Apple Aperture 1.5 (New Features) User Manual
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You can work with referenced images—creating versions, making adjustments, cropping,
and adding metadata—just as you can with images whose master files are stored in the
Library. Versions that you create from a referenced image are stored in the Library. In
order for you to make adjustments to a version from a referenced image, the referenced
image’s master file must be available on your hard disk or other storage device. For
example, if you delete a referenced image’s master file in the Finder, permanently
removing it from your computer system, Aperture no longer has access to the master file
and so no longer allows you to change your versions or create new ones.
To help you identify referenced images, Aperture marks referenced images with a
badge overlay that you can display or hide. When a referenced image’s master file is not
found, its badge changes to show that the image is not accessible. For example, if you
disconnect a hard disk that holds master files for many referenced images, Aperture
automatically marks the referenced images in the Browser and Viewer as
offline
. If you
reconnect the hard disk later, Aperture accesses the master files automatically, bringing
them
online,
and you can work with and change their versions again.
You can search for images based on whether they are managed images, referenced
images, or online or offline images. Aperture also provides robust file-management
tools that let you quickly determine which images are offline and easily reconnect
images whose master files have been moved to different volumes.
The Advantages of Using Managed and Referenced Images
The advantages of using managed and referenced images are as follows:
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Managed images:
Using managed images provides a simple file-management
system because Aperture stores and maintains the managed images’ master files in
the Aperture Library. Managed images are always available and never offline. You can
back up your managed images’ master files to vaults whenever the volumes
containing the vaults are mounted.
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Referenced images:
Using referenced images gives you the flexibility to store files
anywhere on your computer or connected volumes. Even when you unmount a
volume where a referenced master file is located, Aperture remembers its location.
When you mount the volume again, Aperture automatically reconnects the master
file. Although you cannot back up referenced master files to a vault, all metadata,
versions, and previews associated with the master files are stored in the Aperture
Library and are therefore backed up to the vault. Provided you’ve chosen to work
with image previews, you can still view a high-resolution preview of the image in
Aperture, even when a referenced image’s master file is offline. For more information
about working with previews, see “