Star*Explorer Thread

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  • rainforest1155rainforest1155 Registered Users Posts: 4,566 Major grins
    edited March 28, 2007
    Nikolai wrote:
    Danke, mein bruder! (I hope I didn't screw this up too much:-)
    Perfectly fine! thumb.gif (just that nouns are written with capital letter, but in the internet nobody cares about that anyways in german)

    Sebastian
    Sebastian
    SmugMug Support Hero
  • vincepachianovincepachiano Registered Users Posts: 6 Beginner grinner
    edited March 29, 2007
    Actual customer, or trial(s)
    Is this the 400th paying customer, or 400th person to sign up for a trial?
    Nikolai wrote:
    Yay! Star*Explorer got 400th customer tonight!wings.gif
  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited March 29, 2007
    Is this the 400th paying customer, or 400th person to sign up for a trial?
    Yes, 400+ of those who actually paid their own money :-) deal.gif
    It's actually slightly more than 400, since many have multiple licenses. mwink.gif
    I don't track the trials though, no need... ne_nau.gif
    Thank you for your interest in Star*Explorer! thumb.gif
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited March 31, 2007
    S*E: 80,000+ hits!
    By the end of March 2007, just a few weeks prior to its 2d year release anniversary, Star*Explorer reaches a new threshold: 80,000 hits!wings.gif
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • dogwooddogwood Registered Users Posts: 2,572 Major grins
    edited March 31, 2007
    Nikolai wrote:
    Yes, 400+ of those who actually paid their own money :-) deal.gif
    It's actually slightly more than 400, since many have multiple licenses. mwink.gif
    I don't track the trials though, no need... ne_nau.gif
    Thank you for your interest in Star*Explorer! thumb.gif

    And... I'll add... I'm very satisfied with my purchase so far. I can't tell you what a relief it is to be able to start a BIG download just before bed and know that in the morning it will be uploaded-- no socket error exceptions! :D

    Portland, Oregon Photographer Pete Springer
    website blog instagram facebook g+

  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited March 31, 2007
    Pete,
    dogwood wrote:
    And... I'll add... I'm very satisfied with my purchase so far. I can't tell you what a relief it is to be able to start a BIG download just before bed and know that in the morning it will be uploaded-- no socket error exceptions! :D

    Thank you very much, appreciate it! thumb.gif
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • ashsimmondsashsimmonds Registered Users Posts: 68 Big grins
    edited April 6, 2007
    ok, so i'm trying out StarExplorer... i can see my albums and stuff, but other than that nothing werks ne_nau.gif

    i tried "get images info", it told me there was a restriction to 3 images yada yada and then went to the console screen, did some stuff for about 20 seconds then took me back to the main page, but i can't see that it did anything.

    then i tried "download images" from a gallery, set my options, waited a minute or so on the console screen, then it returned me to the main screen and opened up an explorer window for me to the specified location except it was empty, bupkis!

    any ideas?
  • ashsimmondsashsimmonds Registered Users Posts: 68 Big grins
    edited April 6, 2007
    in the full version when you download your files does it also include the keywords?

    all i want to do is duplicate some galleries so i can give full-size versions to certain people using hidden/passwerded galleries. i tried AlbumFetcher to download so i can re-upload but it appears to only embed the first 50 characters or so of the keywords into IPTC. the gallery duplicator thingy doesn't even do keywords so i don't see the point when i can just upload my pics twice.
  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited April 6, 2007
    Thank you for trying Star*Explorer! iloveyou.gif
    ok, so i'm trying out StarExplorer... i can see my albums and stuff, but other than that nothing werks ne_nau.gif

    Can you please be more specific? headscratch.gif
    i tried "get images info", it told me there was a restriction to 3 images yada yada and then went to the console screen, did some stuff for about 20 seconds then took me back to the main page, but i can't see that it did anything.
    "Get image info", apart from being restricted in trial, downloads image information into your locally stored database. You can then uses MS Access (or any other ODBC/OLE DB/ADO compatible tool) to run different reports against this information. Please check the FAQ, I wrote a few pages on how to build such reports...
    then i tried "download images" from a gallery, set my options, waited a minute or so on the console screen, then it returned me to the main screen and opened up an explorer window for me to the specified location except it was empty, bupkis!
    any ideas?

    I suspect either your gallery was set up in a way that prevents S*E from getting the said images, or you might have misconfigured your account info in S*E.

    Please drop me an email and I'll be happy to assist you in all those issues.

    Once again, thank you for giving S*E a try! thumb.gif
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • ashsimmondsashsimmonds Registered Users Posts: 68 Big grins
    edited April 6, 2007
    Nikolai wrote:
    Can you please be more specific? headscratch.gif


    "Get image info", apart from being restricted in trial, downloads image information into your locally stored database. You can then uses MS Access (or any other ODBC/OLE DB/ADO compatible tool) to run different reports against this information. Please check the FAQ, I wrote a few pages on how to build such reports...

    ah ok i don't need reports just yet so i'll leave that...

    Nikolai wrote:
    I suspect either your gallery was set up in a way that prevents S*E from getting the said images, or you might have misconfigured your account info in S*E.

    well, i just tried to create a new gallery and that failed, a poop-up told me to check the logs but all it said was this:
    7/04/2007 2:50:14 AM:   Started Creating StarExplorerTest in Other
    7/04/2007 2:50:14 AM:     Started Creating album: StarExplorerTest
    7/04/2007 2:50:23 AM:       RPC-XML:  (-1)
    7/04/2007 2:50:23 AM:     Finished Creating album: StarExplorerTest (0:00:09)
    7/04/2007 2:50:23 AM:     Trying to re-login
    7/04/2007 2:50:23 AM:     Started Creating album: StarExplorerTest
    7/04/2007 2:50:33 AM:       RPC-XML:  (-1)
    7/04/2007 2:50:33 AM:     Finished Creating album: StarExplorerTest (0:00:09)
    7/04/2007 2:50:43 AM:   Finished Creating StarExplorerTest in Other (0:00:28)
    

    so then i tried uploading a few images to an existing gallery and that werked just dandy, so my settings must be correct if it can at least do that, right?
  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited April 6, 2007
    in the full version when you download your files does it also include the keywords?

    Full version or trial, if you downlaod the file you get the following:

    1) original: whatever was uplaoded. AFAIK, Smugmug does not change a single bit of the original file (at least if it's big enough). S*E also knows better than to strip/modify any EXIF/IPTC information during the uplaod.

    Note: some files can be converted by S*E prior to download (e.g. bmp), but jpegs surely go "as is", so whatever EXIF info you put into them should stay.

    2) non-original: according to what I know all the non-original files are stripped from EXIF info at smugmug when they are created (due to the space requirements). S*E has nothing to do with it, it's simply how SM operates.
    all i want to do is duplicate some galleries so i can give full-size versions to certain people using hidden/passwerded galleries. i tried AlbumFetcher to download so i can re-upload but it appears to only embed the first 50 characters or so of the keywords into IPTC. the gallery duplicator thingy doesn't even do keywords so i don't see the point when i can just upload my pics twice.

    I'm not sure I understand completely... You have private/protected gallery and you want to give some people an access to it? SM offers special sharegroups for that. Please use SM help for more info on this.

    If it's something else - please elaborate...

    HTH
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited April 6, 2007
    well, i just tried to create a new gallery and that failed, a pop-up told me to check the logs but all it said was this:

    ....skipped....

    so then i tried uploading a few images to an existing gallery and that werked just dandy, so my settings must be correct if it can at least do that, right?

    Looks like your accounts settings in S*E are misconfigured. Please make sure your subscription level is set to what you have with SM, at least not as guest.

    Let me know.
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • ashsimmondsashsimmonds Registered Users Posts: 68 Big grins
    edited April 6, 2007
    Nikolai wrote:
    Full version or trial, if you downlaod the file you get the following:....

    ok then, see what happens is i upload a bunch of pics to a gallery, then i spend a bunch of time keywording the crap out of them.

    after that, i like to supply the hi-res versions to the people who provided the opportunity for the shots, which in my case is owners of Ferraris and Lamborghinis and such or magazines/websites who wish to publish my material.

    now, because smugmug doesn't have the ability to supply a "special user" who can view originals on a gallery which only shows the "large" size, i have to make duplicate galleries with originals enabled and passwerd/hide that gallery and give the details to the people who i want to allow to see it.

    after all the werk i do keywording the photos i'd like to just have the duplicated gallery maintain those keywords, but so far nothing seems to do what i want. :(

    Sharegroups seem to be just another way to categorise your albums, not really useful for me, i have my own website that i can do that on.
  • ashsimmondsashsimmonds Registered Users Posts: 68 Big grins
    edited April 6, 2007
    Nikolai wrote:
    Looks like your accounts settings in S*E are misconfigured. Please make sure your subscription level is set to what you have with SM, at least not as guest.

    Let me know.

    i shut the prog down and reopened and now the downloading is werking fine, thanks.
  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited April 6, 2007
    ok then, see what happens is i upload a bunch of pics to a gallery, then i spend a bunch of time keywording the crap out of them.

    after that, i like to supply the hi-res versions to the people who provided the opportunity for the shots, which in my case is owners of Ferraris and Lamborghinis and such or magazines/websites who wish to publish my material.

    now, because smugmug doesn't have the ability to supply a "special user" who can view originals on a gallery which only shows the "large" size, i have to make duplicate galleries with originals enabled and passwerd/hide that gallery and give the details to the people who i want to allow to see it.

    after all the werk i do keywording the photos i'd like to just have the duplicated gallery maintain those keywords, but so far nothing seems to do what i want. :(

    Sharegroups seem to be just another way to categorise your albums, not really useful for me, i have my own website that i can do that on.

    I think you'llbe a much better off if your keyword your files prior to your uplaoding them. I personally keyword the RAW files, this way my keywords are transparently migrated to any JPEG aI decide to make out of them, and same goes about SM - they are already there.

    And I also think you misundertstood the SM sharegroups, since they are exactly what you're looking for, not an extra categorization tool.

    HTH
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited April 6, 2007
    i shut the prog down and reopened and now the downloading is werking fine, thanks.

    Cool, thanks for letting me know!
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • ashsimmondsashsimmonds Registered Users Posts: 68 Big grins
    edited April 6, 2007
    Nikolai wrote:
    I think you'llbe a much better off if your keyword your files prior to your uplaoding them. I personally keyword the RAW files, this way my keywords are transparently migrated to any JPEG aI decide to make out of them, and same goes about SM - they are already there.

    what tools do you use to do this? i find the SM keyworderator thing pretty decent, but yeah doing it local would be better if it's easy.
    Nikolai wrote:
    And I also think you misundertstood the SM sharegroups, since they are exactly what you're looking for, not an extra categorization tool.

    i'll look into them again but i don't see how they provide access to originals for existing galleries ("exactly what i'm looking for"). all i can see that they do is let me categorise my albums. ne_nau.gif
  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited April 6, 2007
    what tools do you use to do this? i find the SM keyworderator thing pretty decent, but yeah doing it local would be better if it's easy.
    Adobe Bridge (CS3, but CS2 would work, too)

    i'll look into them again but i don't see how they provide access to originals for existing galleries ("exactly what i'm looking for"). all i can see that they do is let me categorise my albums. ne_nau.gif

    If you make an album private/protected it means no one can get to its content, period - except via sharegoups. All you have to do is to enable originals... and let the people you want to have the access the gorup's special URL deal.gif
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • jfriendjfriend Registered Users Posts: 8,097 Major grins
    edited April 6, 2007
    Nikolai wrote:
    If you make an album private/protected it means no one can get to its content, period - except via sharegoups.

    I'm not sure you mean what this says. A private gallery is just not listed on your home page so people will not discover it by browsing. But, anyone that you give the URL to (via email or manually link in a blog or other ways) can see the gallery. It doesn't actually have any access control - it's just unlisted on your home page.
    --John
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  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited April 6, 2007
    John,
    jfriend wrote:
    I'm not sure you mean what this says. A private gallery is just not listed on your home page so people will not discover it by browsing. But, anyone that you give the URL to (via email or manually link in a blog or other ways) can see the gallery. It doesn't actually have any access control - it's just unlisted on your home page.

    I double checked.. I guess you're right (I should've known better, you're always right:-). bowdown.gif
    Yes, privacy only means they are (very) hard to discover by accident.
    Sharegroups simply allow you to group such galleries into some collections/sets. deal.gif
    Sorry, I was wrong... :bash
    Anyway, it's more like SM usage issue, I can't see how S*E (or any other 3d party tool) can help with it, even though I'd be very glad to... ne_nau.gif
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited April 15, 2007
    S*E v 168: no need for admin mode under Vista
    The new version uses the new protection/licensing system (VSPS) instead of the old one (ICE). The old system had a major disadvantage under Vista, since it required S*E to run in Administrator mode, at least several times.
    The new system is lighter, faster and is Vista-compatible. Activation process also became much simpler: all you need to do is copy the license file to the Star*Explorer folder (or, for geeks and admins, to its application data folder).

    If you already hold the full "old style" license and it works, there is no need to request a new one, S*E can work with either system.

    Phew, that took me a while...
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited April 21, 2007
    Star*Explorer and Adobe Lightroom
    I got his tip from one of my users today. Looks like S*E and LR can go hand-in-hand! wings.gif

    Says Mike:
    Star*Explorer can be easily integrated into Adobe Lightroom. Just put a
    shortcut to starexplorer.exe into the C:\Documents and
    Settings\[username]\Applicatio<WBR>n Data\Adobe\Lightroom\Export Actions
    folder. Now, when in Lightroom, highlight the photos you want to send
    to Smugmug and click Export. Leave the output folder unchecked; set the
    JPEG image quality; set the output size if you want it to be less than
    full; set the color space to sRGB; and in the Post-processing box at the
    bottom of the dialog, pick StarExplorer. In a few seconds Star*Explorer
    will start up and the file will be listed and ready to go.

    Mike Sullivan (user #84)

    Thank you, Mike! thumb.gif
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • RickKruerRickKruer Registered Users Posts: 6 Beginner grinner
    edited April 21, 2007
    SMTP email notification in S*E
    I am using StarExplorer 168 as a pro user (computermiracles.smugmug.com), having problems with
    SMTP email that requires authentication.

    When I set SE to use my home ISP for SMTP email, (smtp.west.cox.net), it
    works. But I believe that it works because my ip address matches the ISP provider and not my userid authentication.
    I am trying to set my laptop to use a "portable" SMTP provider, since my
    home provider (cox.net) will not work when I am on the road.

    The 3 different SMTP providers I have tried is:

    fastmail.net (mail.messagingengine.com)
    yahoo.com (smtp.mail.yahoo.com)
    gmail.com (smtp.gmail.com)

    The 3 "portable" SMTP providers all fail in SE with the error message:

    could not send test email
    socket error # 10060
    connection timed out

    The 3 portable SMTP providers all work fine for me in Thunderbird email
    client program.
    I looked in the SE log, but there are no error messages.
    Any suggestions on how to debug this?

    thanks,
  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited April 21, 2007
    RickKruer wrote:
    I am using StarExplorer 168 as a pro user (computermiracles.smugmug.com), having problems with
    SMTP email that requires authentication.
    ....

    Guys, I asked Rick to post his question here hoping there is somebody more fluent in network/email protocols than I am...ne_nau.gifbowdown.gif
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • cmasoncmason Registered Users Posts: 2,506 Major grins
    edited April 22, 2007
    Nikolai wrote:
    I got his tip from one of my users today. Looks like S*E and LR can go hand-in-hand! wings.gif

    Says Mike:


    Thank you, Mike! thumb.gif

    Lightroom tip works like a charm, though I can find no place to 'Leave the output folder unchecked"...there is a subfolder checkbox there, but no matter what I do, LR wants to export a photo to a folder...grr...I have already done that, don't need another copy of the image...
  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited April 22, 2007
    cmason wrote:
    Lightroom tip works like a charm, though I can find no place to 'Leave the output folder unchecked"...there is a subfolder checkbox there, but no matter what I do, LR wants to export a photo to a folder...grr...I have already done that, don't need another copy of the image...

    Hmm.. Maybe just leave it empty? I don't use LR ...ne_nau.gif
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • jfriendjfriend Registered Users Posts: 8,097 Major grins
    edited April 23, 2007
    RickKruer wrote:
    I am using StarExplorer 168 as a pro user (computermiracles.smugmug.com), having problems with
    SMTP email that requires authentication.

    When I set SE to use my home ISP for SMTP email, (smtp.west.cox.net), it
    works. But I believe that it works because my ip address matches the ISP provider and not my userid authentication.
    I am trying to set my laptop to use a "portable" SMTP provider, since my
    home provider (cox.net) will not work when I am on the road.

    The 3 different SMTP providers I have tried is:

    fastmail.net (mail.messagingengine.com)
    yahoo.com (smtp.mail.yahoo.com)
    gmail.com (smtp.gmail.com)

    The 3 "portable" SMTP providers all fail in SE with the error message:

    could not send test email
    socket error # 10060
    connection timed out

    The 3 portable SMTP providers all work fine for me in Thunderbird email
    client program.
    I looked in the SE log, but there are no error messages.
    Any suggestions on how to debug this?

    thanks,

    You might check out this article that explains how to run a manual session that contacts the mail server directly so you can see exactly what it is saying at each step and where it might be failing.
    --John
    HomepagePopular
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  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited May 9, 2007
    S*E v.169: featuring Full Text Search!
    Ever had a trouble figuring out where on smugmug did you upload that particular picture?
    I mean, search by keywords is sure nice, but what if the only piece of info you can remember
    is the image file name? Or a part of the album name? headscratch.gif
    Well, your troubles are over.wings.gif
    New full text search (Ctrl+F, also a button on the primary toolbar) allows to quickly scan
    all pertinent image data and locate albums or even individual images that match you criteria.
    And even if you don't remember exact words: no worries, *-type wildcards are supported! deal.gif

    151051510-L.jpg

    One particularly peculiar task always bothered me:
    I posted an image a while agoe, I know its numeric ID from the image properties,
    but for the life of me I can't remember what albums I uploaded it to.

    Now all you have to do is to check the box in the rigth top corenr -
    and S*E will show you where this image is located, most likely both online and locally.

    Of course you can sort, save or copy the results, open SM page with the album/image in question,
    reveal the file in Windows Explorer or open it in your favorite app (PS CS3?;-).

    151053710-O.jpg

    And, btw, in case you're wondering about the speed...
    The longest I had to wait was a few seconds (very cumbesrome
    heavily wildcarded search pattern against all the fields across
    the whole account).
    Anything simpler than that is almost instant! deal.gif

    Feature is only available for Trial/Power/Pro S*E editions.
    S*E has to be used for the upload.
    Image Info download may need to be performed prior to feature usage to ensure accurate results
    .
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • rainforest1155rainforest1155 Registered Users Posts: 4,566 Major grins
    edited May 9, 2007
    Weee, sounds fun and useful! Thanks Nik!
    Just one question, because due to your introduction of 2 upload threads the bandwith throttle didn't work for me anymore that's why I've gone back to version 159.
    Is the bandwith throttle back already? Maybe I missed that release.

    Sebastian
    Sebastian
    SmugMug Support Hero
  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited May 9, 2007
    Sebastian,
    Weee, sounds fun and useful! Thanks Nik!
    You're welcome!
    Just one question, because due to your introduction of 2 upload threads the bandwith throttle didn't work for me anymore that's why I've gone back to version 159.
    Is the bandwith throttle back already? Maybe I missed that release.

    Sebastian

    Hmm, it never stopped working for me... headscratch.gif Not that I use it much, though...
    Care to give it another try?
    Btw, you do see it in the secondary toolbar, don't you?
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
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