Catalog Vs Sessions

[Sapphie]

I am a long-time LR user currently evaluating CO 7.

For me, one of the benefits of LR is that I can keep all my original shots in one neat folder structure and import them into LR's database without my folder structure acquiring extra folders, sub-folders, settings files etc.

I understand that this is also how the CO catalog feature works. What I am not sure about is sessions. I could make do with catalogs but I want to try sessions too. I already have my images on an external hard drive. I tried creating a session on my laptop's hard drive, then imported some images but it copied them from the external drive to my session folder. Is there a way to add my existing images to a session without them being copied?

If not, and the images must reside in the session folder, I will live with that but - how do I create a new session within my pre-existing image folder?

Is there a FAQ that explains exactly what files/folders are created within a session folder?

Thanks
Lee

[tho_mas]

In the "Library" Tool under the "system folders" tab you can freely browse all the folders on your system (on internal and external drives). Point to any folder and C1 will display the images inside.

Right click on the folder->"add to favorites" and the folder will be shown in "session favorites" tab (it will be stored as a session favorite of this session so that you don't have to browse the folder again when you re-open the session at a later time).
Alternatively (to do the same) click on the "plus" icon in the session favorites tab and browser to the folder you'd like to add to your session. This way you only have to browse the respective folder once and it will be stored as a session favorite automatically.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo0XFCqOtxQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA4h8rb-63E

[jeanvalentin]

As tho_mas said, you can browse to the folder and be done. The downside is that your output will be where the original session was setup.

Currently, I don't know of any way of importing an existing folder into sessions without creating an additional folder. It's a limitation of C1 (although you will have Phase tell you that they never had a complaint; I guess people are just nice ).

[Ronald NZ Tan]

Concerning the Output, the answer is "depends." From the thread I started in the user-to-user PhaseONE forum, http://forum.phaseone.com/En/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=13550, PCs and MACs version of C1PRO is slightly different.

Depending on which version of C1PRO you're using, try exploring in the additional tabs of your Output settings. You may have to create multiple Process Recipes (PRs) with their own absolute paths so that if you create PR-1 for Job 1, C1PRO will store files you had configured for Job 1, etc.

As tho_mas said, you can browse to the folder and be done. The downside is that your output will be where the original session was setup.

Currently, I don't know of any way of importing an existing folder into sessions without creating an additional folder. It's a limitation of C1 (although you will have Phase tell you that they never had a complaint; I guess people are just nice ).

[jeanvalentin]

...You may have to create multiple Process Recipes (PRs) with their own absolute paths so that if you create PR-1 for Job 1, C1PRO will store files you had configured for Job 1, etc.

True, you could use absolute paths (regardless where your images are, your output will be always in the same location). I personally like to keep everything in one place and I like to have everything under the main image folder (I use the same strategy for LR and C1).

With C1 (sessions), you need to setup the session before you import/copy your images to the hard drive. I was happy when they introduced catalogs (you could import your old images without creating unwanted folder structures), unfortunately I had to go back to v6 due to constant crashes and slow downs. Even the new catalog system can be improved (too bad that Phase is resistant to it until people start bitchin' loudly about it; when you make a suggestion their response is that people don't need it).