(AKA Aperture on Mac OS 10.5 Leopard crashes upon importing certain images) I spent the last two days collecting, anonymizing, and organizing over 1,200 images submitted by various folks to a photography contest that I run. Like last year, my plan was to use Aperture to actually look at and shuffle around the images, but when I attempted to import them by reference, Aperture crashed. When I re-launched Aperture, only a certain number of images had been imported, and successive imports of the remaining images continued to cause Aperture to crash.
I finally isolated some of the images that Aperture refused to import without crashing, and after saving and re-saving them in various combinations, I realized that it was metadata that was causing the crash.
Here’s what I discovered after playing around with some of the files:
- crashing images were taken with cameras from multiple vendors
- files that crashed Aperture had metadata from Adobe Photoshop
- stripping IPTC and EXIF using ImageMagick’s mogrify command* had no effect on the file’s ability to crash Aperture
- stripping all XMP profiles using ImageMagick’s mogrify command** fixed the import problem
- re-saving the original file in Photo Mechanic fixed the import problem
- re-saving the original file in Photoshop did not fix the problem
- command: “mogrify +profile iptc image.jpg” and “mogrify +profile exif image.jpg”
** command: “mogrify +profile xmp image.jpg”
Interesting: removing all XMP profiles from the file fixed the import crash. But re-saving it in Photo Mechanic also fixed the problem. Photo Mechanic preserves some XMP data, but clearly removes the offending bits.
I compared the metadata in the Photoshop-saved file vs. the Photo Mechanic-saved file, and found this:
The only three profiles that Photo Mechanic removed were:
- XMP Media Management Properties
- http://ns.adobe.com/camera-raw-saved-settings/1.0/
- http://ns.adobe.com/lightroom/1.0/
So one by one, I created files that only contained the metadata profiles for each of the potentially offensive bits above. The culprit? camera-raw-saved-settings/1.0/!
Creating a 1×1-pixel image in Photoshop and replacing the metadata with an XMP file containing the profile data for http://ns.adobe.com/camera-raw-saved-settings/1.0/ results in an image that crashes Aperture upon import. It’s important to note that the problematic metadata fragment came from one of the bad files itself — I saved the metadata and deleted everything out of the XMP file except for the camera-raw part. I couldn’t create problematic metadata myself using any of the software I have, including my install of Photoshop / Camera Raw.
You can download all of the files (23KB) to test this out for yourself. The archive consists of the following files:
- crashaperture-cameraraw-only.jpg - an image file that will crash Aperture upon import. It’s just a 1×1-pixel image that contains the offending metadata frament.
- crashaperture-cameraraw-only.xmp - the offending metadata fragment
- original images/ - dummy images containing the full metadata of the original crashing images
Also, here’s the Apple crash report.
I’m going to submit this to Aperture support. I just thought I’d get the information out there for teh Google to index.
UPDATE: Here’s a video showing how to create a crashing image using the XMP file in the downloadable archive:
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
I didn’t realize my voice had such a strong nasal component! I blame the microphone. :)
Below, I’ve inlined the offending metadata. When I append this to any image by using Photoshop’s File Info dialog box, the resulting image crashes Aperture upon import.
<![CDATA[<?xpacket begin="" id="W5M0MpCehiHzreSzNTczkc9d"?>
<x:xmpmeta xmlns:x="adobe:ns:meta/" x:xmptk="Adobe XMP Core 4.1-c036 46.276720, Mon Feb 19 2007 22:13:43 ">
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">
<rdf:Description rdf:about=""
xmlns:crss="http://ns.adobe.com/camera-raw-saved-settings/1.0/"
xmlns:crs="http://ns.adobe.com/camera-raw-settings/1.0/">
<crss:SavedSettings>
<rdf:Bag>
<rdf:li rdf:parseType="Resource">
<crss:Name>Import</crss:Name>
<crss:Type>Snapshot</crss:Type>
<crss:Parameters rdf:parseType="Resource">
<crs:WhiteBalance>As Shot</crs:WhiteBalance>
<crs:IncrementalTemperature>0</crs:IncrementalTemperature>
<crs:IncrementalTint>0</crs:IncrementalTint>
<crs:Exposure>0.00</crs:Exposure>
<crs:Shadows>0</crs:Shadows>
<crs:Brightness>0</crs:Brightness>
<crs:Contrast>0</crs:Contrast>
<crs:Saturation>0</crs:Saturation>
<crs:Sharpness>0</crs:Sharpness>
<crs:LuminanceSmoothing>0</crs:LuminanceSmoothing>
<crs:ColorNoiseReduction>0</crs:ColorNoiseReduction>
<crs:ChromaticAberrationR>0</crs:ChromaticAberrationR>
<crs:ChromaticAberrationB>0</crs:ChromaticAberrationB>
<crs:VignetteAmount>0</crs:VignetteAmount>
<crs:ShadowTint>0</crs:ShadowTint>
<crs:RedHue>0</crs:RedHue>
<crs:RedSaturation>0</crs:RedSaturation>
<crs:GreenHue>0</crs:GreenHue>
<crs:GreenSaturation>0</crs:GreenSaturation>
<crs:BlueHue>0</crs:BlueHue>
<crs:BlueSaturation>0</crs:BlueSaturation>
<crs:FillLight>0</crs:FillLight>
<crs:Vibrance>0</crs:Vibrance>
<crs:HighlightRecovery>0</crs:HighlightRecovery>
<crs:Clarity>0</crs:Clarity>
<crs:Defringe>0</crs:Defringe>
<crs:HueAdjustmentRed>0</crs:HueAdjustmentRed>
<crs:HueAdjustmentOrange>0</crs:HueAdjustmentOrange>
<crs:HueAdjustmentYellow>0</crs:HueAdjustmentYellow>
<crs:HueAdjustmentGreen>0</crs:HueAdjustmentGreen>
<crs:HueAdjustmentAqua>0</crs:HueAdjustmentAqua>
<crs:HueAdjustmentBlue>0</crs:HueAdjustmentBlue>
<crs:HueAdjustmentPurple>0</crs:HueAdjustmentPurple>
<crs:HueAdjustmentMagenta>0</crs:HueAdjustmentMagenta>
<crs:SaturationAdjustmentRed>0</crs:SaturationAdjustmentRed>
<crs:SaturationAdjustmentOrange>0</crs:SaturationAdjustmentOrange>
<crs:SaturationAdjustmentYellow>0</crs:SaturationAdjustmentYellow>
<crs:SaturationAdjustmentGreen>0</crs:SaturationAdjustmentGreen>
<crs:SaturationAdjustmentAqua>0</crs:SaturationAdjustmentAqua>
<crs:SaturationAdjustmentBlue>0</crs:SaturationAdjustmentBlue>
<crs:SaturationAdjustmentPurple>0</crs:SaturationAdjustmentPurple>
<crs:SaturationAdjustmentMagenta>0</crs:SaturationAdjustmentMagenta>
<crs:LuminanceAdjustmentRed>0</crs:LuminanceAdjustmentRed>
<crs:LuminanceAdjustmentOrange>0</crs:LuminanceAdjustmentOrange>
<crs:LuminanceAdjustmentYellow>0</crs:LuminanceAdjustmentYellow>
<crs:LuminanceAdjustmentGreen>0</crs:LuminanceAdjustmentGreen>
<crs:LuminanceAdjustmentAqua>0</crs:LuminanceAdjustmentAqua>
<crs:LuminanceAdjustmentBlue>0</crs:LuminanceAdjustmentBlue>
<crs:LuminanceAdjustmentPurple>0</crs:LuminanceAdjustmentPurple>
<crs:LuminanceAdjustmentMagenta>0</crs:LuminanceAdjustmentMagenta>
<crs:SplitToningShadowHue>0</crs:SplitToningShadowHue>
<crs:SplitToningShadowSaturation>0</crs:SplitToningShadowSaturation>
<crs:SplitToningHighlightHue>0</crs:SplitToningHighlightHue>
<crs:SplitToningHighlightSaturation>0</crs:SplitToningHighlightSaturation>
<crs:SplitToningBalance>0</crs:SplitToningBalance>
<crs:ParametricShadows>0</crs:ParametricShadows>
<crs:ParametricDarks>0</crs:ParametricDarks>
<crs:ParametricLights>0</crs:ParametricLights>
<crs:ParametricHighlights>0</crs:ParametricHighlights>
<crs:ParametricShadowSplit>25</crs:ParametricShadowSplit>
<crs:ParametricMidtoneSplit>50</crs:ParametricMidtoneSplit>
<crs:ParametricHighlightSplit>75</crs:ParametricHighlightSplit>
<crs:SharpenRadius>+1.0</crs:SharpenRadius>
<crs:SharpenDetail>25</crs:SharpenDetail>
<crs:SharpenEdgeMasking>0</crs:SharpenEdgeMasking>
<crs:ConvertToGrayscale>False</crs:ConvertToGrayscale>
<crs:ToneCurveName>Linear</crs:ToneCurveName>
<crs:CameraProfile>Embedded</crs:CameraProfile>
<crs:ToneCurve>
<rdf:Seq>
<rdf:li>0, 0</rdf:li>
<rdf:li>255, 255</rdf:li>
</rdf:Seq>
</crs:ToneCurve>
</crss:Parameters>
</rdf:li>
</rdf:Bag>
</crss:SavedSettings>
</rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>
</x:xmpmeta>
<?xpacket end="w"?>]]>
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Jan 19, 2008 01:00:19
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Eric:
Interesting post, though I am unable to replicate your problem. I did the following tests on a MacBook Pro laptop running OS 10.4.11, With Photoshop CS3 (10.0.1), Photo Mechanic 4.5.3, and Aperture 1.5.6.
Are you running Leopard (10.5), or an older version of Aperture or Photo Mechanic?
Here’s what I did. I took a file that had been processed through Adobe Camera Raw in PhotoShop CS3, and verified that the Camera RAW saved settings (http://ns.adobe.com/camera-raw-saved-settings/1.0/) were still intact.
I then saved this out as an sRGB JPEG, and made several duplicate copies, renaming them for what I intended to do. One of the duplicates was opened in Photo Mechanic 4.5.3 where I change the caption, the star rating and color label, and applied a couple of keywords using the Structured Keyword Panel.
I also opened another of the duplicates in Apple Preview, changed a few keywords (using command + I) and did a Resave.
I then verified these changes by viewing the image metadata using Jeffrey Friedl’s online Exif Viewer (http://regex.info/exif.cgi) as well as Photoshop CS3. The jpeg resaved using Preview was giving me an error with Jeffrey’s online metadata viewer, so I opened that in Photoshop and resaved once more. This added XMP, but the Camera RAW color settings were no longer there. The Camera RAW settings however did appear to be in all the other files according to Jeffery’s tool, and Photoshop.
Curiously, when I opened these into Aperture 1.5.6, all of them imported (including the one that was generating an error in Jeffery’s online Exif viewer).
While I can easily believe that there are Jpegs that are crashing Aperture, I don’t think it’s from the Camera RAW settings, or metadata in general.
Hope that provides another perspective.
Sincerely yours,
David Riecks
David - Did the image in the downloadable archive above crash your version of Aperture?
I am running Leopard with latest versions of PM and Aperture. I am unable to actually create images that crash Aperture myself using Camera Raw. The problematic images came from photo contest submissions for a contest that I run. Out of 1200+ images, there were perhaps a dozen that caused Aperture to crash upon import (verified on both my MacBook Pro and my Mac Pro). I merely tracked the problematic metadata down to the profile I described above. The files in the archive I provide for download are resized versions of two of the problematic images submitted to the contest (resized to 1 pixel).
Re-saving those images in Photoshop CS3 did not “fix” the problem, nor did stripping out IPTC and EXIF data. Photoshop is passing on whatever problem there is in the file.
It’s possible that both re-saving in Photo Mechanic and removing XMP using mogrify did other things to the file that solved the issue (header changes?). But since running mogrify with different commands had different effects, I have to believe that it is a metadata issue (removing XMP through mogrify worked, but removing other metadata had no effect).
So there is some workflow out there involving the Camera Raw metadata that creates files that cause Aperture to crash. One of the crashing files had Lightroom metadata in is as well. When I have more time, I’ll track down the entrants and ask them what software they used to process the problematic images…
Eric:
No. I saw that link later and downloaded the zip, expanded it and imported. No problem. They were kind of small, so I thought Aperture might have problems displaying the, so tried a slide show, which showed they were there and quite colorful.
Well, it’s quite possible that by resizing and resaving you may have corrected the fault that was causing them to not be imported correctly.
Did you try reading them with Jeffery Friedl’s online Exif viewer? (http://regex.info/exif.cgi).
If they aren’t readable there, you might have a better clue what in the metadata (if that is indeed the cause) is causing the issue.
My guess would be how the Jpeg was created. I didn’t try this with Lightroom, but that might be something else to try. Lightroom uses the same method for storing camera raw settings, so would have the same metadata, but how the Jpegs are written might be the issue.
I would try contacting the submitters to ask a bit more about their workflow? One possibility, is that they were using Lightroom to tweak Jpegs (rather than RAW files). The Parametric color rendering info is stored in the same metadata container, but how these are exported could be a bit different, especially in terms of metadata.
I would be interested in what you find out.
Hope that helps.
David
I’ve just recorded a video of the problem, which I’m going to post shortly.
The files in the downloadable archive crash my install Aperture when imported — tested on 2 different machines, just now. There is clearly something strange going on here! They are tiny, resized images (1×1 pixel) only to show that it’s probably a metadata issue.
In any case, thanks for sharing with your community. I’ll find out more from the contest entrants. I’m swamped now with actually RUNNING the contest. I stripped XMP from all of the images, and now all of them import properly. I can go on with my work…
I just want Apple to have Aperture fail more gracefully. A failed import is far better than a crash. Ignoring useless data would be even better. :)
Eric:
I’ve been looking into this issue a little further, and turns out that this compatibility issue surfaced last November, and primarily seems to be a problem with how Leopard (OS 10.5) reads the Adobe RAW settings (http://ns.adobe.com/camera-raw-settings/1.0/) stored in Jpegs. Others have reported that JPEGs with this metadata tagged to them will crash the Finder, when you attempt to open the file in Preview, and most likely anything else that Leopard has to use if the folder contains one of these “bad” JPEGs. A recent post on the APAdigital forum indicated that people on Leopard receiving a Jpeg with this embedded metadata may have their AppleMail application choke or crash!
The following links to the Apple Discussion/Support pages sketch out some of the details, unfortunately there is no fix, except to remove that information from the metadata.. or backgrade to Tiger. Those of you that do use Adobe Photoshop and/or Lightroom may wish to hold off upgrading or “leaping forward to Leopard” until they release their next “point” release.
Finder crashes if I attempt to read any image updated by Adobe Lightroom http://discussions.apple.com/t.....p;tstart=0
jpeg crashes finder, quicklook, coverflow and preview http://discussions.apple.com/t.....ID=1199138 http://discussions.apple.com/t.....ID=1214733 Leopard has not ate may JPEG’s, Adobe has. http://discussions.apple.com/t.....p;#6221180
Hope that helps.
David