I'm looking for a good program that i can use for indexing and cataloging my clipart. Seriously, i have like 20 GB of pictures, and i can't figure out for the life of me where to find that particular one that i need at any given moment. I've tried Picasa (not what i want) and Picajet. Now Picajet was something that i found good, but the free version didn't quite measure up. Since these pictures are all on my external drive, i'd like some program that catalogs them and i can search by keywords, rating, etc, on any computer i plug the HD into. Or if i can just copy over the database. Picajet creates that database, but you can't copy it onto another computer without having the FX (paid) version. I'll spring for that, if i don't find anything else, but i'd like to find a different program if at all possible.

I have the perfect package for you i hope...

Compupic Pro

This is a great program for all of the stuff you mentioned above...

I have been using this for over 6 years for all photo files..images for websites..I have it open when working in PS all the time cos PS is SOOOOOO crap at previewing files ..Compupic makes littel thumbnails it uses itself to show you whats in a folder..so you browse the thumbs not the huge files...it can read PSD PDF as well as HTML and nearly every image file known to man or beast ) and allows you to search in the folders..using names..keywords etc etc

I use it instead of PS for pics from my camera because its jsut soo easy to batch rename..batch resize..etc all in one go..its got Twain installed so I can actually alter the images on my camera if I wanted too..I could use it to grab the files from my camera but I dont use this..i use a card reader then use compupic to browse and change the files...

Other functions include making of galleries...screensavers...slideshows...rotating your wallpaper in windows....making picture cds...


While posting I even found a function it that will grab every image from a website- now THATS handy ))

Too many functions to list many more than Adobes photopic or whatever they call it.....go try it for yourself )

This post has been edited by Mark420: Sep 16 2006, 06:12 PM

Alright, it's worth a shot. One thing i didn't see in the features list though -- does it support tags in file properties?

---Edit after installing the trial version---
Unfortunately this doesn't cover my needs. It's a great program and has a very intuitive interface, fast and comprehensive search, etc. But it doesn't save keywords if i modify the file in any way. Say i used Compupic Pro to add a "BMW, car, silver" tag to a picture, if i rename the picture, or move it to a different folder my keywords are lost. i need something that saves this info in the picture, so that it stays there even if i move it, and the program also needs to be able to query those tags/keywords when i search.

This post has been edited by Grafitti: Sep 17 2006, 12:19 PM

damm!! Its a feature I dont use so I didnt know if it was there..tried searchign using keywords that works fine ..but as you say it dont save em...;((

I was sure it would too!! from the yrs ive used it its become the king of photo progs for me

After researching it a bit more online, i still haven't found exactly what i need, but i have more of an idea. I need a good image cataloging program that uses XMP (or something similar) for saving keywords. freeware if possible, paid if not.

im not an expert yet....but with MySQL you could build a databse and hold everything in there..even the images???

Possibly... I wouldn't want to take the time to do that though. But i think i might have just found the perfect program for me, and it's freeware to boot!
http://www.mediapurveyor.com/
I'll give my review of it after install.

Edit: After trying it out, not so thrilled. The features page on their site sounds great, but in practive, it's cumbersome, not very customisable, and even adding keywords requires several steps. Not bad, but not great either. I found a couple more appz that have potential, though not the all-in-one powerhouse i was looking for. Simple freeware app is Pixvue, which integrates into windows explorer, let's you view, add, edit metadata keywords, which then get indexed by windows indexing service, or easily picked up by desktop search appz. a bit TOO simplistic for me though, so I'm going to try the demo of Picajet FX, and see if that one can give me what i'm looking for.

This post has been edited by Grafitti: Sep 17 2006, 03:37 PM