Does CE4 Auto Index work with Client Response Galleries?

jonathonh · 2015-02-20 04:05:22

I have seen what CE3 Client response gallery is capable of, but I have many repeat clients that I want to create a multi level gallery. Here is an example of what I would like to do.

Main Proof Gallery (this is where I would list my clients/categories)
Client/Category Gallery (showing all the jobs shot for my clients, using the Client Response Gallery)

Does the Auto Index plugin create a multi level galleries?

rod barbee · 2015-02-20 05:09:11

Autoindex can create multi-level gallery indexes. It's not a gallery by itself.

But you can do what you're envisioning with it:

main Proof gallery (autoindex)
Client 1 (autoindex)
category 1 (autoindex)
CRG 1 (gallery)
CRG 2 (gallery)
category 2 (autoindex)
CRG 3 (gallery)
Client 2 (autoindex)
category
CRG....

Setting all this up can be easier and faster if you're also using Publisher. (in the above example, autoindexes will become Publisher managed Album Sets and galleries will be come Publisher managed Albums)

With Publisher, you'll also unlock the client management features of CRG as well.

jonathonh · 2015-02-20 06:11:34

When you say Gallery, you mean a Client Response Gallery, right?

CE4 Web Publishing Bundle does not include CRG, is there something that has Auto Index, Publisher, and CRG bundled?

Does the CE4 Web Publishing Bundle work with CE3 CRG?

All of this is done through Lightroom?

rod barbee · 2015-02-20 06:29:46

When you say Gallery, you mean a Client Response Gallery, right?

correct

is there something that has Auto Index, Publisher, and CRG bundled?

No

Does the CE4 Web Publishing Bundle work with CE3 CRG?

no, you'd need CE4 CRG

All of this is done through Lightroom?

There is some server side setup outside of Lightroom to set up ttg-be, Publisher and CE4 CRG (if you go that route)
But gallery management is all done from within Lightroom.

jonathonh · 2015-02-20 06:55:11

What is TTG-be that you mentioned?

What do you mean by server side setup?

Is Publisher a standalone program?

rod barbee · 2015-02-20 07:59:13

publisher is not a stand-alone program. It's a Lightroom plug-in that works with Lightroom's Publish service.

Take a look at the documentation for an explanation of ttg-be and the server side setup needed.
http://ce4.theturninggate.net/docs/doku.php#ttg_be

Matthew · 2015-02-20 13:07:03

CE4 Client Response Gallery has two parts, a Lightroom-plugin and an online component. Galleries created by the Lightroom plugin are hosted online; when clients submit feedback, that information is processed by the online component. The online component also handles client management, saving, etc.

The online component falls under the umbrella of TTG BE, which is included with the purchase of the Client Response Gallery. Setup is easy.

jonathonh · 2015-02-21 02:49:16

Is there a clear video (videos I've found are poorly recorded and you can't make out what is on the screen because it's blurry) that shows the process of setup and auto index? The explanations I've read are unclear and doesn't make the process could user friendly. I've seen how CRG works in LR.

rod barbee · 2015-02-21 03:26:17

when you say setup, do you mean the design elements in Lightroom?

Or are you talking about functional set up?

For autoindex, the way it functions is that you export it from Lightroom. Upload the entire exported folder to your site.

After that, export galleries. Upload the entire exported gallery folders to the previously uploaded autoindex folder.

visit the autoindex page you previously uploaded and you'll see the thumbnail links to your galleries.

No other setup is required. That's for a traditionally uploaded autoindex.

If using Publisher, then you'd upload the exported autoindex to the ttg-be/templates/autoindex/ folder.
In Lightroom you would create an Album Set from Lightroom's Publishing Services control pane.

jonathonh · 2015-02-21 03:39:25

I would like to see a video showing the process from beginning to end (other than CRG).

rod barbee · 2015-02-21 03:47:58

If I get the time I can try to put one together. It might not be for awhile yet.

But basically, it's as I described.

There are so many design options that I'd suggest just starting with one of the templates Matt has provided
http://ce4.theturninggate.net/docs/doku … _downloads

when you export, name the export using only letters, numbers, underscores, and dashes. No spaces or other characters.

Using FTP, upload the entire exported folder to your site. Let's say you export and name it "my-index". If you upload it to the root of your site then the URL to the page will be your-site.com/my-index/

Now export a gallery. To save time, use only a few images.
Upload the entire exported folder via FTP to the my-index/ folder on your site.

That's all there really is to it.
Visit the my-index page and you'll see the link to the gallery you uploaded.

jonathonh · 2015-02-21 03:58:52

Thanks for the information and quick responses. I have not purchased any of the software yet, as I'm not sure how user friendly it is and I haven't been able to see exactly how it works. I've only tested the CE3 CRG on a friends computer, and from what I've seen I like the options, but the terminology isn't very clear and the side panel to change the options is lengthy and poorly laid out. Have there been changes to this in CE4 CRG?

A clear video showing the complete process would be extremely helpful. Thanks.

rod barbee · 2015-02-21 04:37:12

the layout in the CE4 CRG options is pretty much the same as CE3. Keep in mind that Matt is limited to the existing Lightroom Web Module control panes.
But you get used to it after awhile.

User friendly is pretty subjective. There are people who want every conceivable web option to be available, which would make the plug-ins practically unusable. There are others that think it's too complex already. I think Matt's done a great job of including what's needed, and then some, and at the same time making it possible for folks to customize if they wish to do so and have a little bit of web knowledge.

As to videos, I'd love to put some together, but they can be very time consuming, especially when one has other projects he should really be working on
but creating videos has been on my list for some time....

jonathonh · 2015-02-21 04:58:26

I was not aware that you limited to just the standard Lightroom headings. It makes sense now why everything is the way that it is.

I'm aware of how time consuming videos are to make, I make them for my students all the time I do think however that this would definitely help increase your presence and sales if there were videos/better videos. I've spent a fair amount of time in the past couple of weeks looking for a user friendly client proofing gallery, and there are very few professional looking websites that are fully customizable. TTG looks to have the most flexibility (and it's' integrated in to LR!)

Now I have a new problem. The link you sent me, I've imported the templates, but they don't do anything. I get this error message. "The template can not be applied, because the web gallery (id=‘net.theturninggate.web.ce4.pages’) is missing. Please install that web gallery and then try again."

What did I do wrong?

rod barbee · 2015-02-21 05:08:19

you have to have the web engines installed to use those templates.
So you'd need to purchase and install before those templates will do you any good. When I included that link I wasn't aware that you hadn't purchased any plugins yet.

as to the videos, you're probably right. But TTG is a two-man operation (Matt and Ben) and I know that they're both very busy with both the plug-ins and other jobs.

Me, I'm just a user with way too much time on my hands (either that, or I just suck at managing my time)

jonathonh · 2015-02-21 05:19:35

Ok, that explains it. Thanks for your assistance Rob.

I guess there is no way for me to know if this is what I want or not. I guess I'll have to keep on looking, unless there is a money back guarantee. I could make some videos like I do for my students (Matt/Ben what do you think?)

Thanks again for responding so quickly. Matt and Ben are lucky to have you doing this for them!

Matthew · 2015-02-21 10:37:02

Yes, we are extremely lucky that Rod likes to hang out here and help people. He saves us a lot of time and headache, and allows us to focus our time on improving our products.

We haven't done any videos recently for a handful of reasons, such as we're not good at them, we don't have proper audio equipment, I haven't figured out how to make screen-capture not look crappy when down-rezzed (if that's even possible), and because our software is in agile development, we've pretty quickly invalidated existing videos with updates.

As far as I'm aware, there is nothing else available with the power or flexibility of CE4 Client Response Gallery for client proofing. Whether or not you find it user-friendly is entirely subjective, though I've spent the better part of two years just working on CE4, breaking my bloody mind to make it as user-friendly as I can, given the limitations of working within Lightroom. And that's on top of the years of development that have gone into earlier versions of the software (TTG since 2007!). So if you don't find it user-friendly, it's not because I haven't been trying to make it so. There's a learning curve, as with any software, but we don't think it's insurmountable, and many, many users have gotten along just fine from entirely clueless beginnings to become to TTG ninjas. Also, Rod, Ben and myself -- and many other helpful users -- are always here in the forum to help you along. If you need support, so long as you're patient enough to get through the support process, we'll have you up-and-running in short order. We have a 100% success policy; the only people who don't get there are the impatient ones unrealistic expectations, who stomp off without allowing us to help them, and those folks are few and far between.

rod barbee · 2015-02-23 22:16:35

What you're describing is exactly how it should work with CRGs.

If you go to the url yoursite.com/ttg-be/crg you'll always be presented with the log in page. After logging in, you'll see the list of only the albums that have been assigned to that client.

If you want your client to see thumbnails, then give them the url to the album set.

michilge · 2015-03-13 01:09:38

It seems like You convinced Matthew to make a video ;-)

I just received the link and watched it.
http://theturninggate.net/2015/03/ce4-i … -to-video/

As a person who already went through all the steps mentioned with help of written documentation and advice from the community, I find it a helpful entry point into setup of a CE4 site. My compliments.

As CE4 is a complex system with to many possible combinations, to be covered in the sequential form of a video, I testify that the ttg community is what helped me most setting up my site.

Community @ The Turning Gate

#1 2015-02-20 04:05:22

Does CE4 Auto Index work with Client Response Galleries?

#2 2015-02-20 05:09:11

Re: Does CE4 Auto Index work with Client Response Galleries?

#3 2015-02-20 06:11:34

Re: Does CE4 Auto Index work with Client Response Galleries?

#4 2015-02-20 06:29:46

Re: Does CE4 Auto Index work with Client Response Galleries?

#5 2015-02-20 06:55:11

Re: Does CE4 Auto Index work with Client Response Galleries?

#6 2015-02-20 07:59:13

Re: Does CE4 Auto Index work with Client Response Galleries?

#7 2015-02-20 13:07:03

Re: Does CE4 Auto Index work with Client Response Galleries?

#8 2015-02-21 02:49:16

Re: Does CE4 Auto Index work with Client Response Galleries?

#9 2015-02-21 03:26:17

Re: Does CE4 Auto Index work with Client Response Galleries?

#10 2015-02-21 03:39:25

Re: Does CE4 Auto Index work with Client Response Galleries?

#11 2015-02-21 03:47:58

Re: Does CE4 Auto Index work with Client Response Galleries?

#12 2015-02-21 03:58:52

Re: Does CE4 Auto Index work with Client Response Galleries?

#13 2015-02-21 04:37:12

Re: Does CE4 Auto Index work with Client Response Galleries?

#14 2015-02-21 04:58:26

Re: Does CE4 Auto Index work with Client Response Galleries?

#15 2015-02-21 05:08:19

Re: Does CE4 Auto Index work with Client Response Galleries?

#16 2015-02-21 05:19:35

Re: Does CE4 Auto Index work with Client Response Galleries?

#17 2015-02-21 10:37:02

Re: Does CE4 Auto Index work with Client Response Galleries?

#18 2015-02-23 22:16:35

Re: Does CE4 Auto Index work with Client Response Galleries?

#19 2015-03-13 01:09:38

Re: Does CE4 Auto Index work with Client Response Galleries?

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