Two photo apps, same library?

[annk]

Is there any way for iPhoto and Aperture to share a library? I'd like to have all my images in one library to save space, but be able to open a given image in either program, depending on what I need to do with it.

Right now, I have a mess - - a huge iPhoto library, and a somewhat smaller but still big Aperture library.

 

[glennp]

Kind of...

You can have a single directory (or disk) of your pictures and then set iPhoto and Aperture to not copy the pictures into their respective libraries. This way both programs will reference the specified directory as the "master". However, any changes will be unique to the program that does the changing. For example, editing a picture in iPhoto would create a new version in the iPhoto library (the original remains untouched in the master directory) and the change would be reflected in the iPhoto library view. But in Aperture, the reference is to the master directory and as far as it knows, the file hasn't been edited. Aperture would behave similarly in that any edits made in Aperture would not automatically be shown in iPhoto.

I haven't done this but this is my understanding of how it should work.

It isn't really "sharing" a library but rather sharing the same referenced master files.

 

[annk]

Kind of...

You can have a single directory (or disk) of your pictures and then set iPhoto and Aperture to not copy the pictures into their respective libraries. This way both programs will reference the specified directory as the "master". However, any changes will be unique to the program that does the changing. For example, editing a picture in iPhoto would create a new version in the iPhoto library (the original remains untouched in the master directory) and the change would be reflected in the iPhoto library view. But in Aperture, the reference is to the master directory and as far as it knows, the file hasn't been edited. Aperture would behave similarly in that any edits made in Aperture would not automatically be shown in iPhoto.

I haven't done this but this is my understanding of how it should work.

It isn't really "sharing" a library but rather sharing the same referenced master files.

Hmmm...in that case, I can't do what I am trying to do. Since iPhoto is much faster on my PB G4, I guess it makes sense to use that app for general cataloguing and viewing. If I want to do more with an image than iPhoto allows, I can import it into Aperture, edit, export back to iPhoto, delete from Aperture. A little more work, but less mess.

 

[JHacker]

Kind of...

You can have a single directory (or disk) of your pictures and then set iPhoto and Aperture to not copy the pictures into their respective libraries. This way both programs will reference the specified directory as the "master". However, any changes will be unique to the program that does the changing. For example, editing a picture in iPhoto would create a new version in the iPhoto library (the original remains untouched in the master directory) and the change would be reflected in the iPhoto library view. But in Aperture, the reference is to the master directory and as far as it knows, the file hasn't been edited. Aperture would behave similarly in that any edits made in Aperture would not automatically be shown in iPhoto.

I haven't done this but this is my understanding of how it should work.

It isn't really "sharing" a library but rather sharing the same referenced master files.

That sounds about right to me. The way my iPhoto is setup is I have my picture folders in Pictures in Finder, and iPhoto just links to these directories. It didn't copy it into the iPhoto folder. So you should be able to have Aperture link to the same set of photos.

 

[annk]

That sounds about right to me. The way my iPhoto is setup is I have my picture folders in Pictures in Finder, and iPhoto just links to these directories. It didn't copy it into the iPhoto folder. So you should be able to have Aperture link to the same set of photos.

Except that according to glennp, any editing I do to an image will only be visible when viewing the image in the program I used to edit. I want to have one library where the images exist in only one version. So I guess I'll:

1 Import from camera to Aperture
2 Edit / delete until I have the images I want, as I want them
3 Export to iPhoto for organising, and to be able to view them in a program
that doesn't lag on my PB
4 Delete the versions in the Aperture library.

 

[JHacker]

Except that according to glennp, any editing I do to an image will only be visible when viewing the image in the program I used to edit. I want to have one library where the images exist in only one version. So I guess I'll:

1 Import from camera to Aperture
2 Edit / delete until I have the images I want, as I want them
3 Export to iPhoto for organising, and to be able to view them in a program
that doesn't lag on my PB
4 Delete the versions in the Aperture library.

Yes, the way my iPhoto library is set up is the Original folder in iPhoto is just a link to the original location of my picture. If I do any editing, it makes a copy of the picture in the Modified folder in the iPhoto library. So he is right, if you edit in one program, the original stays in tact. The edited picture should be in the folder of the program.