Free LRViewer views LR catalogs without LR

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Marc Rochkind

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LRViewer is a standalone viewer for Lightroom image previews and metadata.

lv.jpg

LRViewer makes no changes to the Lightroom catalog, which means that it can't create any previews that aren't already present.

Both the catalog (ending in "lrcat" or "lrdb") and the associated preview file (ending in "lrdata") must be present. You open just the catalog; LRViewer then opens the preview file automatically. No images have to be exported from Lightroom, since LRViewer accesses the catalog and previews directly.

You can distribute LRViewer freely. In particular, you can give it to clients or others along with a catalog and preview file you've exported from Lightroom so that they can view images without having a copy of Lightroom itself.

LRViewer is available only for the Mac, although a Windows version is under development.

Details are at http://ImageIngester.com.

--Marc
 
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Awesome Marc!!
Take a bow!!
 
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Marc, this can't be run with an open catalog?
 
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Nice, I like it. Will the next version allow 1:1 view, if available and simple slideshows?

Don
 
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Wow! This has long been requested from the Adobe crew.

This is going to solve so many family problems for me. My Raws and DNGs don't compute with their jpeg viewers, so I'm always exporting a entire additonal jpg tree to share on the local network.

Waiting patiently (ahem) for the WinDoze version.
 
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Some answers:

The catalog can be open, and LRViewer will pick up any new images or previews, but it won't pick up new Folders, Collections, etc., for its outline. You have to re-open the catalog for that.

There are brief times when LR locks the catalog, and if LRViewer tries to access it then you'll get an error dialog. You just retry what you did, unless it was the initial catalog load. In that case you have to re-open.

I'm starting the Windows version in a day or so, and should be finished in about a week.

LRView will do a 1:1 view if there is a 1:1 preview. Its "large" size setting takes the largest image there. However, currently there is no zooming, so a 1:1 view of a big image will overfill the screen (my screen, anyway).

Slide shows and other nifty extras will come along once I get the basics down.

Ian: What's a "PM"?

--Marc
 
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Marc, a PM is a private message between forum members. It will be available on the site PM system, plus by "aliased" email, if you've registered a valid email address. Aliased meaning that I can ask the forum to send you an email, but I never know your actual address. Spammers are shot at sunrise.

Edit: I just thought of a question, will it run across a network? Since it's read-only, doesn't seem as if it needs the lockdown that Adobe puts on it.
 
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Runs across a network, but maybe a bit slower. It just reads files (that's all SQLite3 does, too). Nothing fancy. Uses the SQLite3 database for the catlogs, plain file reading for the previews.

LRViewer never locks the database. It's at the mercy of whatever LR does, however.

--Marc
 
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Doesn't work across a network right now, Brad.

(Correction to what I said previously.)

Working on the problem. (Reports that the database is locked.)

--Marc
 
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Nice!! Waiting on the Win version... This will bring me closer to be comfortable with adopting DNG's!! Thanks!!
 
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Nice work Marc!
 
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Quite interesting!

I am in the very same situation as Brad as my family is very upset by the fact that I abandoned the JPG format with the introduction of Lightroom last year...

I do not care having to close my Lightroom session for the others being able to use the LRViewer as long as they can open my catalog from their computers and the share I have on it. Will it work that way?

Will certainly give it a trial when the Win version come out.

Thanks!
 
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Marc Rochkind said:
You can distribute LRViewer freely. In particular, you can give it to clients or others along with a catalog and preview file you've exported from Lightroom so that they can view images without having a copy of Lightroom itself.
Click to expand...
Forgot to add that I have a great use for the above mention!

Looks to be quite a useful app.
 
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Denis--

LRViewer won't work across a network for the same reason that Lightroom won't. SQLite3 uses locking primitives that don't work across a network.

No easy solution is at hand, unfortunately.

--Marc
 
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Great idea, but mine won't work

Sounds like a great idea, but but it doesn't view anything for me. I have the .lrcat and .lrdata files in the same folder, and I can browse all the pictures in all ways (standard, by date, by metadata etc. in LR (1.3) but when I open the catalog in LR Viewer, it seems to run through all the things it's supposed to, and then I get a big blank square with a message saying No Images to View. I only have the one catalog, and the same happens whether LR is open or closed.

Richard (OS X 1'.4.11)
 
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Marc Rochkind;8'43 said:
Denis--

LRViewer won't work across a network for the same reason that Lightroom won't. SQLite3 uses locking primitives that don't work across a network.

No easy solution is at hand, unfortunately.

--Marc
Click to expand...
So we learn something here!
It is not Lightroom that is not sharable on a network but SQLite? :roll:
 
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Accessing previews

Richard--

LRViewer makes some assumptions about the file naming that aren't always right. I'm working on this. Can you help by giving me the exact names of the lrcat and lrdata files?

--Marc
 
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Denis--

SQLite3 tries to work across a network. It uses operating-system locking facilities to lock the database, but those don't always work across a network. For that reason, it's easier for developers of apps using SQLite3 to just say that it won't work. Otherwise, they would have an unmanageable tech support burden.

My own tests on my network indicate that neither LR nor LRViewer work across a network.

--Marc
 
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Richard--

On second thought, I don't think your problem is failure to access the previews file. The "No images to view" message means that you've clicked on an outline item that has no images. If the previews weren't available, you would still see image placeholders, with a message in each rectangle to the effect that the preview isn't available.

Is it the former (solution: just click on an item with images) or the latter?

--Marc
 
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