Importing images in Aperture 1.5 is much more interesting than in 1.1. As well as dragging images and folders into the library to create managed masters, you can now rename masters on import and decide whether you want your master images to be managed or referenced. The addition of metadata presets provides the option of adding personal standard metadata to all imported images.

Importing Images From A Single Folder

To import images from a single folder (such as a camera card) I press command I to bring up the import images dialog. I navigate to my images using the browser at the top and then check all the options. Here is the interesting part of the dialog:

In this case I have elected to copy the master files into a folder called Dogs. The default is the Pictures folder in my Home folder, but I added this new folder on my disk and selected it with the Store Files pop-up. This will import the files as referenced masters and copy them to this folder, effectively doing a Relocate with copy for me after the import. The other options for the Store Files pop-up are In The Aperture Library which makes them managed and In Their Current Location which makes them referenced but does not move them.

By selecting a naming scheme for the Version name, I can change how the versions are named as they are imported. Checking the Apply to Master Filename makes this scheme do just that. My standard renaming system is shown above. I call it Version dash date because it adds the current date to the version name. This guarantees that I will get unique names when my camera counter rolls over (as it has already done).

Adding metadata can be done here as well, but I rarely do this. I prefer to import into a new project and then manipulate the metadata. On a small screen it can be hard to get to the fields, but tabbing between them works even if the scroll bar is hidden. The example above has a custom metadata field Retouch that I added in the metadata inspector panel.

On the top right of the dialog a panel shows how things will change for the selected image:

I normally elect to show an alert because I want to unmount the card. If I don't select this, then the card remains mounted and it is too easy to forget, yank it out of the reader, and then have to deal with a confused USB tree.

A nice touch is that I can also show the images in the list view:


This can be useful for sorting on camera model or other metadata that is not available from the grid view.

Adding Standard Metadata On Import

Now that Aperture supports metadata presets it is possible to use one to add standard metadata as part of the import process. But to do that you must have set one up beforehand. You cannot set up a metadata preset by going to Aperture > Presets as you would for all the other presets, but instead have to go through several steps, starting with the metadata pane (control D) in the main Aperture window.

I will set up a special metadata view that includes just the fields I want to have applied during import. I do this by clicking on the cog top right of the metadata pane and selecting New View:

and name it something memorable:

All this does is set up a name for a collection of fields. Next I have to select the fields I want, and then I can fill those fields with the information I want to stamp on each image as it is imported.

Now the metadata pane shows my new view, empty of fields:

I select the fields I want by clicking on the buttons at the bottom and then clicking the checkboxes:

To get the Keywords field added I had to select Keywords at the bottom and the check the Include In Summary box. Not obvious at all. The fields can be dragged to rearrange them. Now I have defined the fields I want to add during import, the next step is to define the values I want to put in those and save them as presets.

I click on an image (any image) and duplicate the version. This gives me a scratch image I can mess with and then throw away. I fill in the preset values I want for my imports:

And save this as a named metadata preset:

Giving it a descriptive name:

I can repeat this to set up several other presets with different preset values. When done I delete the temporary version. Presets can also be managed from the metadata pane via the metadata pane. Click on the cog top right to manage presets:

The import and export buttons use XML plists which look like this in an XML editor:

Now my presets are ready to be used. To add this preset metadata to my imported images I select the preset in the import dialog:

Now what is odd here is that I can only choose to add or not add from the preset values. There is no way to have a field that is manually filled in and no way to override what is preset. The City field I included in the Import metadata view will have to be filled in by hand later. There really should be two pop-ups here: one for metadata views that can be filled in by hand and one for preset values that are automatically populated. As it is I have to chose one or the other and cannot have both.

Handling Keywords Added During Import

Adding metadata on import can be a time-saver, both in terms of saving time not having to do it later and in not having to deal with the consequences of forgetting to doing it later. But for keywords, it can be less advantageous because there is no way to add keyword hierarchies during import, only individual keywords. So it is necessary to go through some extra steps later.

Here I am adding some keywords to my imported photos:

After the import is complete, since my Keyword HUD is locked (it is good to keep it that way) the keywords don't get thrown in with my existing ones. Instead I get this section at the bottom:

This is not what I really want. I have an existing keyword hierarchy that includes Events > Halloween that these images should belong to.

First I correct the capitalization (halloween to Halloween) and accept the dialog that tells me I am changing this name on a bunch of images. This makes the keyword in the Imported Keyword list identical to the one in the Events list and updates all the images that have the keyword. Then I drag the Halloween keyword in Imported Keywords to my Events keyword, the parent of my real Halloween keyword. This dialog asks if I want to merge:

Yes I do. Now all of my imported images are keyworded as Events > Halloween. Repeat for all the other keywords. Really it would have been easier to just filter by import session, hit command A, command click on the keywords I want to select them, and then drag them to the images.

Importing A Folder Hierarchy

Another way of importing is to grab a whole hierarchy of folders and image files at once. Here are the images I want to import, all arranged in a hierarchy that I want to maintain in the library:

To do this, I select the library or an existing project and use File > Import > Folders Into A Project. A file selection dialog opens with some familiar options:

Here I have selected a folder called New Files as a destination for the masters and elected to copy the files in. The masters will be referenced by Aperture. I also chose a particular naming system called Custom Name with Count and decided not to rename my masters. After the import is complete, this is what is in the library:

The original folder hierarchy has been maintained by the project, the brown folder, and the albums. All the images are in the project and they reference the master files. Because I selected Halloween as the custom name and numbered subfolders for each image and told Aperture to copy my masters to a folder called New Files, Aperture has done all of that for me as part of the import:

Notice that the master file organization on disk is nothing like the organization inside Aperture. The two are disconnected. If I decide I don't like this particular way of storing my masters I can change it at any time by simply relocating them with Aperture's Relocate Master function.

Tags: Aperture, Importing, Keywords, Folders, Hierarchy, Presets