Luminar Neo: Working with the Catalog

[@andrewmckinney3053]

Blessings on you Jim for your offer of support to the Skylum team in this horrific time for them.

[@JimNix]

thanks Andrew and I'm happy to help even though it's just little old me, but happy to help in any way I can of course

[@hepgeoff]

Hey Jim, nice overview. I've been using catalogs in Luminar products since they had that ability, yet I learned some new things here. For some reason I never understood where Luminar Trash was when deleting a photo. Now I see the trash can. I like that they designed it with two failsafes. I also didn't know the difference between folders and albums, so thanks for that.

[@JimNix]

thanks much for watching Geoff and glad you got something out of this one 🙏🏻

[@dp1708]

I can't believe how I was struggling trying to figure out the catalog ....... this clarified it greatly! Thanks so much.

[@JimNix]

thanks for watching and glad that this helped!

[@pappumurthy9462]

Excellent video on catalog indeed. Never understood how it worked before and now I decided to give it a try. Thanks.

[@JimNix]

thanks Pappu and glad this video helped!

[@hansvanwijhe7891]

Glad to hear that they are relatively OK, or as OK as OK can be. I contacted them 3 days ago but haven't heard back from them. Let's hope all turns out for the better for them.

[@JimNix]

yes I am hoping they are ok too

[@danschreckengost6153]

Thanks Jim, prayers for Skylum Software & Ukraine

[@JimNix]

thanks Dan and yes I am sure they appreciate that 🙏🏻

[@robertmeyerson1618]

Always learn something. Thanks, Jim.

[@JimNix]

thanks Robert

[@kenalexander8714]

Thanks Jim for this detailed use of the NEO Catalogue. I've learnt some things I was unaware of. I'm hearing that Skylum for Luminar NEO are talking about several levels of licences such as a basic, subscription and lifetime. Depending on which you go for depends on what updates you get. If true this is surely heading to the Adobe way of doing things.

[@JimNix]

They are now offering a subscription but admittedly I haven't read all the details about updates and when they come etc. But all buyers during preorder will get all the features that were promised during preorder so no risk to anyone in that regard. Thanks.

[@TC_Conner]

@@JimNix Will we also get the update(s) needed now?

[@JimNix]

@@TC_Conner I am not sure what the differences will be between subscription and perpetual licenses, but for sure any pre order customers will get what they were told they would get, so updates to include Mask AI, Portrait Background Removal, etc

[@TC_Conner]

@@JimNix I don’t think anyone knew what they were getting. And I’m not so sure I really want it now anyway.

[@JimNix]

@@TC_Conner I understand. As I learn more I will share it here of course.

[@ronleckie]

Hi Jim. Thanks for your previous reply. I'm still searching for the "ideal" catalog management methods in Neo. I archive my file structure by date:location/subject then run with a catalog for a calendar year on my MacBook Pro. Each January I plug in an external portable SSD and move the files, but how to I move the catalog over to the SSD without losing the links to the edits, Have sadly lost some valuable edits. What would be very useful is a good tutorial on how to archive files and catalogs safely and securely. You are the master at these tutorials! I have found nothing on this from the Luminar folks who are focused more on developing great features. Thanks & Regards, Ron

[@stephsieben6137]

Hi Jim! Using Neo folders, are my images using storage space twice, once on my C: drive/Pictures, and another "copy" in Neo? Thanks for this video...as always appreciated! 👍👍👍👍🙌🙌

[@JimNix]

Hi Steph and no Luminar is not duplicating anything. It just mirrors your file structure and shows those images. They remain in their original drive location and are untouched. Edits are stored in the database. Thanks

[@stephsieben6137]

Thanks so much for clearing this up. Appreciate it! Happy Sunday!

[@JimNix]

@@stephsieben6137 you are welcome

[@iga3725]

Great resume. I have a question that's a pain for me. I have more than 3 or 4 hard drives with a lot of family photos which are duplicated, exif data wrong, samephoto but diff quality, date creation is not the same as real date also bunch of videos (the biggest disaster you can imagine). Pls, I'm looking for a soft that I create a new directory organizing all photos from Y-M-D (as example) from all these sources. And of course 100% security that I wont lost any photo. From your experience what do you recommend? Thank much!!!

[@Kayahdog]

Jim, love all of your insightful tutorials. Can you explain why on my laptop hard drive (storage) I have folders titled Luminar Neo Backup and Luminar Neo Catalog that consume a lot of storage. Since I bring anything I work on over from an external storage drive, what is the purpose of these folders (can they be deleted without affecting search performance when in Neo?) Struggling trying to figure this out, thank you Jim.

[@ronleckie]

Hi Jim. Saw your recent video talking about shifting your focus - good for you!!! Good to do that periodically and look after yourself. I do have a specific catalog question... I believe I'm using the catalog well, but it does soon become bloated and slow to respond. Do you have any recommendations on partitioning the catalog. Can it be done after the fact (e.g. remove a folder's edits) or do you just need to start a new catalog periodically to keep it responsive? My last catalog got to 75GB and really slowed on my MacBook Pro M1.

[@JimNix]

Hi Ron and thanks, and honestly I am not totally sure about that. I think it is best to just start a new one periodically. However, I have all my images in a single catalog. It is slow to start up but once all the folders are connected it seems to work just fine. Thanks.

[@fredbenjamin7072]

Thank you, Jim for the excellent educational video as well as helping our friends at Skylum. They are in our thoughts and prayers.

[@JimNix]

thanks so much and yes they are 🙏🏻

[@chuckaugenbraun3440]

Hi Jim, Thanks for your informative videos - they have been very helpful as I have just started Exploring Neo. I have generally worked in LR and have all my files catalogued and organized in LR. They all reside in one folder which is organized by date and location. My first temptation was to import that entire folder into Neos catalogue to allow me to browse from Neo or from Lightroom. It struck me that with both systems accessing the same folders it could create some conflicts. Do you know what happens when edits are made by Neo to files that it accesses from the same folder that Lightroom accesses. If the same file is then opened by Lightroom will those edits be present and still compatible with further work on LR. Until I figure this out I’ll keep using Neo as plug-in Thanks Chuck

[@JimNix]

Hi Chuck and thanks for watching. The catalogs would remain completely separate. If you have everything in LR and it's cataloged, organized, etc - and you like that setup - then I would not change. The catalog in Neo is pretty basic and not likely to catch up with LR anytime soon, if ever. So if you import the folders to Neo and edit there, those edits are not visible in LR bc it's a separate catalog. They are only visible in Neo as a standalone. So if you create a catalog in Neo, it's effectively two catalogs you would then be dealing with. HTH and thanks!

[@dannysluxurycruisevacation8812]

Jim, Great video. So, my question is the. If I edit a photo in Luminar Neo and have a folder or album in Luminar Neo for those edited folders, how do I get that folder or album onto my computer or drive? Thank you, Danny

[@RonaldBrown59]

I knew that the recent Luminar products had the Catalogue feature but I never really played around with. Preferring to use Luminar as a LR plugin, and letting LR catalogue everything for me. But I might have to try it out in Neo, editing out of folders reminds me of the old days before LR and Apples Aperture program. Great video, and thanks for sharing the Skylum is located in the Ukraine. Prayers for all those people over there right now.

[@JimNix]

thanks much Ron, glad the video helped and yes lots of prayers for those in the Ukraine

[@jimtuten6273]

Very helpful video. I would like to avoid Adobe products, but would like to be able to search by keywords. Any suggestions on a better product to upload the photos for cataloging and edit in Luminar?

[@JimNix]

Luminar is a good substitute for Adobe for sure

[@JoeB_BSc]

Hi Jim, 1:42 in, re links with catalogues. This is brilliant news. In the Luminar 3, 4, and AI, I used individual photos for catalogue filled my hard drive with approximately 100k photos. Links are a marvellous idea, especially if they work with external drives. Many thanks and Regards JB

[@JimNix]

Hi JB and hopefully I did not confuse things here. It works the same as it did in previous versions. You add a folder, and it can see inside it, regardless if the folder is local or on an external drive. I keep my images on an external drive and edit them from there. thanks

[@JoeB_BSc]

@@JimNix No you didn't confuse, In my opinion there may have been a comment not by you, that catalogues from Luminar 4, by the latest update may work as same catalogues in Luminar Neo. I don't have any Luminar catalogues but some might? I wonder if you had heard/read anything to suggest such? Regards JB

[@JimNix]

@@JoeB_BSc no right now the catalogs from previous versions cannot be seen/used by Neo. You can point Neo to the same folders as you did with previous versions but anything stored in the catalog is not yet compatible. They are making a utility to help us convert those catalogs to be compatible with Neo, but not sure when. Thanks.

[@JoeB_BSc]

@@JimNix Thanks for letting me know, Jim. Regards JB

[@jonstadman6051]

Thank you Jim this was a very good presentation this will help a lot

[@JimNix]

thank you for watching Jon!

[@pamelaharlow5048]

Jim, about 1:12 into your video you mention using Luminar Neo as a plugin. That was my original plan when I purchased Neo. However, I'm having problems locating Neo even though the software shows installed as a plugin for Photoshop Elements. I still have Luminar 4 installed as a plugin. By going to Filter I can access it. But no such luck with Neo. Any suggestions?

[@JimNix]

Hi Pamela and I am pretty sure that Neo will not work as a plugin for Elements, just LR and PS. Double check with their support team but pretty sure that is correct. Thanks.

[@imagineaerialproductions8264]

Hi Jim, thanks for all the tutorials! Did Skylum not implement the catalog film strip that displays at the bottom of the screen? I used it all the time in Luminar AI. I don't see a way to see it in the Neo...Thanks in advance.

[@Centauri27]

I'm in a bit of a cataloging twilight zone right now--Lightroom is still my main cataloger, but now I'm seeing the benefits of Excire, but it doesn't interoperate with LR very well. Now there's Luminar. I was very disappointed with the performance of L-AI's catalog (as well as its simplicity). Perhaps I'll take another look at Neo to see if catalog performance has been improved. And let's hope the Skylum team stays safe and that saner heads prevail!

[@JimNix]

thanks Carl and I am in the same twilight zone myself, and have been for a year now LOL - at some point I will get my act together but the good news is that we have some good choices these days if we don't want to use Lightroom (for instance) - and yes praying for safety for the Skylum team 🙏🏻

[@corinalynn9601]

Hi Jim, some of my recent raw images no longer display in one of my folders in my catalogue. Skylum advised to create a new catalogue with just the one folder to see if that corrects it. Well it did work however i don’t really want multiple catalogues. I noticed your folders (ones off line) in your catalogue had very high volume of photos which I’m not even close to. Have you experienced issues with the catalogue being too large? If you use multiple catalogues - did you organize this in synch with your folder structure? Just looking for ideas.

[@JimNix]

Hi Corina and no I do not have multiple catalogues, that would not work for me as I like to see all my stuff at once - unlike maybe an event photog or something where you can make a catalogue just for that event, etc. I have not had any issues with the size of the catalogue though, it has worked just fine. Thanks.

[@LanzaroteShowcase]

What's going on? Yesterday I could see thumbnails at the bottom of the catalog and today there are no thumbnails. I need this to process hundreds of bracketed shots!!! HELP!

[@randalqueen5653]

Thanks for the video. I know I asked for a video to explain catalogs, and this is a good start. I also went to the link you provided on LuminarAi catalogs, but that was fairly limited on any explanations. Currently, I have soft previews (a bug?) and fuzzy previews (no longer just soft) after editing images in Neo. So I am trying to create and delete catalogs to try to help troubleshoot why not only myself, but others, have soft looking Previews. I am also noticing when I edit, any slider will blur the image I am editing until it snaps back to focus after I stop moving the slider. Hard to really edit, especially things like Sharpness. So building new catalogs was essential to trying to find where the problem lies. Of course, I now have discovered there is really no way to delete a catalog. Oh, you can go the the hdd and delete the catalog from Finder/Explorer, but if the program is closed, and you long press the icon to open Neo, which then allows you to choose to open under which catalog, all the catalogs you deleted are still on the fly out list. Bummer. I think some of the issue stem from the catalog and how Neo creates and uses and access the catalog. Thus the soft previews and fuzzy images. But thank you for your newest video. I now see exactly how to set up my files once I get Neo working correctly.

[@JimNix]

Hmm, yeah I am not sure about this, I don't have soft or fuzzy previews, or blurred images when editing (except on rare occasions, but it fixes itself really quickly). So I am not sure what to offer here, sorry. You can of course email support, but please note that many of their support folks (and their HQ) is in the Ukraine so as you can imagine they are pretty distracted right now with more important matters.

[@randalqueen5653]

@@JimNix I have been working with support for quite awhile on this issue. And because of their situ am very patient - and I told them I am not counting days (as in 30) to ask for a refund and that I had no intent to get a refund, but to help them find the cause and will try everything on my end to look into the soft preview problem. I have also started to point out other 'bugs' I have found. The soft previews is a bummer but life goes on.

[@JimNix]

@@randalqueen5653 I am sure they appreciate that, as do I and I look forward to hearing what the resolution to this is - thank you

[@danielrochon9774]

Thanks for this extra video, it is help me to organize my pictures....your great

[@JimNix]

thank you Daniel

[@acneubauer]

Hi Jim i do not want to bother Skylum at the moment so I m asking you , since you kindly offered help . My problem is my catalog is greyed out and I can not get in any other ways photos into Neo nor a catalog . When I new installed it , like with the pre versions , catalog is there , but as soon as I click Edit , this option is gone for good ( its greyed out ) . Only when I use Neo as a plug in , can I get one photo at a time into Neo . Any clues ? ( Mac 10.14.06 )

[@JimNix]

Hi there and sorry to hear that you are going through this. Sadly, I do not know what would cause this or how to fix it. So you previously added folders to Neo, but now they are not seen and thus you cannot edit them? Are they on an external drive, and is it connected? Sorry, just not sure how to help with this.

[@acneubauer]

​@@JimNix When I open Neo I always see the very fist photo I edited and no option to choose a new photo . ( Except if I use Neo as a plug in ) And to you re question : Only if Neo is fresh installed the option to add Fotos or catalogs is possible , but as soon as I edit a photo these options do not work anymore . I have to install Neo again , for it to work . But than as soon as I edit the first photo , these options are gone . Guess I have to wait for the next update . No external hard drive . And of course the photos are on my Mac . In the window of Neo on top , you have the three dots red yellow green than" Luminar Neo "and in the middle "catalog" and "edit" . When I start Neo . For a split second the last Photo is on the right and there are no tools to bee seen , and the two buttons on top" Catalog" and "edit" are not greyed out . But than( after a split second ) the photo moves a bit to the left , gives way to the tools ( they appear) but the button "catalog" now stays grey

[@JimNix]

@@acneubauer hmm, ok that is weird. Sorry, I am not at all sure what to suggest, other than to email their support team. I am not sure how responsive they can be at the moment, but I do not think that they are all in Ukraine. So it's possible you will get a response, but it may be delayed a bit. Sorry, just not sure how to help with this one.

[@babyandromeda8762]

How to add photos straight from camera I just downloaded this and im struggling to add the photos that I took to luminar Neo.

[@LarryDMitchell]

Jim I plan on looking at your Neo playlist and the Luminar AI (which I don't have) manual. However will NEO allow me to do a virtual catalog with my Google Photos online? If not I suppose I could download all those folders to a 1 terabyte drive and just plug that in when needed.

[@JimNix]

Hi Larry and I am not sure if it connects to Google Photos or not, sorry. I thought that it did, but I am not sure and cannot find any reference to that being the case. I do not have photos in Google either so I haven't had the need to try it. thanks

[@leonfisher]

Thanks for the tutorial. I tried to bring over my other Luminar catalog and all the thumbnails when displayed in the NEO catalog are very low resolution and blurry. Only when I bring just the raw files are the catalog thumbnails up to par. (using Windows)

[@JimNix]

Hi Leon and the catalog from previous Luminar versions is not compatible with Neo, so I am surprised it worked at all. They are making a utility to migrate old catalogs so I am hopeful that is out this Spring, but not sure about timing. Thanks.

[@leonfisher]

@@JimNix I knew it was not compatible, but wanted to see what would happen. 8D

[@JimNix]

@@leonfisher ah right, makes sense

[@brianbutters7266]

Why does share option no work. I have tried maybe 50 times after scan. QR it says must be on same Wi-Fi which I am. Same result always using Windows 10 android phone .

[@JimNix]

Hi Brian and I am not sure exactly. At first it did not work for me, but last time I tried it, it did work. So I am not sure what the difference is. I am also not sure about Android bc I have an iPhone. You may want to check the Skylum forums to see if anyone is posting about this too. Thanks.

[@EricMustardman]

How TF can I display the file names in the catalog view? This has been driving me crazy, I can't find any option to turn that feature on. I don't want to have to mouse-over or click onto a file so as to see the file name.

[@JimNix]

I am not in the app right now, but don't believe there is a way to do that. When you select a file you should see all the EXIF data in a window in the upper right corner of the catalog view.

[@andrewbailey2867]

I'm a little confused. I'm just getting to migrating AI to Neo. Loved AI, but typically would import a single image, work on it until I was satisfied and then export it back to the original folder created by my Nikon program, then right click the still visible Luminar Edit photo and send it to trash. What I didn't realize was that, apparently, AI was duplicating those photos in its own catalog folder. It was only when I began to migrate and saw over 300 GB churning away (aborted) that I realized my 1 TB of SSD was nearly exhausted by what I believed should have been closer to 500 GBs of photos. I found the additional GBs in the AI Cache. Neo and AI should have it so that erasing a work in the edit function, post export, clears that portion of the cache. Or am I wrong about this happening (given the memory issue, I can't see how I am)?

[@makeva100]

I have my Photos in my iCloud. Is it possible to link these photos as my library in Luminar Neo?

[@michaelpitt3640]

Jim - Now if they could just make the use of the catalog OPTIONAL! I know it doesn't use it when invoked as a plugin but if I want to do RAW editing, I can't find a way to disable it. As a consequence, the two programs I use for my master catalog (versions of Elements) get messed up. They use "Watched Folders". For every slight tweak to a slider in Neo, a file is written to the disk which my programs then try to add to my master catalog because the incremental file is in Pictures, a watched folder. I have to find and remove these manually before starting Elements.

[@bwamback]

Hi Jim, I have a question on where to save my edited photos. I have over 20 years of photos on my PC. I am happy with how I have them organized. About 6 months ago I changed to shooting in RAW ( I know I should have don that a long time ago), My question, what is the best way to save the edited file ie .jpeg. Do you just use the same name as the raw file? or do you modify the file name? and save them in the same folder with the raw files? Do you create another folder under the original folder and save the edited file in that folder, so you have all the jpeg together? How do you save your edited photos, Thanks

[@raylander6329]

Thank you, Jim, for the great CATALOG video; finally understood; I used DXO for cataloging and removing noise, then transferring to Luminar for all the rest. Hey, just a thought; Would love to go on a workshop where everyone uses Luminar for editing. In any workshop you go, they use Lightroom and Photoshop; I know about Iceland, where you are going, but it is on the expensive side; how about Luminar/or somone teaching Luminar organizes trips say 3-6 days in the US to shoot and edit the files in Luminar. I bet it would pick up, and would have a lot of takers. What do you think? I could help, getting things organized and coordinate locations, hotels, transportation. I follow you for about 3-4 years now, and I like Luminar more and more. Just my 2 cents

[@JimNix]

Hi Ray and thanks a lot. I am not sure if Skylum will do that sort of tour, but I am actually looking into doing it myself. We will see, but I agree it's a good idea!

[@raylander6329]

If you do it yourself, I am eager to help; I just retired a few months ago, and spending more time with photography; I own Luminar since version 2; I live in California 1 hour from the entrance to Yosemite National Park; as always, thank you for the speedy response.

[@JimNix]

@@raylander6329 thank you

[@dougnelson423]

Jim, awesome video. Thanks

[@JimNix]

thanks Doug!

[@rossciaglia7677]

Hi Jim, help..in luminar 4 when I open a folder and click on edit all the photos are lined up on the left side of the screen so I can edit each individually. How can i do that in Neo?

[@FontanaTX]

Thanks, Jim - just had a "Duh" moment on the Albums. Going to integrate that into my workflow. Question: do you experience any lag withover 200k photos in your catalog? In Luminar AI on my previous PC, I had to start creating smaller catalogs to decrease the load times for the thumbnails.

[@JimNix]

Hi Michael and thanks, and I don't see much of a lag with that many photos. Maybe it's slightly slower at times, but not sure that is the size of the catalog or something else. It generally runs pretty well and has been very stable too.

[@ALOKGUPTA-cn2op]

It’s a nice video. Please give link to LUMINAR Neo tutorial play list. Thanks

[@JimNix]

Thanks. My full Neo playlist is here: kzbin.info/aero/PLye10L-yi8hWNan3N3FFl5JUWj8H24kOB

[@artfulljim8054]

Will the catalog function still work if you open NEO within Photoshop?

[@JimNix]

No if you are using Neo as a plugin the catalog is disabled.

[@fjperras]

This is getting into the territory of what I like the least about Skylum. Don't get me wrong, I love AI and I love Neo. Just not the catalog piece. I have mentioned this before but I have three major issues: Edits are hidden in catalog (if it gets corrupted, you lose all your edits), catalogs are not compatible from version to version and search capability is fairly limited. You touched on the latter but first two deserved a mention IMHO. For such reason, and thanks to you for planting the idea in my head, I now use Skylum catalogs solely to keep my photo edits. I create one catalog per project/activity (which I put in same directory as my actual photos). And I use the catalog feature of another software for the actual cataloging (that fortunately for me uses sidecar files to store edits rather than hiding it in its catalog). Nonetheless, the video was very much informative as usual. Thank you for sharing. And for my own benefit, are you planning on using Neo cataloging for your own photos or are you relying on a different software for this task?

[@williamschone9358]

Frederic, timely response on your part, at least for me. I also plan to use the catalog in the manner you have described. A question has arisen in my workflow. First off for clarity, I’m in a windows 10 professional environment. At times (and I may simply quit doing it) but I might load the files that I want to edit to my laptop, perform those edits, but then I wish to copy that directory/folder (that contains the catalog) to my external drive. My situation is that I might do the edits on my desktop or on my laptop. However I have found, unless I’m doing something wrong, but if I move the directory/folder to my external drive from either my laptop or desktop, the catalog can no longer find the photos. The file addressing is static rather than relative, ie my path for the original edits might be c:\pictures. But when I move the directory/folder to my external drive the address of the photos become h:\2021-12-25-Christmas. So I haven’t found that moving the directory will update the catalog file with the new location. Does that square with your experience? If so, do you have a work around? I appreciate your suggestions. I had read that you might be able to change the addressing by opening the actual catalog file in neo & repointing it, but haven’t had the chance to test it. Thanks for any help.

[@fjperras]

@@williamschone9358 I am on Win10 as well. But only using one computer. In my workflow, the project/activity is either on my computer or zipped on external drive. What I found is unzipping exactly where it was originally works for me. Perhaps full path is stored in catalog file. Skylum catalogs use SQLite format. I have no interest nor time in interpreting that myself so I use whatever is provided. But with a bit of programming skills, you might be able to convert/interpret the catalog to your taste.

[@JimNix]

Hi Frederic and thanks. Yes, the catalog is pretty basic and not at all on par with LR, On1, etc. I have added all my photos into Neo's catalog, but I also have LR and On1 catalogs, so admittedly I am a bit scattered at the moment. I don't recommend doing this, to be clear. 😁 I decided to leave LR last year, and was evaluating options, but never really decided what I was going to do. I no longer add photos to my LR catalog. I like the browse option in On1, along with all their other capabilities that Neo does not have (keywords, print module, etc). But I also use Excire for keywords, so maybe some combo of Excire and On1? I also hear about Photo Mechanic, which I need to check out, and Mylio too. But I am not sure which of these tools does what, and how, and all that, so I have homework ahead of me. I am not done testing out ideas to see what works best for me. I fear I still have a ways to go before committing to a direction. Thanks and hope that helps.

[@fjperras]

@@JimNix Great feedback. My "other" software I was referring to is ON1 Photo RAW 2022 and its catalog capabilities suits my need at the moment. With this new catalog trick, I use Photo RAW as my main hub and invoke Neo (or AI) either via plugin if I don't care about losing edits or by sending via a TIFF file. I saw your video on Excire and frankly, it looks amazing. Just not ready to invest there yet (still too noob and not enough cumulated photos). The problem I need to solve right now is on the import side. When coming back from an outing, my SD may contains single shots, focus stack shots, bracketed shots, panorama shots and even very rarely bracketed panorama shots. Right now, I can easily spend 30mins just sorting out these files in separate directories so I can invoke batch processing. This is repetitive and tedious. That is what I need a solution for. So far, I haven't seen any application that recognized my SD card contains such a variety of shots and sort it out for me :S. If you have ideas, let me know.

[@JimNix]

@@fjperras hmm yeah sorry I cannot think of any app that would "know" that about your shots on your SD card and be able to help you sort them, basically - if I come across something I will let you know

[@foorichard1712]

Hi Jim how to do back up drive and let Luminar know where the back up?

[@JimNix]

Hi there and you can read all about that in their manual here: manual.skylum.com/neo/en/topic/working-with-catalog-files

[@foorichard1712]

Thanks Jim

[@JimNix]

@@foorichard1712 you are welcome

[@foorichard1712]

Thanks

[@WilliamWallaceRoss]

I'm praying the Team made it out of Ukraine before the action occurred. Thanks for another great training session.

[@JimNix]

thanks much, I am sure they appreciate that and also thanks for watching

[@BrettOssman]

I was hoping to move from Lightroom to Neo. Unfortunately, the Lightroom catalog features just aren't there yet. I'll have to research Photoshop features I typically use in Neo. That would be another big issue.

[@JimNix]

Hi Brett and yes the catalog is pretty basic, as you can see. Many folks use Neo as a plugin for that reason. I am not sure if there are plans to enhance it this year. I feel like they are more focused on the editing features. Thanks.

[@hansvanwijhe7891]

Jim, thanks for this video. I am not all that fond of Luminar's catalog. It would have been much better, in my opinion, if keywords could be used in the catalog as well to make searching for a specific photo(s) faster and easier. I'm sorry, but I'll stick to LR's catalogs. By the way, bit off-topic, are edits in Luminar Neo non-destructive?

[@JimNix]

thanks and yes the catalog is pretty basic, good for organizing but not a lot more at this time - and yes it is non-destructive as your raw file is always still available underneath your edits while in the catalog - thanks

[@khenghuaboo6884]

Can I use the catalog with my iCloud Drive?

[@HR-wd6cw]

Does Luminar store the edits in the catalog though? I think that's where a lot of criticism comes from with Lightroom.... as it stores all of your edits in the catalog. so if your catalog gets corrupted, you've lost your edits (until you restore a backup). I'm thinking Luminar may work the same way, even though it doesn't require an import process, which Lightroom does and is one of the drawbacks to LIghtroom (then again, the plus side of it is you can create Smart Previews which could let you edit the photo while the original is not available, so not sure if you can do that with Luminar or not). I almost wish Adobe would create a separate Library program that can plug into all the Adobe apps that works like the Lightroom catalog, but doesn't require importing and doesn't store your edits in a central database. So something like a cross between Bridge but on steroids, where it acts more like Lightroom's LIbrary module.

[@JimNix]

Hi there and yes Luminar does store edits in the catalog, assuming you are using the catalog. So you would need to back up your catalog file here too. And yes, I have been searching for the "perfect" DAM for a while with no luck, but agree with what you are looking for. I just don't know where to find it exactly.

[@jlp186]

Ok backup I don't even get the catalog screen I'm very new to pc but trying to edit photos. I don't know how to get them on to the app. Maybe 100.00 down the drain

[@manueljlopez]

Jim, I was under the impression that in Luminar NEO you could add raw images as layers. When I click on My Images (Layers) I can only add jpg, tif, pgn. I cannot see my NEF images. I am in windows 10 x64. Any hint??? Please advice.

[@JimNix]

Hi Manuel and right now it does not accept raw files as a layer but I do believe that is coming in an update based on what I have heard. thanks

[@andrewhillphotosvideos2909]

if you delete the folder in Neo you also delete the folder and all the edits on your hard drive. I just found that out and lost all my photos what a Bummer.

[@adrianchillhill7842]

Hi Jim, Like everyone else I'm nw to Neo, started on AI but the team upgraded me to Neo foc! On this video you showed a folder on the right of your screen but I don't seem to be able to get that look, I know it is a minor point as well as I have the upto date version but it still looks different to yours? Do you have some features that we mortals don't have yet? Stay safe all members of this forum. Regards Adrian

[@JimNix]

Hi Adrian and there is just 1 version of Neo, so I have the same thing as anyone else. All the folders in Neo I just added myself. But in this video I was also showing a folder on my desktop (outside of Neo) that I added to Neo as part of the demo. Is that the one you are talking about? Thanks.

[@adrianchillhill7842]

@@JimNix Hi Jim, Yes the folder on your desktop would explain the folder! You also appear to have 3 colour dots at the top left of your NEO which I don’t see on mine, that is why I thought you had a developers version or something. Thanks for clearing it up for me. Stay safe Regards Adrian

[@JimNix]

@@adrianchillhill7842 those 3 color dots are bc I am on a Mac, and those are to close the app, minimize it, etc. I have the same version as you. Thanks!

[@adrianchillhill7842]

@@JimNix Hello Jim, It's just I had never noticed it before & obviously I dont have a Mac. Thank you for explaining, I'm just looking to see if my Neo had loaded correctly as you will see fromanother post that I have sent you. Sorry to bother you with trivia. Great tutorials, I'm learning a lot. Stay safe Regards Adrian

[@JimNix]

@@adrianchillhill7842 no worries and yep there are some slight differences between Mac and PC at this time. Glad the videos are helping!

[@eddu4361]

The number one app making it so easy to alter your photos that nobody understands anymore what he is doing and why. Many tutorial videos end up with hideous photos. It lowers the threshold so low for editing photos that people are using it for a process they don’t understand and an object they don’t understand, the photo. Editing photos well requires a good understanding of the photo phenomenon and the impact of the process as much as it is an art.

[@AlanZ-yg8by]

ERROR MESSAGE: " Luminar NeEo Catalog Not Found " what to do ?

[@JimNix]

I am not sure. Have you moved the catalog file? Your best bet is to email their support team for assistance. Thanks.

[@Simon_PieMan]

It’s a shame the albums aren’t ‘smart’ albums, i.e. they don’t add new photos that satisfy the search criteria, only what was in the folder at the time the album was created.

[@jennifermedia6288]

keep doing this Jim thanks- just move your head up the screen thanks

[@JimNix]

thanks for watching!

[@jean-francoisdamon4847]

bravo pour votre action Jim dans cette période difficile pour nos amis Ukrainiens a qui je souhaite de retrouver une vie normale rapidement.

[@JimNix]

Thanks Jean-Francois and it's not much but it's at least a little something I can do to help. 🙏🏻

[@Simon_PieMan]

Good video.

[@JimNix]

thank you

[@acneubauer]

Hi Jim thank you for pointing out that Skylum is located in Ukraine. Lets hope the world can stop the war

[@JimNix]

Yeah it's a terrible thing for sure. Thank you.

[@Sceince01]

can we get gen swap and gen erase without using catalog version. I want to use in plugin

[@JimNix]

Not at this time; it's only from the Catalog view now. I am not sure if that will change.