This post was last modified: 2013-06-12, 17:48 by Bruce VI.

I'm currently testing v 2.3.1

I point LRT at a folder in which I have a group of DNG images that have already been processed the way I would like them including a variety of ACR settings, crops, etc.

I Initialize the group, set ref. area, place keyframes at beginning and end and press Save.

It appears that now, the .xmp file that is generated by LRT for each image overrides the ACR settings already applied to the image, and the thumbnails are regenerated to a point that is not the same as if there were NO processing done to the images, but rather as if there is some sort of middle ground adjustment to the images and the even though a crop badge is visible in Bridge, no crop appears to have been applied to the images.

In short, all my previous work is tossed out the window and I don't know how to get it back without (of course) deleting all the LRT .xmp files that were appended to each image, allowing ACR to once again read the image specific metadata embedded in the DNG files.

I have devised a crude workaround, but this workaround is not always reliable, is time-consuming, and for what it's worth, would be a deal -breaker for me with regards to a decision to license the product moving forward.

A little help please?

PS: It also appears that even when I completely remove all metadata from the group of images after LRT has looked at the folder as a way of starting over, when re-opening the folder and trying to initialize the images again, LRT seems to be holding onto some of the settings for some of the images internally since the preview has some leftovers. The only way to clearly start over is to rename the parent folder before LRT has a second look at it.

The philosophy of LRTimelapse is to start from scratch - by initializing LRTimelapse creates default settings that you then further process. The reason is to create a stable basis that will prevent any issues in the later process.
If you want to preserve you old developments, then you would have to skip the initialization - but there is no guarantee that then the LRTimelapse processing will work correctly with that sequence - you might for example get issues with gradientns and other tools. You can try it, but as I said, no guarantee. There is a reason why the workflow is like it is...

Thanks for the explanation! It was quite helpful.

I've been shooting time lapse sequences for a couple years without the benefit of LRT and thought I would try starting with some of those old sequences to test out the software. Now that I understand the structure, I can structure my next tests to work within the design intent of the software.

I am curious as to the reasoning behind creating separate .xmp files for each image, when the DNG format was designed to eliminate the need for these sidecars. I tend to forget sometimes that sidecars exist since I've been in a DNG workflow for so many years, and I typically have Bridge set not to display hidden files.

Is there a setting somewhere in LRT that would allow LRT to write directly to the DNG metadata rather then generating sidecars?

The reason is performance. It just takes too long to write directly into the DNG files (you can experience that with JPGs) - so I decided to go for the XMP as sidecar solution since Adobe supports that as well.