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Eigil Skovgaard
Inspiring
November 9, 2021
Answered

.acr files showing up in Bridge

  • November 9, 2021
  • 3 replies
  • 3902 views

With the latest update (ACR version 14.0) .acr files has begun to pop up in Bridge - and as far as I can associate it's always when a mask has been created with the new masking system.

Se attached screen copy. The arw file above the .acr file - showing the same name - is featuring a number of masks.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer contributor129038

    Unless the option has been selected, for DNGs, to embed XMP data, for both RAW files and all others, sidecar files are visible in any system browser. As for XMPs only, they may not necessarily contain masking information. They contain any kind of RAW parameter and can contain ALSO masking, until we get to the ones obtained by using Ai.
    So as long as the masking is
    - gradient (radial / linear)
    - brush
    - range (color, luminance) *

    ... everything still remains contained in XMP alone.


    When we go to "select subject" and "select sky" (October 2022) then the .acr file appears.

    I hope it was useful to someone 🙂

     

    * I have never seen depth range in action and would love to!

    3 replies

    C
    contributor129038Correct answer
    Inspiring
    October 7, 2022

    Unless the option has been selected, for DNGs, to embed XMP data, for both RAW files and all others, sidecar files are visible in any system browser. As for XMPs only, they may not necessarily contain masking information. They contain any kind of RAW parameter and can contain ALSO masking, until we get to the ones obtained by using Ai.
    So as long as the masking is
    - gradient (radial / linear)
    - brush
    - range (color, luminance) *

    ... everything still remains contained in XMP alone.


    When we go to "select subject" and "select sky" (October 2022) then the .acr file appears.

    I hope it was useful to someone 🙂

     

    * I have never seen depth range in action and would love to!

      K
      Adobe Employee
      kpulkit
      Adobe Employee
      November 17, 2021

      Hi

       

      Thanks for the feedback. .acr are new sidecars in ACR 14 which contains masking information. We have added their support in Bridge 2022. It seems like you are using Bridge 2021 with ACR 14 and that is why they are visible as older Bridge does not recognize .acr as a sidecar file. Also please check that View->Show Hidden Files is not checked.

       

      Thanks

      Bridge Team

        E
        Eigil SkovgaardAuthor
        Inspiring
        November 17, 2021

        Hi kpulkit (?),

        I didn't know I could run an older version of Bridge while subscribing to Creative Cloud with it's continuous updating.

        But you are right, I was running Bridge 2021, and after installing Bridge 2022 the .acr files seems to have become invisible. Hope it's permanent and the .acr files will follow renaming without problems.

        It would have been nice with this information up front.

        Thank you.

        Best,

        Eigil Skovgaard

        gary_sc
        Community Expert
        gary_scCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        November 9, 2021

        Hi Eigil,

         

        Yes, you are correct. The .acr file is a new sidecar file (along with the xmp files) that hold the information of changes made to a raw file. In specific, theses files hold the information of the new masking capabilities.

         

        There are  some peculiarities with these files: normally if you change the name of a file, the name of the xmp file changes as well but not with the .acr files. So you may have to manually rename them.

         

        Probably the easiest way around these issues is to just convert the files into the DNG format which are container files (like the jpg and tif format). That way, both the xmp and .acr files are contained within the DNG file and are never lost and move with the file. FWIW, I've been converting my raw files into DNG for many many years and have never looked back.

        E
        Eigil SkovgaardAuthor
        Inspiring
        November 9, 2021

        Hi Gary,

        All right - a new side car. Not what I had expected with an improved interface.

        I also think these .acr files act strangely. When I think a couple of days back I have used the new mask feature more than six times, but I have only observed the .acr file 2-3 times.
        So, minutes ago I made a new mask in a raw file that had no masks in advance - but no .acr file turned up in Bridge. Then I made the same change in the tif file via the camera raw filter - still no .acr file. So, it's interesting what it takes to actually get an .acr file to pop up.

        Regarding dng vs raw. I think you mentioned the advantages with dng not long ago in another discussion. And actually I did convert some of my arw files to dng for about a year ago after having read an article that convinced me about the more universal design. But I still had the feeling of loosing data. My 60 Mb arw files typically ended up at half the size as dngs, which of course is great if you want to save disk space. My primary concern though was that the difference in size could be due to an actual loss of data and not just a consequence of a more effective conversion. This worry was confirmed when I found a utility called "A7 Info" for Sony A7 cameras. It can show where the focusing pattern was positioned on the subject when the image was taken. Was the lens focused on the key spot or not? That's an interesting question if you shoot a number of images and nothing but the focusing points have moved. That utility could not be used with the dng versions, as no focusing patterns could be derived. So that's a reason for me to stay with the raw files.

        Best,

        Eigil

        E
        Eigil SkovgaardAuthor
        Inspiring
        November 14, 2021

        Hi Eigil,

         

        As I've never had a camera that can generate ARW files, I can only guess it contains the XMP file but doesn't know what to do with it.ACR files. But that is 100% speculation. Hopefully, someone can chime in here who has more experience with ARW files.

         

        I can say that no one "chooses" to embed .xmp files into a DNG, it just happens. And neither the xmp or .acr files disappear, they are just placed into the container file. Probably the best analogy is to think of a container file as a standard folder. When you place a file in a folder, it doesn't "disappear," it is just not visible inside the folder.

         

        Piece of trivia: when the Mac first came out. I'm talking 1985 here, When you were in icon view, you could put something into a folder, but if you were in List view, the files that you put into a folder were shown adjacent to the folder. In other words, the folder on the screen was only an abstract of the visual presentation and did not actually function as a folder as we know them to work now.


        Hi Gary,

        I know that the sidecars don't disappear (I'm an elderly amateur photographer without much knowledge about the technical side of Photoshop, etc. - just love to use these products). So, of course the sidecars must live in the background - but preferably out of sight. This is because the ACR file takes up the same space in the image column in Bridge as an ordinary ARW or TIF file and that's about a third of the height.

        Interesting if ARW is able to contain the XMP.

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