ACR, Preset, Smart Object, Metadata

[smahn]

Okay, so a guy sends me a file. I open it in ACR, adjust it, and send it to PS CS4 as a smart object.

Now, I'd like to send it to the person in a way that they can see the final result, and also the ACR settings that were used, but I'm not even sure what version of ACR they have. What do I need to send? I'm not sure where that XMP metadata is stored. Is it in the PSD (or TIFF), or in ACR cache? Can I just send them the PSD, or should I save the ACR settings as a preset and send them the preset for them to apply to their file themselves? And what to do if my version of ACR is more current than theirs? Would converting to a DNG help here?

Thanks

[Jeremy Payne]

Personally, I'd use a DNG for something like this. The DNG converter (at least in Lightroom) lets you specify compatibility with different ACR engines.

You could also send a copy of the RAW and the XMP ... the XMP is probably right in the same directory with the RAW file ... but I think there you could have compatibility issues.

[Schewe]

First off, you NEED to know what version they are using (and it would be useful to state what YOU are using). There was a big difference between say 5.0 and 5.2.

If they sent you the raw file and you've made a SO in CS4 you can simply open the SO in Camera Raw and go to the ACR flyout window and Save Settings, decide what settings you want to send (prolly all of them) and save the settings into a .xmp file. Then they can take that .xmp open the image and select Load Settings from the flyout and load the settings into their copy of the raw file.

On the other hand, if you've opened as a SO and done a ton of other work on the image beyond the raw rendering, the .xmp settings won't show the current state of the file. You could simply send them a flattened tiff for comments...

And no, DNG won't help in this case.

[smahn]

Jeff, I'm using 5.5, but not sure of them yet.

Here are other pertinent details: the image I worked wasn't a RAW, it was a high quality jpeg. I didn't add anything in PS but I did do several local adjustments in ACR. Do local adjustments transfer in a preset?

It's easy to show them my finished product, but I'd like them to see what I did inside of ACR.

[Schewe]

Do local adjustments transfer in a preset?

You don't want to send a preset, you want to send the full .xmp file...

[smahn]

You don't want to send a preset, you want to send the full .xmp file...

the jpeg was opened from the desktop using bridge into ACR. the adjustments were made in ACR. the result was saved as a smart object tiff into another folder. where would i find the xmp file? should i be using bridge to find it?