Transferring LR but not originals

[Samotano]

Some time ago I was reading/hearing (Seth Resnik?) of how one can transfer a lightroom catalog where all previews were rendered 1:1 to another machine.  The reason being one could carry LR and show the pictures in full res without having to worry about the originals.  

I need to do exactly that, but I am unsure (a) what files/folders I need to copy and (b)once copied what I need to do to import the catalog into the new machine.  I have LR 3 on both machines.
Thanks for any suggestions.

[john beardsworth]

Do a File > Export as Catalog. That creates a folder which you can move. Include Previews if you wish, and there's also an option to include the originals or "negatives"

John

[Samotano]

Do a File > Export as Catalog. That creates a folder which you can move. Include Previews if you wish, and there's also an option to include the originals or "negatives"

John

great! thanks

[sethresnick]

Actually there are many ways to accomplish transferring catalogs and images and exporting as a catalog is one of my least favorite ways because it takes so long to accomplish and can take up an enormous amount of transfer space. Today we are having a webinar on this very topic and we will demonstrate many ways to Sync Lightroom Catalogs.

On Wednesday, July 7, 2010 1:30 PM EDT we will have a webinar that will demonstrate several ways of working on a laptop in the field and syncing to your catalog at home and how to take catalogs with or without the originals into the field

For more info go to http://www.d65.com

Register at https://d65.webex.com/mw0306lb/mywebex/defa....do?siteurl=d65

[john beardsworth]

In this case it's an excellent way to answer the OP's requirement to "show the pictures in full res without having to worry about the originals" and does not "take up an enormous amount of transfer space".

John

[digitaldog]

The reason being one could carry LR and show the pictures in full res without having to worry about the originals.

So you want a catalog san’s actual original images? You want to view them in Library full rez (1:1) but not have the ability to edit them in Develop?

[john beardsworth]

It makes perfect sense if you're just presenting a slideshow somewhere, or want to take large numbers of pictures on your laptop, add more metadata, and then import your work back to the main catalogue.

[sethresnick]

Many times when I travel I want access to my entire catalog but I only take images that I may actually need to work on. It enables me to show slides shows and review images. If I make a change in the Develop module to an image on the road I save out the .xmp and delete that folder on my main computer and simply reimport the folder from the road. I intentionally do not make virtual copies or collections on the road and then the transfer is a very simple process.

Our new book D'65's Lightroom 3 workbook has an entire chapter on multiple ways to sync all depending on what your purpose is including a method of forcing LR to be a network operation. This is very cool because the images go on a server and each person has their own copy of LR. One person is deemed to be the master and everyone else is a "slave". At the end of the day the "slaves" export catalogs without negatives and the master imports and the main computer is updated. This way one person can work on metadata and another can work on developing and so on.

Our new book is over 500 pages and unlike our first book we are the publishers. This allowed us to include images and information from the LR team as recent as 3 weeks ago. The book is available to pre-order on out site and we will have copies for delivery on or about July 13th. It will also be available on Amazon but the price will be the same as our own site. All copies from us will be signed..

[john beardsworth]

I routinely use Export as Catalog to take work on the road, enthusiastically make virtual copies and collections on the road, and then use File > Import from Catalog to bring all the work back into the master file. It works perfectly well, and is a lot less fiddly than worrying about xmp sidecars or remembering what folders to re-sync.

John

[sethresnick]

John,

I also export as a catalog but depending on how big the catalog is or how many folders you are including and whether or not you are including negative files this can take an exceedingly long time whereas saving the .xmp and simply moving the folders is relatively painless and very quick. There are many ways to accomplish the tasks and if a way works for you that is great but many folks are unaware of the multiple ways to accomplish this.