.img filetype change

[MickaelBehn]

This might be out there as a change. But after rendering a file i see the old .img extension gets treated by snow leopard like a .dmg file.

I EIAS has been out there before the .img got highjack by SL and OSX but are there any plans in making a new .img ext to avoid conflicts, since ID codes arent used anymore .img files get sent to Disk utility instead of imageplayer. The same issue goes with my sheepshaver .img sudden could become an EIAS link file. Which would send my OS9 emu into a fit.

Just wondering if anyone is thinking about this. thanks

[Ian]

Hi Mickael,

Select a .img file, get info on it, change 'Open With:' to EIAS, and then click "Change All..."

It's typical nowadays to render to .png or PSD, whatever is convenient for you though,

Ian

[MickaelBehn]

Hi Mickael,

Select a .img file, get info on it, change 'Open With:' to EIAS, and then click "Change All..."

It's typical nowadays to render to .png or PSD, whatever is convenient for you though,

Ian

Hi Ian,

Thank you for the help. Although i know how to change the file type. Im just wondering the wisdom of keeping .img as the default output file. Even for .mov outputs the default is .img. Its not a major issue in any way. Im just thinking if a edu version or demo version of EIAS was to be released this would or could be a stumbling block for new users that don't know better.

what about defaulting to a new ext file of .eia for example or defaulting to standards of .tif/ .jpg or for motion .mov.

just throwing that out there. am i way off in thinking this could make eias easier for newbies and in general ?

[RichardJoly]

I'm with you on this one Mickael, .eia would be a more recognizable extension for electricimage format an would stop the confusion with the Apple disk copy .img extension. Asking the OS to open all .img with EIAS simply switch the problem from one app to the other.

[Juanxer]

But then DiskCopy's .img is a legacy format right now: there is a fair chance that a new Mac user is never going to meet such disk image files ever. Switching app-extension relationships seems quite reasonable in that light.

[MickaelBehn]

I don't see apple removing support for the .img which currently is open by disk utility in OSX. I believe toast also supports .img for legacy support i suspect.

Also Sheepshaver uses .img as its main format for booting OS9 emu drives.

I can on this problem because i render a animation video file and it showed up with a Disk utility icon, then when i click on it. it gave me an error that the file didnt work. Since i know what im doing i dragged it into quicktime 7 and it work fine. but i also have the eias codec installed (not something a newbie would think about doing) that leave imageplayer as the eias app run the .img file which again is obvious unless you know to open it with imageplayer.

The problem lies with new users and making easy for them to use eias. not have them do work arounds to get a simple animation to playback after a render.

Also i find that Snow leopard does forget at times its relationship to extensions. So you would have to do the change all in the get info window every once in a while. not very straight forward and a bit annoying. I know this all comes down to apple's changes in how it deals with file extensions and ignoring creator codes, but i figure it time for eias to make its own ID with extensions prefix or maybe move to standard format of output like the .mov wrapper.

Its all about making the next version of EIAS more public friendly and get more users and really and truthfully ease of use, which can never be bad. Is there a downside to the change ? I have checked in all the databases i can find and it seems no one uses the .eia prefix , so its even free to use as far as i can tell :-)

But then DiskCopy's .img is a legacy format right now: there is a fair chance that a new Mac user is never going to meet such disk image files ever. Switching app-extension relationships seems quite reasonable in that light.

[Ian]

It's not quite as simple as it seems, rather a lot would have to change and it would probably break every IMG importer (After Effects, Photoshop, Quicktime, Graphic Converter etc.).

Perhaps better to just switch the default to .png, which is now pretty standard for single layer output.

Best,

Ian

[Juanxer]

(As a way to stabilize changes in app-extension relationships, you can set them up via this Preference Panel-type utility: RCDefaultApp)

[MickaelBehn]

To Juanxer,

Thank you for the link to RCDefault, i didnt know of it and it looks really useful. I wonder if i can get it to use creator codes instead of extension files. I think that might be the only way around my issue with .img

Hi Ian,

I didnt take external apps into consideration so i understand now that the change wouldn't be as straight forward.

That said the data with the data file .IMG would be the same.Tthe only thing that would change is its association to EIAS. After effects and the other apps would still open the file via import function or file - open function. There might be a few months of awkward file usage as program makers add the .eia prefix to be seen within their apps, but then again its not like you just double click on the icon to open it in after effects, you would file -import or drag and drop it. the same goes for other apps that work with .img files.

i might be beating a dead horse here. I thought this would be a good time to bring it up, if we are redesigning and improve EIAS for the EIAS users and for the future.

also interesting i found this link for the .img extension and these are all the apps that use the prefix

http://www.fileinfo.com/extension/img

(As a way to stabilize changes in app-extension relationships, you can set them up via this Preference Panel-type utility: RCDefaultApp)