Exporting

An export writes an output to a file using the format, color space, size and metadata set on the Output tab (Chapter 24). Monitor progress with the exports button in the title band.

Each export is a job in the window’s queue. Jobs run one at a time and are kept when Revela quits. View them with the exports button, its panel or the Exports sheet.

25.1 The export routes

There is no export item in the File menu and no keyboard shortcut for export. The routes are these.

The originals route copies files rather than rendering them, and belongs to Chapter 6.

25.2 Exporting one output

Where to find it: the Output tab, Export…; or right-click the output card on the node canvas, Export.

Both routes act on the output they belong to: the tab’s button on the output the tab shows, the card’s menu item on the clicked card. Changing the output’s settings afterwards does not affect an export already queued.

A photo’s output, or a clip’s Frame output. A save panel opens, named <photo>_<output>.<ext> (an output with no name is called Output) and filtered to the output’s format. Saving makes the job. A Frame output renders the frame at the timecode set on the Output tab; a timecode past the end of the clip renders the last frame, and the Exports sheet notes the file with the clip’s last frame.

A clip’s Video output. If the clip carries tracked heals or masks whose tracking has not finished, an alert comes first, titled Heal tracking analysis is incomplete: Some tracked heals haven't finished analysing. Unanalysed ranges will export with static heal positions. You can export now or wait for analysis to finish. Export Anyway continues; Wait stops. Tracking is covered in Chapter 23.

For a movie, a save panel opens, named <clip>_<output>.mov or .mp4 after the output’s format. For an image sequence the panel asks for a folder instead, with the message The frames go in a new folder, <clip>_<output>. The frames are written into a new folder of that name inside the one chosen; if a folder of that name is already there, the new one takes _2, then _3.

Reviewing from a proxy. While the picture in the loupe is a proxy rather than the original, the tab’s Export… button and the card’s Export item are both disabled, and the button carries the tooltip Needs the original. Proxies and originals are covered in Chapter 6.

When the job finishes, a toast reads Exported <file> with a Show in Finder button, which selects the file in Finder.

25.3 Batch export

Where to find it: Catalogue → Export ▸ Active Output or All Outputs; or the same submenu on the grid’s right-click menu and on a sidebar row’s right-click menu.

Active Output writes one file per item: the output its loupe shows. All Outputs writes every output of every item.

What the command acts on depends on where it was given. From the menu bar it acts on the selected items, or, with nothing selected, on the folder the grid shows. From the grid’s right-click menu it acts on the clicked or selected items. From a sidebar row it acts on that row: a folder, the catalog’s own row, All Photos, All Videos or Favorites. Other sidebar rows carry no Export ▸; to export what a smart folder or a tag shows, select the row and use the menu bar. The menu bar’s items are disabled while Recently Deleted is showing.

The sheet is titled Export Active Output or Export All Outputs. It appears at once, whatever the size of the folder.

What will be written. The first band names the source: Folder <name>, Catalogue <name>, or 24 selected photos, 40 selected clips, 41 selected items. Below it are the item counts, such as 800 photos · 40 clips, broken down by subfolder (Reception 370 · Speeches 120 · 4 more). The sheet lists the outputs and file count, such as 3 outputs each · 120 files, then the estimated size, about 2.1 GB, beside the destination’s free space, 1.9 TB free.

What will not. Amber bands list what is left out and why: 12 photos skipped or 3 clips skipped with the reason originals on <store>, not connected, originals not on this Mac, originals missing, edits from a newer Revela or raw format not supported. When the destination has too little space the band reads <folder> has 1.2 GB free with about 2.1 GB needed, and the export button is disabled until it fits.

Choices. Include subfolders appears only when the source has subfolders holding photos; it is on by default and keeps the folder layout under the destination. One folder per output appears on All Outputs only, on by default; it is explained in 25.4. Files already there is a choice between Skip them and Replace them. Skip treats a file already at its name as done, so a re-run of the same export fills in what is missing and writes nothing twice; a whole movie already there counts as done, and a sequence writes only its missing frames. Replace writes over whatever is there.

Destination. The Destination row reads No folder chosen until one is picked with Choose… (the panel’s message is Choose the folder to export to); afterwards the button reads Change…. The last destination used in this catalog is offered again, after a relaunch too. It is remembered on this Mac only, and a folder that can no longer be reached is not offered.

Export. The button reads Export 788 Photos, Export 1 Photo, Export 40 Clips or, for all outputs and for mixed photos and clips, Export 120 Files. Return presses it. It is disabled with nothing to write, no destination, or too little room. Cancel closes the sheet. Pressing Export closes the sheet and adds one job to the queue.

When a batch finishes, the toast reads Exported 788 photos to Hartley, followed by · 12 skipped or · 24 already there where either applies, or All 24 photos already in Walks when Skip found every file in place. Its Show in Finder opens the destination folder.

25.4 How exported files are named

A file is named <photo>_<output>.<ext>: the original’s filename without its extension, an underscore, the output’s name, and the extension of the output’s format. An output with no name is Output. This is the name a single export proposes in its save panel and the name a batch writes.

With One folder per output on, a batch of all outputs writes <output>/<photo>.<ext> instead: one folder per output under the destination, each holding one file per item named for the item alone.

With Include subfolders on, the source’s folder layout is repeated under the destination, so a photo in Reception lands in <destination>/Reception/.

If two files in a job would have the same name, the second takes _2, the third _3. This order stays the same between runs, so Skip them recognizes files from a previous export. An image sequence is a folder named the same way, without an extension; its frames are named <folder>_000001.<ext> onward, counted from 1 at the output’s in point. No folder or output name can place a file outside the destination.

25.5 Exporting originals

Where to find it: Catalogue → Export ▸ Originals.

The Originals item copies the original files of the selected items, or of the folder the grid shows, to a folder chosen in a panel titled Export Originals. It does not render anything and no edit is applied. The flow, its options and its manifest are covered in Chapter 6.

25.6 The exports button and panel

Where to find it: the exports button in the title band, left of the bell.

The button is always in the band. It is a ring with an arrow, and it has five looks:

A blocked job takes precedence over a running one, a running one over a paused one, and the failed count shows once nothing is running. A clean finish shows its toast and leaves the empty ring.

Clicking the button opens a panel under it, headed Exports; a second click, or a click elsewhere, closes it. The panel lists unfinished jobs in queue order, followed by recent finished jobs, newest first. With no unfinished jobs, it shows recent exports. A canceled job that wrote nothing is never listed. Before the first export it reads No exports yet. Show All Exports… at the foot opens the Exports sheet.

Each row carries the job’s name, its route in the form Web 2048 → Hartley, All outputs → Hartley or Active output → Hartley, a bar, its count (212 / 788, or 38 % for one movie) with the time left once enough has been written to estimate one, and one or two buttons:

Cancel… asks once: Cancel the export of <job>?, with Files already written stay. or <n> files already in <folder> stay., and the buttons Cancel Export and Keep Exporting. Canceling keeps every file that was finished; only the file in hand is removed. Cancel on a waiting job asks nothing.

Locate… opens a folder panel (message Choose the folder to export to, button Export Here) so the destination can be chosen again, for a drive that came back under another name or a folder that moved. The job then continues where it stopped.

Retry Failed queues the failed files again and leaves the written ones alone.

25.7 The Exports sheet

Where to find it: Catalogue → Exports, or Show All Exports… in the panel, or Show on a failure toast.

The sheet is titled Exports and lists every job the catalog remembers, unfinished jobs first in queue order, then the finished ones, newest first. Each job shows its name and its route in full (All outputs → /Volumes/Deliveries/October), a bar, and a detail line such as 212 of 788 files · 18 min left or 788 files · today 14:02. Under the line, where they apply, come the failed files with their reasons (DSC_0412.ARW → Web 2048 · Needs the original, five at most, then and <n> more), any notes, the skipped items with their reasons, and the job’s buttons. The buttons are the panel’s, with Show in Finder added beside Retry Failed when some files were written.

Clear Finished removes the finished, failed and canceled jobs from the list. Done closes the sheet. With nothing listed it reads No exports.

The reasons a file can fail:

25.8 While an export runs

One at a time. A job made while another runs waits behind it and reads waiting. A blocked job does not hold the queue: the next job may run while it waits for its destination.

Pause. A still in hand finishes before the queue goes idle; a movie holds between two frames and continues from there on Resume. A paused job keeps the queue idle until it is resumed or canceled; the next job does not start on its own.

Sleep. When the Mac sleeps, the file in hand is stopped and removed. The job continues by itself after waking.

Quit. Quitting with a job running or waiting asks once, in an alert titled An export is still running or <n> exports are still running, with one line per job (B-roll · 11 of 40 files · 33 files in Deliveries., or <file> is being written to <folder>. for a single export). Quit and Resume Later pauses the jobs on this Mac; after the next launch nothing starts on its own, and the jobs wait in the panel as paused. Keep Exporting (Esc) cancels the quit. Cancel Export and Quit keeps the files already written and drops the rest. An unfinished movie restarts from its first frame when resumed; a file already written is not written again.

Memory. When the Mac is short of memory, the next file waits, without a message, and starts when memory frees up; the panel keeps counting. A very large file still exports.

Not in front. When a job finishes while Revela is not the front app, the toast’s words also arrive as a macOS notification. Permission for notifications is asked at the first finish that needs it.

Failures. A job that finishes with failures shows the toast Couldn’t export <file> or Exported <n> of <m> files · <k> failed with a Show button that opens the Exports sheet, and the button in the band turns red with the count.

25.9 What an exported file says about itself

Where to find it: the Output tab, Metadata; and the Settings window, Export tab.

The Metadata row on the Output tab (Chapter 24) chooses how much an exported file carries: All, All but location (the default), Copyright only or None. Only the information listed below is included.

Exported keywords and captions use the asset’s tags and caption from the catalog.

Copyright and creator come from the Settings window’s Export tab, which has two fields under the headings Copyright and Creator. They are kept on this Mac and are never synced. An empty field falls back to the camera’s own copyright or creator when the original carries one; otherwise nothing is written. While neither the fields nor the camera supply one, the Output tab’s Copyright only choice is disabled with the tooltip Add your copyright in Settings ▸ Export.

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