rapid-users team mailing list archive

[Damon Lynch <damonlynch@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,

The first alpha of version 0.9.0 is now released:

http://damonlynch.net/rapid/download.html

I'll also make  a release announcement on https://discuss.pixls.us/ - there
might be some interesting discussion there.

Please report any bugs and problems!

I'm copying and pasting from the ChangeLog:

- New features compared to the previous release, version 0.4.11:

  - Every aspect of the user interface has been revised and modernized.

  - Files can be downloaded from all cameras supported by gPhoto2,
    including smartphones. Unfortunately the previous version could download
    from only some cameras.

  - Files that have already been downloaded are remembered. You can still select
    previously downloaded files to download again, but they are unchecked by
    default, and their thumbnails are dimmed so you can differentiate them
    from files that are yet to be downloaded.

  - The thumbnails for previously downloaded files can be hidden.

  - Unique to Rapid Photo Downloader is its Timeline, which groups photos and
    videos based on how much time elapsed between consecutive shots. Use it
    to identify photos and videos taken at different periods in a single day
    or over consecutive days. A slider adjusts the time elapsed between
    consecutive shots that is used to build the Timeline. Time periods can be
    selected to filter which thumbnails are displayed.

  - Thumbnails are bigger, and different file types are easier to
    distinguish.

  - Thumbnails can be sorted using a variety of criteria, including by device
    and file type.

  - Destination folders are previewed before a download starts, showing which
    subfolders photos and videos will be downloaded to. Newly created folders
    have their names italicized.

  - The storage space used by photos, videos, and other files on the devices
    being downloaded from is displayed for each device. The projected storage
    space on the computer to be used by photos and videos about to be
    downloaded is also displayed.

  - Downloading is disabled when the projected storage space required is more
    than the capacity of the download destination.

  - When downloading from more than one device, thumbnails for a particular
    device are briefly highlighted when the mouse is moved over the device.

  - The order in which thumbnails are generated prioritizes representative
    samples, based on time, which is useful for those who download very large
    numbers of files at a time.

  - Thumbnails are generated asynchronously and in parallel, using a load
    balancer to assign work to processes utilizing up to 4 CPU cores.
    Thumbnail generation is faster than the 0.4 series of program
    releases, especially when reading from fast memory cards or SSDs.
    (Unfortunately generating thumbnails for a smartphone's photos is painfully
    slow. Unlike photos produced by cameras, smartphone photos do not contain
    embedded preview images, which means the entire photo must be downloaded
    and cached for its thumbnail to be generated. Although Rapid Photo
Downloader
    does this for you, nothing can be done to speed it up).

  - Thumbnails generated when a device is scanned are cached, making thumbnail
    generation quicker on subsequent scans.

  - Libraw is used to render RAW images from which a preview cannot be
extracted,
    which is the case with Android DNG files, for instance.

  - Freedesktop.org thumbnails for RAW and TIFF photos are generated once they
    have been downloaded, which means they will have thumbnails in programs like
    Gnome Files, Nemo, Caja, Thunar, PCManFM and Dolphin. If the path
files are being
    downloaded to contains symbolic links, a thumbnail will be created for the
    path with and without the links. While generating these thumbnails
does slow the
    download process a little, it's a worthwhile tradeoff because Linux desktops
    typically do not generate thumbnails for RAW images, and thumbnails only for
    small TIFFs.

  - The program can now handle hundreds of thousands of files at a time.

  - Tooltips display information about the file including name, modification
    time, shot taken time, and file size.

  - Right click on thumbnails to open the file in a file browser or copy the
    path.

  - When downloading from a camera with dual memory cards, an emblem beneath the
    thumbnail indicates which memory cards the photo or video is on

  - Audio files that accompany photos on professional cameras like the Canon
    EOS-1D series of cameras are now also downloaded. XMP files associated with
    a photo or video on any device are also downloaded.

  - Comprehensive log files are generated that allow easier diagnosis of
    program problems in bug reports. Messages optionally logged to a
    terminal window are displayed in color.

  - When running under Ubuntu's Unity desktop, a progress bar and count of files
    available for download is displayed on the program's launcher.

  - Status bar messages have been significantly revamped.

  - Determining a video's  correct creation date and time has  been
improved, using a
    combination of the tools MediaInfo and ExifTool. Getting the right
date and time
    is trickier than it might appear. Depending on the video file and
the camera that
    produced it, neither MediaInfo nor ExifTool always give the correct result.
    Moreover some cameras always use the UTC time zone when recording
the creation
    date and time in the video's metadata, whereas other cameras use
the time zone
    the video was created in, while others ignore time zones altogether.

  - The time remaining until a download is complete (which is shown in
the status
    bar) is more stable and more accurate. The algorithm is modelled on that
    used by Mozilla Firefox.

  - The installer has been totally rewritten to take advantage of Python's
    tool pip, which installs Python packages. Rapid Photo Downloader can now
    be easily installed and uninstalled. On Ubuntu, Debian and Fedora-like
    Linux distributions, the installation of all dependencies is automated.
    On other Linux distrubtions, dependency installation is partially
    automated.

  - When choosing a Job Code, whether to remember the choice or not can be
    specified.

- Removed feature:

  - Rotate Jpeg images - to apply lossless rotation, this feature requires the
    program jpegtran. Some users reported jpegtran corrupted their jpegs'
    metadata -- which is bad under any circumstances, but terrible when applied
    to the only copy of a file. To preserve file integrity under all
circumstances,
    unfortunately the rotate jpeg option must therefore be removed.

- Under the hood, the code now uses:

  - PyQt 5.4 +

  - gPhoto2 to download from cameras

  - Python 3.4 +

  - ZeroMQ for interprocess communication

  - GExiv2 for photo metadata

  - Exiftool for video metadata

  - Gstreamer for video thumbnail generation

- Please note if you use a system monitor that displays network activity,
  don't be alarmed if it shows increased local network activity while the
  program is running. The program uses ZeroMQ over TCP/IP for its
  interprocess messaging. Rapid Photo Downloader's network traffic is
  strictly between its own processes, all running solely on your computer.

- Missing features, which will be implemented in future releases:

  - Components of the user interface that are used to configure file
    renaming, download subfolder generation, backups, and miscellaneous
    other program preferences. While they can be configured by manually
    editing the program's configuration file, that's far from easy and is
    error prone. Meanwhile, some options can be configured using the command
    line.

  - There are no full size photo and video previews.

  - There is no error log window.

  - Some main menu items do nothing.

  - Files can only be copied, not moved.


Damon

-- 
http://www.damonlynch.net