Understanding the output options (from version 1.0.5)

This article describes the conversion options that are available to you in Avalanche for Lightroom from version 1.0.5.

The conversion options are available at the bottom of the conversion window, once you have selected a destination and look like this:

 1  - This checkbox controls whether an XMP sidecar should be exported next to each master file.

 2  - This checkbox controls whether videos should be ignored or not. When not ignored (box unchecked), the videos will be migrated into the new Lightroom catalog. Videos will be copied to a "Videos" folder next to the masters folder.  When ignored (box checked) , videos will not be processed at all.

 3  - This checkbox controls how referenced files should be handled. 

When this option 'Copy referenced Master files' is checked (ON) all referenced master files will be copied to the Masters sub-folder next to the Lightroom converted catalogue. In other words, any referenced images by Aperture (images stored on disk) will be replicated on the Masters sub-folder.

Most photo cataloging apps support 2 types of images: managed and referenced . A managed image is an image that is stored inside the catalog when imported (Apple Photos, Apple Aperture support managed images). A referenced image is an image that lives outside the catalog and is simply referenced. Referenced images are the standard in Lightroom for example. 

When Avalanche encounters a managed image (in Aperture for example) it will copy it outside the catalog package into the destination folder that you have selected. This ensures that all managed images are regrouped in a new folder structure outside the source catalog.

When Avalanche encounters a referenced image, it will decide if this image too should be copied into the destination folder that you have selected. Most of the time, you probably want to leave the referenced images in their current location. But if you select this option, you can enforce the referenced images to be copied as well in order to be gathered with the managed image.

 4  - This option lets you select how the more complex library structures should be copied. Two options are offered:

1. reproduce the source structure: this is the option that will instruct Avalanche to mimic the source structure in the destination catalog. Because of the differences between cataloging apps, this might not be always possible. For example, when going from Aperture to Lightroom, projects are converted into collections, to reproduce some of the source hierarchy, but Lightroom does not support the notion of projects, so this approach has some limitations
   
2. create albums and create collections for projects, but without trying to reproduce the hierarchies.
   

 5    -  This option lets you select how the copied images are organised inside the Masters folder. Possible choices include :

1. a flat organization (all images at the same level).
   
2. sub-folder hierarchies based on the Year/Month or Year/Month/Day
   
3. sub-folder hierarchies based on the Project name and Year/Month or Year/Month/Day
   

 6   - This option lets you choose the Lightroom catalog format (v8 or v9, etc...). 

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