMatch to debug logging, try to open some of the failing TIFF files in the Viewer, then ZIP and attach the log file (see log file). So far, we have nothing to base any analyzes on.

Also, reboot your PC once and then retry. Since Windows no longer really reboots when you shut it down, all kind of "stuff" can accumulate over time, and suddenly you have strange effects...

[Rikard]

Hi, restart done without any change. Thumbfiles are visible after I have opened the file in Photoshop and saved it. I understand that the blurr is made by imatch to use the thumb instead of the real file which seems to be out of reach for imatch.
(Please don´t make the log available in the forum.)
Regards, Rikard

[Mario]

(Please don´t make the log available in the forum.)

All attachments are public. If you want to send something in private, send via email to support support email address with a link back to the community topic. I have removed the attachment this time for you.

Also, please ZIP log files to reduce them in size. Your log file takes 1.3 MB disk space on the server, but ZIPped it would take only 70K.

I see several warnings like

PTPIP::LoadThumb failed with Unknown image type.
PTPIP::Load failed with Not a TIFF file.

Since there are probably over 100 different TIFF variants in circulation (not counting all the RAW variants, which are also TIFF-based), there is always a (quite rare) chance that none of the 3rd party image libraries nor the official WIC TIFF codec IMatch employs when reading TIFF images to read a specific TIFF variant.

Re-saving the exotic TIFF in a modern image editor usually solves the problem. Since this is a lossless operation, it is the way to go when you encounter this problem.

[Rikard]

Hi,
Thanks for the delete. Sorry about the txt that should be a zip - I had it prepared but was in a hurry and took the txt.

Would there be any info about the needed properties of a ti/tiff-file?

Regards, Rikard

[Mario]

Would there be any info about the needed properties of a ti/tiff-file?

Not really. When the standard 3rd party image library does not handle a TIFF (which is rather rare), IMatch makes a second attempt using the TIFF WIC codec. If this also fails, IMatch logs the warning and continues with the next file.

TIFF is a file format that usually causes no issues. And if an exotic TIFF is rejected, I just re-save it in Photoshop, problem gone.

[Rikard]

Hi,
I have worked with tiff and with several systems since the early nineties and never had any problem so i doubt that there should be a problem with ageing tif-files.
I have tried to open a tif, and then saving it, from Photoshop. It makes the thumb-file to wake up but not the original file.
Regards, Rikard

[Mario]

What does " it makes the thumb-file to wake up but not the original file." mean?
IMatch produces thumbnails and cache images from the TIFF, which is the original, no?

[Rikard]

Hi,

The thumnb file is visible after that maneuver but not the original file when looking at Viewer, only the Thumb-version.
It seems that Imatch has a problem with connecting to the tif. Could it be something related to the cache? Of course it could be something I have done...

Regards, Rikard

[Mario]

If IMatch can produce the thumbnail, it should also be able to produce a cache image.

The usual steps:

1. The log file from the session where you encountered the problem, so I can see the warnings and errors.
2. Upload a couple of sample TIFs which cause this to your cloud space of post a link.

If you are worried about privacy, send the log file and link to me via email: support email address and include a link to this topic in your email. I get many emails per day, and this helps me to know what's what.

[Mario]

Hi, I have downloaded the sample TIFF files you have provided.
All load fine and IMatch produces a thumbnail and cache images for them. They show fine in the Viewer.

I then opened all four files in Photoshop version 26.10 (current version) and used the "Save a Copy" command to save a copy of each image in TIFF format with LZW compression and using the default options otherwise (see image below).

IMatch added the copies to the database and created cache images when I opened them in the Viewer.
All files load fine for thumbnails and in the Viewer, no warnings logged.
I've also tried TIFF files converted to AdobeRGB or ProPhoto or with different ICM profiles assigned.

But I see "Not a TIFF file" in your log file, e.g. for the file named "Fyrisån-1974.tif", which works fine here.
You did not provide the other images which failed on your PC, named "Image 3.tif", "Image 4.tif" etc.

I find this really puzzling. The files work fine here, with the same IMatch version you are using. Support for TIFF is provided by a build in 3rd party image library and does not rely on a WIC codec or similar. The same library is used to process e.g. JPG files or PNG files.

Warnings like "unknown file format", "Not a TIFF file" are really obscure. Not sure I've seen these ever before, unless for image files corrupted beyond recognition.

Since you uploaded only one of the files you tried to process in the IMatch session from which the log file was taken, I don't know if the other files would fail here too. The four files you've sent all work fine.

Is there sufficient disk space on the C: disk?
Which settings do you use under Edit > Preferences > Cache?

Since you wrote that this happened "suddenly", do you recall what has changed? New virus checker?

[Rikard]

Hi,
I have now seen to that the cache has got a lot of space, wasn´t that bad before...
Cashe settings attached.

I don´t remember any change - found a missing exception which is done - the Roaming/Photools-folder.

I can send a new log with another of the files later.

/Rikard

[Mario]

You are changing the variables, which makes analysis harder.
In the log file you have sent, the location of the cache was the default, "C:\ProgramData\photools.com\IMatch6\previewcache\".

In the screen shot, the cache folder is now D:\IMatch_cache. Did you move the cache to another disk? Did you only change the folder setting or did you also move the cache files from the c: disk to d:\IMatch_cache?

How large is the cache? The cache size is displayed in the Edit > Preferences > Cache dialog and also in the Info & Activity Panel and in the Dashboard. Did you run out of disk space on drive C:?

Note: When you work with many files, it usually makes sense to set the cache to purge when it reaches a certain size.Cache images not used for a long time will be deleted (and re-created when you look at them again).

[Rikard]

OK,
I moved the cache to another disk - the idea was in the future I don´t need to care about place. I did not run out of space so it wasn¨t critical. I did not bring the older cache to the new place. I will not do any more changes while we are diskussion the issue.
 
Hi,
I have as an example one of the files I sent in tvo copies in different folders and No1 is not visible as thumb or in the Viewer. The other No2 is ok.
Now, if I in the first case with the file No1 with no visual thumb I open the file in Photoshop (from IMATCH), and do some change perhaps bits/channel, and then saves the thumb gets visible in the viewer. In the other case No2 where everything looks fine i do the same resulting in no file but thumb in viewwer. So IMATCH have for some reason decided to make my TIF-files invisible but kindly leet mie se the thumb.

I will send a new log after restart and activating only one file, OK?

Regards, Rikard

[Mario]

Yes, send the log (enable debug logging via Help > Support) before repeating this particular test. 
I don't recall a similar bug report ever, images failing in one folder but not in another. This insinuates that this is something that only happens on your PC, which makes this very hard to track down. 
Every hint in the log helps. 
And also, when this happened for the first time. Since it worked before whatever happened at that time.

[Rikard]

After some testing around I find that if i use the tool ExifTool Command Processor and choose "Delete all Metadata" the problen disappears. Great. But most info disappears so the next step would be to find a ExifTool preset aiming only at the problematic line, which then has to be identified.

I have also tested with DxO Photolab which I usually don´t use - it works.

It seems that either Photoshop CS6 has changed it´s way of producing metadata when saving a DNG-file to a tif-file, or has IMatch turned sensible about sending tif-files to the Viewer. The problem has ocurred during the summmer.

I wonder if anyone has problem like this with the fantastic Imatch and the old but still going Photoshop CS6? 

[Mario]

It seems that either Photoshop CS6 has changed it´s way of producing metadata when saving a DNG-file to a tif-file, or has IMatch turned sensible about sending tif-files to the Viewer. The problem has ocurred during the summmer.

Just to make this clear: all TIFF and DNG files Rikard has sent to me over the past couple of days work just fine on my two computers and with a fresh 2025.2 installation of Windows in a VM.

This problem seems to be limited to Rikard's PC only, which makes this really hard to analyze.

As far as I know, Rikard uses Photoshop 6 (?), which is very old. I don't even remember how it opened RAW files and created DNG files / TIFF files? Does it use an outdated version of the DNG Converter? Or does it use the current DNG converter?

But even then, why do the TIFF and DNG files produced on Rikard's PC fail for him, but not for me?