creative commons fileinfo panel

Adobe, copyright, creative commons, Photoshop, XMP

adobe’s eXtensible Metadata Platform (XMP) is a labeling technology that allows you to embed data about a file – metadata – into the file itself. “eXtensible” means anyone can create a set of metadata elements known as a schema. the most common XMP schema include …

EXIF information recorded by a digital camera (ƒ-stop, shutter speed, ISO, date, location …) when an image is captured,
Dublin Core describes the resource (keywords, title, description, …), it’s owner, copyright status, …
IPTC is used by the world’s major news agencies, news publishers and news industry vendors,
usePLUS simplifies and facilitates the communication and management of image rights including model releases and license terms,
Creative Commons makes resources available to the public for free and legal sharing, use, repurposing, and remixing,
and many others including support for medical imaging, people tagging, video, audio and more.

adobe’s latest creative suites (CS3, CS4 and CS5) expose XMP through a FileInfo dialog (usually accessed through the File | FileInfo… menu option) and supports EXIF, Dublin Core, IPTC and (staring with CS5) usePLUS schemas. prior to CS4 extending the metadata platform was as simple as crafting a properly structured text file. extending the metadata platform in CS4 and CS5 means building a Flash application – not so user friendly but with the right tool not too difficult if you have some programming skills.

as an active supporter of the creative commons and with many years of programming experience under my belt i decided to see if i could add the creative commons licensing metadata to the flock of supported schema. with lots of research, lots of documentation, some open source examples and no small amount of trial and error debugging i am pleased to release a creative commons XMP FileInfo panel for CS4 and CS5.

the creative commons XMP FileInfo panel adds support for embedding all the creative commons license metadata in adobe CS4 and CS5 products, most significantly photoshop, illustrator and bridge. creative commons licenses require that some dublin core metadata be set, defining the resource as copyrighted, and these fields are shown in the same panel. support for the metadata mini-panels in bridge and premiere pro as well as a full set of creative commons metadata templates (that you personalize for your use) are included.

after downloading the creative commons XMP FileInfo panel zip file follow along in this video to install the FileInfo panel, the mini-panels and the templates in CS4 and CS5.

WARNING! If you are running Mac OS 10.6 (Lion) please see these comments on changes made by Apple to both file locations and how hidden files are viewed! The video below was made before Lion was released.

a couple of things to wrap this up …

the XMP FileInfo panel has been localized in English. if you wish to contribute a translation for another language drop me a note and i’ll add it to the download,
if you have any problems installing or using these panels please get back to me with as much detail as you can. i have tested this on the only system i have access to (Windows XP) and while the panel should be platform independent i haven’t had the opportunity to test it out.

and finally, let me know what you think. i have plans for adding the creative commons metadata fields to photoshop lightroom as a metadata/export plugin– any comments or suggestions you might have would be welcome.

;-j

22 responses to “creative commons fileinfo panel”

Val Gameiro says:

2011.01.12 at 12.37

I’ve been wanting to create my own tab to the FileInfo panel… but I haven’t found any instructions on how to do it, or I haven’t understood them properly.

Is it possible to create a whole new tab and add fields to it?

I’m an indie filmmaker, and I use Bridge mostly for Sound Design (labeling and categorizing all my sound files) but not all the Audio Data fields populate automatically (e.g. bitrate, tempo, etc.) and I’d like to add some of my own.

Also, as a writer/director, I want to use Bridge to help me keep track of my research notes… i.e. I want to use it as a sort of database for my ideas.

For example, I used Bryce or some other tool to create a picture of a planet, and I want to add all kinds of information to the planet, like name, cultures, natural resources, etc.

Using Bridge, it all becomes easily searchable.

Is this any of this possible at all?

Thanks,
Val

Reply
- john b says:
  
  2011.01.12 at 19.33
  
  Val,
  
  Yes, all of this is possible although adding your research notes will be fairly complex simply due to the nature of the data I suspect.
  
  To add a full XMP FileInfo panel you’ll need Adobe’s documentation and SDK for extending XMP. It can be found at http://www.adobe.com/products/xmp/. Follow the links on the right side to download the XMP SDK and the Custom File Info panels. I started with the example contained in these downloads and (eventually) figured it out.
  
  Adding metadata fields to Bridge is much simpler than adding a whole FileInfo panel. All you really need is a text editor (creating a custom FileInfo tab requires Adobe Flash Builder and is significantly more complex).
  
  If you download the Creative Commons XMP FileInfo panel you’ll see the Bridge metadata definitions inside /Adobe/XMP/Custom File Info Panels/2.0/custom folder for CS4 (for CS5 look under /3.0/custom).
  
  Before you can create new metadata fields, a namespace must be defined in XML (usually called an RDF). In the case of the Creative Commons, this was already done (http://creativecommons.org/ns#). By way of example, download the Creative Commons RDF from http://creativecommons.org/schema.rdf.
  
  Once you define and publish the RDF on a website where it can be publicly referenced, then it is a simple matter of citing the RDF in the Bridge custom metadata definition XML file and defining which RDF fields should be exposed in Bridge.
  
  ;-j
  
  Reply
Bulle says:

2011.04.03 at 11.06

Hi,
I have a problem, I did all you said in the video (I have Windows Vista and CS4).
When I open FileInfo panel in Photoshop and click on the “window” creative commons there is nothing! and if after I click in another “window” (like IPTC) the page is virgin… (while before I click on the “window” creative commons, the other “windows” are normal with the differents possiblity of compartment.)
I really don’t understand, and I am sad because I find this panel custom very well! can you help me?

PS: sorry for my english, I’m french…

Reply
- john b says:
  
  2011.04.03 at 20.02
  
  this problem is caused by an incorrect or missing Flash Player security authorisation file XMP.cfg; see the video starting at 0:30.
  
  you must correctly modify the contents of the FlashPlayer security authorisation file XMP.cfg using a text editor and then move that updated file to the correct location for your system and user name. this is explained starting at 2:45 in the video.
  
  ;-j
  
  Reply
Bulle says:

2011.04.04 at 00.01

I forgot to remove the beginning symbol!…
thank you very much, it’s great!

Reply
Richard Thomson says:

2011.04.05 at 20.20

Thanks, this is great! I found (OS X 10.6) that the Macromedia FlashPlayerTrust folder was in the root library folder, rather than the user folder.

Reply
- Peter Slupski says:
  
  2011.10.11 at 13.23
  
  I can’t find the “Security” folder inside the FlashPlayerTrust folder on my MAC. Where was the folder on the MAC? Where do you place Is the FlashPlayerTrust folder
  
  Reply
  - john b says:
    
    2011.10.11 at 20.35
    
    i have had recent reports that the latest version of Mac OS X (10.7, Lion) has changed the main folders used here to hidden folders (the same as they are in Windows). i have also had reports that these folders are found in a different location…
    
    1) make sure you can see hidden files and folders in Mac OS X. there are many suggested ways to do this but i recommend these methods as they use the Mac OS X Finder Go command.
    
    2) the XMP.cfg file should reside in /Users/{yourusernamehere}/Library/Application Support/Macromedia/FlashPlayer/#Security/FlashPlayerTrust; you may have to create this folder structure. if you don’t find it there, you might find it “in the root library folder”. i don’t know how that would translate into a folder path but look for something like /Library/Application Support/Macromedia/FlashPlayer on your primary hard drive. you may also find it under /Users/{yourusernamehere}/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player.
    
    i would appreciate any feedback you might have. not owning a Mac is a bit like groping around in the dark!
    
    Reply
    - Peter Slupski says:
      
      2011.10.12 at 12.05
      
      I have the module working in both Bridge and PS5 running Mac OS10.6.8 which is the last version before Lion. I plan to upgrade to Lion in the next few months and will see if the CC module is still working.
      
      I did have to use the path ” /Users/{yourusernamehere}/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player. ” to place the contents into the Security folder inside the FlashPlayerTrust folder.
      
      Thank you for your assistance in getting this going.
      
      Reply
      - john b says:
        
        2011.10.12 at 12.06
        
        Thanks for the feedback! Much appreciated.
        
        ;-j
A Terrible Idea says:

2011.04.11 at 22.31

Thanks so much for putting this out there.

I keep running into an issue when I try to use this in a batch. I’m on CS5, on a Mac. If I import the template through the File Info dialogue and save the file, everything works fine. If I record me doing the same and play the action against a file or batch the action against a directory of files, Photoshop remembers everything in the Copyright Information section but forgets everything in the Creative Commons License Information section.

You’ve got my email, feel free to contact me directly and I can provide two example files, and my templates if necessary. This is a great utility. I have over a hundred images I need to tag, it would be awesome if I could batch them.

-D

Reply
- john b says:
  
  2011.04.12 at 15.06
  
  One thing to check first – are you running the latest version? I just released v1.4.4 which fixes some problems associated with reading CC fields back from saved files. You can use the same download link you first received to fetch the latest version. If you no longer have the download link, try to re-register and you’ll be given the option to have the link resent.
  
  After first backing up your templates, update the plugin and restore your templates. Let me know how it goes.
  
  ;-j
  
  Reply
  - john b says:
    
    2011.04.23 at 17.36
    
    I have unfortunate news. It would appear that each and every field in all Photoshop dialogs must be “known” to the Photoshop Action engine. The fields in the custom Creative Commons XMP FileInfo panel aren’t. After extensive research I can find no reference on how to expose these custom fields to the engine that drives Photoshop’s Actions.
    
    You might have noticed in the Photoshop Actions pane that the values that do get recorded there (ie. Copyright, Usage terms, …) are the “standard” set of XMP definitions. Adobe’s Custom XMP FileInfo Panel SDK does not expose the controls on a custom panel to the Photoshop Action engine. Catch-22 or “You can’t get there from here”.
    
    The only solution (and it isn’t ideal) is to turn the FileInfo command within the Action to a modal command by clicking the box just to the right of the check mark so it turns into a black mini-dialog box icon as shown below.
    
    This will cause the Action playback engine to stop with the XMP FileInfo panel open. From there you can apply your template and when you close the FileInfo dialog, the Action will continue to completion.
    
    If I do discover a way to do this I will update the tool but from where it sits right now that doesn’t look too promising.
    
    Reply