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When an pureref file is open with linked images and somehow the link are broken, we get this error about it. The sad thing is we are not able to fix these links. Therefor i would like to opt for some document settings where you can relink these missing links.

So perhaps some seting where we can see all linked images in the file and be able to either repair the link or relink them to an other file or files would be very useful.

Now after the link shows there is no way to fix it or find those image again. The popup shows only once.

What also would be nice is the option 2 relink or finding all missing files in a folder. This way you could quick relink a whole list of missing images



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-08-07 15:31 by PureRef.

+1 for this suggestion.

A possible way to approach this: if the image dimensions can be saved in the .PUR, then it could be empty frames with a red "X" or something to represent each missing image. Clicking on an empty frame would open a file browser for you to search for a replacement image.
Hovering the cursor over an empty frame would show a tooltip with identity information about the missing image: size, filename, date of creation\modification etc.

The next version of PureRef will include all of your suggestions :)

Would it be possible to change the link to the image, even if it's not broken? The reason I ask this is because of a suggestion I had here:
https://www.pureref.com/forum/read.php?3,1110,1110

The topic is about animated gif support. Long story short, you can have animated gifs in your PureRef scene in an indirect way, but it requires you copy and paste it directly from a browser, so the original link is saved as the source instead. That way, when you open the source, you can view the gif inside your browser.

I want to be able to do the same with video files. Since PureRef doesn't allow the import of video files, what I wanted to do is make my own "thumbnail", import that into the PureRef scene instead and change the source link so it points to a URL of the video. Would that be possible with the changes you are adding to the next version?

I think you making it sound much to complicated. What i proposed is the same idea. But you want video files as well, this is an image viewer. It would need tons of extra code than think about all the players in a single file. That alone sounds way to complicated.

Concerning that Custom video thumb, that can be any image you like ofcourse. But you talk about a link to a video. What do you mean by that, because we can only add notes?

What's so complicated about it? All I'm basically asking is if you can change the source link regardless of if the source link (where the image comes from) is broken or not.

PureRef keeps track of the source link of the image, regardless of if you embed it into the scene or not. You can see the source link if you select your image and go to "Open Source" (CTRL+Shift+O). This can be a local file like "C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\Desktop\my-image.png" or a hyperlink like "https://www.pureref.com/images/PureRef.png".

I want to be able to have videos in my PureRef scene as well just like gif files. PureRef would never even have to touch the video file. All I would do is import a custom thumbnail of the video, which is just a regular image, and then change the source link manually, so it points to the video link itself instead of the image path/link of the thumbnail.

Would it help for you to have clickable links in notes instead? It sounds like you want to open a source that might not actually be the image that you see in PureRef. The relinking we're talking about here will try to replace the image you already have (probably none because it is missing) with the source you provide.

That would be a huge help already, but I prefer if I could have a "preview" of the video file at least, in the form of a thumbnail basically. The links I use don't really tell me anything about the video itself.

Wouldn't it make more sense to be able to edit the source of the image anyway, regardless if it's missing/broken or not? I would be in favor of giving users more control in that regard, but maybe that's just me. Surely, adding a "Change Source" option under Images -> Selection wouldn't be too hard to add? That way, you don't have to break something first before you can change it.

Ideally for me, and I know it's not an easy task, please don't shoot me, is to be able to paste a video file into PureRef and have the same thing happen as with gif files: only one image is extracted and that's it. If I could change the source to point to the video link, I can just watch it inside my browser instantly.

The problem with the relink functionality here is that even if you were allowed to change the source it would instantly replace what you already have with what the new source points to. But if we ever add such a feature we'll keep your suggestions in mind!

Ok, fair point, the image would be broken if the image isn't in the new source path yet, after all. But what if you embed your images and you simply want to update the source? Or what if you want the source to point to an artist's website (DeviantArt or whatever) instead of just the one image you downloaded? I would find it useful if I could keep the link of the original artist of whatever image I'm saving if I want to find more images from that artist later.

I still think it would be a useful feature to have, but I see I'm on the losing side here. :( Oh well, I'll be happy if I can get clickable links in text boxes at least.

I think what he prefers is images being clickable, that is something else i proposed here.

Clickable images would be a better alternative actually! That is, as long as you can change what they link to. You wouldn't have to mess with the source path/link like I proposed and you can still add any link you want.

Forgot to bump this before but this is now possible to do in 1.10+ let us know if it works as you would have expected it :)

I tried it and it works just fine. I haven't used PureRef in a while, but isn't it possible to link to external images on the web? If the image is gone (the link doesn't work), can we relink those with a different link? Right now, it seems you can only relink using images saved locally, but maybe I missed something.

Currently it is as you say, only local images can be linked and remote urls will always be embedded, but we'll take note that it is something you would like to see in future versions!

Similar to the “relink missing images” functionality in scenes, which, directly, does not include the files themselves, but only links to them...

... I would like to see the possibility of updating the path to files in scenes that contain the files themselves, but not links to them, and then the “relink missing images” function is not available.
Because in a situation where there is a large, regularly updated pureref-file, when you change the name of the folder from where all the images were loaded into it, the “Open source” function (Ctrl + Shift + O) stops working.

When `D + LMB` on an image, a window opens with information about that image, where, among other things, “Source” and “Origin” are listed. It would be convenient if next to the button responsible for copying the address of “Source” and “Origin” there was also a button allowing to change/update them, so that in case of changing the name of the folder from which all images are loaded into the scene, the “Open source” function would remain available.

As an alternative, make a window where we can specify several possible paths to files, for example...
- Initially, images were loaded into the scene from the directory C:\Users\...\Desktop\Folder00.
- The folder was later renamed Folder01
- We could specify two addresses in the window: C:\Users\...\Desktop\Folder00 and C:\Users\...\Desktop\Folder01 - the primary and backup addresses, so that if the image is not found at the primary address, PureRef will use the backup addresses. This window will act on the entire scene, not on a single image, saving time and not having to update the file path for each image separately.

... Or just run some sort of check for files at the specified paths. whichever path a file is found at, the file path will be changed to that value.

Bottom line. the ability to update the file path in scenes that have images nested as files, rather than just specifying the path to them, would be very useful. And if we don't have to update the path for each file separately, - it would be great =)

Thanks!

Thanks for the feedback! Just some followup questions: When you rename a folder like in your example, you can use the mass relink dialog to relink all of them at once right? Do you mean that you would like to change the path before you make the actual move on disk? Open source should use the new path after the relink, if it doesn't that sounds like a bug we have to look into.

«When you rename a folder like in your example, you can use the mass relink dialog to relink all of them at once right?»
I'll give 2 answers to this question just in case:
- If you thought I was talking about a scene that uses Linking Images, I'm not. I'm asking to add a function to update the file path for scenes that use Embedded Local Images (Settings > Saving and loading > Embed local images in save file: ✓), Because due to the lack of this feature, when you change the name of the folder from which the images were originally placed in the pureref file, the “Open Source” function stops working because it refers to the original path (the original folder name) that was changed.
- If this is how my request is to be implemented, then a “mass relink dialog to relink all of them at once” would be very helpful - this is exactly what I would like to see for Embedded local images.

«Do you mean that you would like to change the path before you make the actual move on disk?»
In fact, whether it will be possible to re-link images before they are actually moved to disk or after is not a big deal. Both options are fine.

---

I apologize if I didn't explain things clearly enough initially. It's just that English is not my main language, and I have to use a translator, and in general I don't seem to have the skills to explain things clearly =)

And judging by this part of your reply:
«Open source should use the new path after the relink, if it doesn't that sounds like a bug we have to look into.»
... I can also assume that you thought I was having trouble using the “Open Source” feature when using Linking Images, not that I'm asking to implement the ability to update the file path for Embedded local images.
Which makes sense, in principle, because I posted my request in a thread related to Linking Images - but I only did so because it was the first thread I found through a keyword search of the forum that was ± the same feature I was asking you to implement, and I just didn't want to create a new thread to clutter up the forum when a similar one already exists.

* “re-link images” in the context of Embedded local images (not Linking images) = “update source location”. This is probably more correct.

I apologize again!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024-04-25 12:54 by random.

Right, got it! Yeah we assumed you meant for linked images, sorry for the confusion :) What's the reason you don't want to link those images if the location on disk is important?

I use my own reference library, which has a certain structure, and which I refine on a regular basis as the library grows - adjusting the folder structure and names. If I use Linking images, then even with minor changes to my reference library, I may need to re-link images in several .pureref files at once, which in my case is just a lot of extra work that can't be avoided, because the references will just stop showing up in the .pureref files, and I won't be able to use them unless I re-link the images.

However, I need to use the Open source function much less often than I need to adjust the reference library, so using Embedded local images rather than Linking images just seems to be a better option in my case and avoids a lot of unnecessary unwanted work.

Thanks for explaining! It's not what you asked for but in the latest beta of PureRef 2.0 we've added so that you can make links to local files in notes, so a workaround for you could be to add a link next to your refs that opens the folder they reside in on disk?

Perhaps a alternate version of this could be that when relinking images, the user selects a folder and the app will search all folders and sub folders (recursively). Depending on the hierarchyz this could take time. But will be much faster vs relinking one by one. Many apps use this same principle like Photoshop and Blender. Blender actually has an option to search recursive. Hope this can give devs an idea and better understanding.

Edit
Though my approach is for linked images. I see some posts now about embedded images and relinking. That's not what this topic is/was about.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024-05-02 17:33 by schroef.