Known Participant

Question

P: Synchronizing "Auto" transforms across many images and "Update"

Forum|Forum|9 years ago
November 10, 2016
9 replies
8873 views

I have read all the FAQ's and discussions on this topic, but still cannot get this to work. I want LR to be able to apply the "Auto" transform to a set of real estate interior photos.

I understand how to do this I believe, which is to simply apply the Auto Transform to the first image, then select the rest of the interior images, then "Sync..." ->Transform -> Upright Mode.

It should be that simple, and as described in the FAQ it is.. However the problem is this: I go to the next (and every) image in the series I had selected for the sync, and I see that "Auto" transform is selected (but not applied), but now this "Update" button is active and I have to click it to get LR to analyze that particular image and apply the Auto Transform. And I have to do this for every single image. I have to force LR to analyze each individual image and apply the Auto Transform with this Update button that I had seemingly successfully synchronized. Not a big deal for a few images, but I just shot a dozen model homes and have over 400 images I have to click next, Update, click, next, update, click, next, update, click, 400 times?... So how do I not only synchronize the Auto Transform to a batch of images but APPLY the Auto Transform to a batch of images?

Thanks for your help!

Chris Miller

www.imagineimagery.com

This topic has been closed for replies.

R

richards95750395

Known Participant

I came here to check out this sync button but it seems it's not a good choice for me. I have had problems with alignment after trying to auto-transform a bracket set. On the other hand, I have had no problems if I select all photos in the set, select "auto sync", and then manually align the top image. LR auto-copies the exact same adjustment to all the other images and it is almost as fast as auto-align without the errors. Hope that helps.

johnrellis

Legend

Moderators, @Rikk Flohr: Photography, please move this into Discussions. The core Idea, the ability to copy Transform > Auto to many photos and have the auto upright recomputed for each target photo, has long been implemented. But the "subtle" user interface, which doesn't explain the difference between Upright Mode and Upright Transforms, combined with this bug, lead people to think the ability isn't present. Leaving this thread in Ideas will further that confusion.

johnrellis

Legend

@FrostyOfTheNorth, I just verified that copying/syncing Transform > Auto continues to work in LR 12.0.1. Two points:

1. In the Sync/Copy Settings dialog, make sure you select just Upright Mode:

That will copy the "mode" (Off, Auto, Guided, Level, Vertical, Full) but not the actual transformations computed by that mode or any manual adjustments you've made.

See this screen recording for an example of this working:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/px6hduy3pfsz8sl/syncing-upright-auto.2022.12.02.mp4?dl=0

2. There's a nasty LR bug: If you accidentally check both Upright Mode and Upright Transforms and copy/sync, and then you correct the mistake by syncing/copying again with just Upright Mode, you'll have to click the Update button manually on each target photo. I've found no way to recover from that bug, other than by doing Reset on all the target photos. No amount of Sync, Copy Settings, Auto Sync, presets, or even plugin magic will force Auto to be recomputed on the batch.

I've filed a bug report about this:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/syncing-transform-gt-auto-with-just-upright-mo...

Please add your constructive opinion and click Vote in the upper-right corner to make it a little more likely Adobe will prioritize a fix.

FrostyOfTheNorth

Known Participant

And now it's almost December 2022 and this issue still exists.

I need to apply Upright > Auto to 1001 photos. Sure I can sync that across using the latest version of Lightroom (12.0.1)?

Nope. Lightroom expects me to go through each image and click Update.

WHY DOESN'T THIS WORK AFTER SIX YEARS??? This makes me cranky.

Bob Somrak

Legend

@FrostyOfTheNorth

This is not the only issue with Sync/CopyPaste in the Transform panel. It is a disgrace that these issues with the Transform panel, very important and useful ones, have been ignored for a fix even though Adobe has acknowledged them with easily repeatable steps. Considering it has been 6 years I doubt they will ever get fixed.

M4 Pro Mac Mini. 48GB

FrostyOfTheNorth

Known Participant

This is infuriating. Who has time to go through 1001 photos, manually clicking buttons 3000+ times to address something that Lightroom should account for automatically?

More infuriating will be once the Adobe apologists pop up to emphatically declare that this design is for the best. 🤷‍♂

D

donalde97778114

Participant

Chris, I've had the same issue... try straightening 12,000 images from a dance company showcase.... ugh...

Anyway, the solution that I came up with is to highlight all of the images you want transformed, and then click on the "Auto-Synch" switch. Then, click your transform choice, and that should force every image to transform. I can't say that it works for every transformation, but I use "Level" and it seems to do a good job. The "Update" button greys out, so it's no longer a choice and you can see a transform has happened. You probably won't have this issue with real estate because you're on a tripod, but I also check "contrain crop" so I don't have transparency surrounding my images for the ones that were really out of whack. Also, it is NOT perfect... you will see in reviewing images that it does mostly a good job, but I do find that I have to manually adjust the level in maybe 10% or so where it just didn't analyze images correctly. Hope that helps (3 years later).

T

taazg30264248

Participant

Hi Adobe Team, You have done a great job with the recent update with AI automation for group editing.
Is it possible to have a similar type of Automation created for Transform > Upright > Auto > Update feature to have group editing updated all at once?

This will save time from not updating each upright transformation for each photo when Auto Upright selected.

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

Have you tried this: select all affected images, go to the develop module and toggle the switch to turn on Auto Sync. Now press the update button in the transformation panel.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

FrostyOfTheNorth

Known Participant

Almost five years later, I've run into a variation of this issue when processing hundreds of real estate photos every day.

Since there doesn't appear to be a keyboard shortcut for Transform > Upright > Vertical I thought I'd create a develop preset in which only Transform Upright Mode is checked.

But that doesn't work. I still have to individually click Update after applying the preset, making for an inefficient workflow.

@chrisdm are you still having this issue?

M

matthews87133552

Participant

I'm having this issue as well. I've had the same workflow for years and after this last update I can't fix this. I've spent hours with Adobe and nothing.

J

jjaylad

Known Participant

Having the same issue. I did some outdoor photoshoots recently in which there was a horizon in the background as well as one or more buildings or objects that provided additional horizontal as well as vertical references. I first tried to select all the images in a given location (150-300) and with auto-sync on, selected all the photos, went to the transform panel, selected Upright, and Auto.

What a kaleidoscope! Had to undo all that! I then found that on many individual photos ...hitting 'Upright' produced horrible results. LR got totally confused. Definately no 'Sensei' going on here! And no sense in beating one's head against the wall trying it.

I've essentially given up on Upright, and instead use the level tool in the Crop dialog. Have to do it on every photo I want corrected so I'm Rating the photos first and only doing it on those I've given 3 or more stars to, ...ie. worthy of Client Proofing. I usually do at least a slight crop to those anyway so not that big a deal. Luckily I've been diligent about holding my camera level front to back, so I am not fighting verticals too much. On those where verticals need correcting I use the manual tools in the Transform panel.

This feature has worked in the past. I used it for photos of Polo competitions and applied 'upright' to hundreds of photos at a time. It didn't get them all, but I'd say it was getting 80% or more. For the past several LR releases and updates, it really hasn't been a reliable tool at all. I've seen it horizontally tilt images 40+ degrees ...which were 'almost' level to the eye but taken with the camera tilted slightly forward or back, causing verticals to spread toward the top or bottom of the frame. I've been shocked at how badly the feature mangled some images.

Thankfully, manual correction still works for those.

Sure hope Adobe is able to get this feature corrected soon so that it works properly in both BATCH and INDIVIDUAL photo edits. I've experienced the problem as recently as last week so am getting used to doing it all manually again.

ricardom84326216

Participant

After so long, the solution does not yet exist. I have the same problem. Would you like to know if you have found a solution to this problem?

Thanks again for trying to help,

johnrellis

Legend

The following recipe works for others, and I haven't seen a report of it not working:

1. Edit the first photo, and apply Transform > Auto.

2. In Library, select that photo and do Photo > Develop Settings > Copy Settings.

3. Select just Upright Mode:

4. In Library, select the target photos and do Photo > Develop Settings > Paste Settings.

5. With those photos still selected, do Library > Previews > Build Standard-Sized Previews.

Step 5 is the crucial step for working around the bug.

J

jjaylad

Known Participant

Hmm, it's too bad we can't isolate what's going on with your configuration. You could file a bug report in the official Adobe feedback forum, where Adobe wants all product feedback: Lightroom Classic | Photoshop Family Customer Community . But if they don't have a precise recipe that reproduces the bug, then it's unlikely they'll take any action (unless many people reported the same issue).

I just tried this on 150 photos. I guess you could say it worked in terms of something happening to each of them. The problem is that when doing this in batch mode, Lightroom seems to be 'horizon challenged', 'horizontal element challenged' and 'vertical element challenged'. It screwed up every photo and really recognized nothing noted as 'challenged' above.

I had manually re-crop each and every image.

I find this a totally useless tool insofar as batch editing is concerned. A baby lining up toys in a crib ...does a better job!

johnrellis

Legend

I understand how to do this I believe, which is to simply apply the Auto Transform to the first image, then select the rest of the interior images, then "Sync..." ->Transform -> Upright Mode.

Troubleshooting steps:

1. Make sure that in the Synchronize Settings window, you've selected Upright Mode only:

When you select Upright Transforms or Transform Adjustments as well, LR will activate the Update button.

2. If 1 doesn't help, please report your exact version of LR (do Help > System Info).

C

chrisdmAuthor

Known Participant

Thanks for the attempted assist John, but it turns out the current version of LR will not batch analyze Auto Transform as I was hoping it would. In fact this is why the "Update" button exists. It appears when Sync->Transform->Upright Mode only is checked, because LR will not analyze every image included in the sync. You must manually "Update" the Auto Transform for each image you have synchronized with the setting.

I spent a couple hours on the phone and in Remote Desktop sessions with Adobe techs this morning until finally a tier 3 tech came in to let us know that what I was attempting to do is not possible. This is a big disappointment and a huge PITA now that I have a couple thousand images in my workflow that I have to manually "auto" transform one at a time. I'm sure (praying) future versions of LR address this oversight.

Thanks again for trying to help,

Chris Miller

www.imagineimagery.com

johnrellis

Legend

Adobe support is mistaken (a not infrequent occurrence).

Here is a video showing LR CC 2015.7 properly syncing Upright Mode > Auto on 9 photos: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21811200/sync-transform-auto.2016.11.10.mov.

I tried 100 photos and then 400 photos, in two different catalogs, a long-abused test catalog and a fresh catalog. I was able to reproduce your symptoms in the old test catalog -- I saw the Update button enabled on some of the photos after syncing. However, I then selected all the photos and did Library > Previews > Build Standard-Sized Previews. After the preview build completed, all of the thumbnails showed that Auto had been applied, and the Update button was no longer active. And after a couple iterations of this, the symptoms stopped occurring altogether.

I think this bug is a variant of a problem that LR has long had with large-scale batch operations. It tries to defer the recomputation of the thumbnails until they are actually visible in the Library grid, but sometimes it gets it wrong. For example, see this bug: Lightroom: Applying Auto Tone to a batch of photos loses subsequent develop settings | Photoshop Family Customer Communi… The workaround for that bug is the same -- invoke Build Standard-Sized Previews.

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