File Format Question

[RR_Or...@adobeforums.com]

HELP! Our archive consists of hundreds if not thousands of images that were professionally scanned using Kodak CD software (don't ask). We upgraded to Creative Suites and now cannot get the images to open because it cannot recognize the file format. I've located the Photo CD File Format Plug-In v3.0.7 but that doesn't seem to work. Any help?!?!? thanks!

ray ortensie
ronald....@randolph.af.mil
photor...@hotmail.com

[Myle...@adobeforums.com]

I'd try XnView, a viewing and conversion tool (free for non-com use, but I suppose the USAF could cough up 50 bucks if needed... ;-) ) It opens a ton of formats and may at least give you an option to batch convert the files. That aside, please do file a feature request/ bug report with Adobe if you think this needs fixing:

<http://www.adobe.com/go/wish>

If you can provide a sample file somewhere, surely someone might also take a look and perhaps find the culprit.

Mylenium

[Richard Pullano]

Irfanview, a free viewer has some file conversion and image enhancing
capabilities.
Its free and has many format capabilities. I don't know if it will do
what you want but it don't cost much to try.
Good Luck,
Richard

[Michael_D...@adobeforums.com]

You might want to try the freeware Irfanview, which has a plugin for PhotoCD.

[RR_Or...@adobeforums.com]

Thanks. The problem we have is we are on a government server and are limited to what we can have on there - they have been clamping even harder down to where I had to justify why we needed Adobe on the systems. Thanks for the help.

[Myle...@adobeforums.com]

That's bad. You could ask them to run a Virtual Machine for you to experiment with the various tools. XnView does not require an install and can be directly used by extracting it from a zipped file...

Mylenium

[Mike_M...@adobeforums.com]

I've got this problem too. I used to be able to open Photo CD files natively inside of older versions of photoshop. now, even with the PCDICC.8BI file from Kodak's web site, all I get is a "program error" in CS3 and CS4.

[Mike_M...@adobeforums.com]

I installed Photoshop 7.0 on an old PC and I can open the Photo CD files properly. I found the Photo CD.8bi file on the PS7 directory and copied it to the file formats directory in CS4 and CS3 on my main PC and tried to open the Photo CD files and neither CS3 nor CS4 could do it. I got dialog messages with no text.

Ideally, I would like to use Bridge (or lightroom) to view the .pcd files, rate them and batch convert the good ones to lasting uncompressed file format (DNG or tiff?). If anyone can explain how I might do this using current Adobe tools, perhaps with the old Photo CD converted placed in the proper directory, please let me know.

Thanks.

[Myle...@adobeforums.com]

I don't think that's possible. The old plug-ins certainly fail, because no one updated them to reflect API changes in CS3 and CS4. Your best bet is to keep PS7 around as long as you can or resort to tools such as I mentioned. If you are looking for a rating system, you could perhaps take a look at ACDSee. It's latest versions support XMP, which in theory would allow you to bring over that information to the Adobe products somehow.

Mylenium

[Mike_M...@adobeforums.com]

I figured that I was SOL with CS3+. But I could not figure out how to get XnView to convert the files to full resolution. At least PS7 works. I can use XnView to batch convert to a lower resolution, rank the low res versions, then use PS7 to convert the good ones to high resolution one at a time.

It just goes to show you that with no widely accepted format for uncompressed images that some formats may die off in time. back in 1999 when I had these images scanned, I thought that between this being a format supported by the leading image company, Kodak, and it being supported by the leading digital photo manipulation program, that I would be safe with the file format for more than a decade. But that was naive thinking.

[KatWoman]

> It just goes to show you that with no widely accepted format for
> uncompressed images that some formats may die off in time. back in 1999
> when I had these images scanned, I thought that between this being a
> format supported by the leading image company, Kodak, and it being
> supported by the leading digital photo manipulation program, that I would
> be safe with the file format for more than a decade. But that was naive
> thinking.

me too
but the photo lab warned me years ago Kodak itself withdrew from supporting
their own format
best bet for you now if you can't find a utility or plug-in to open them
open them in old PS7 and save as.... (what ever you like) in a batch
put onto new CD's

so far Tiff seems to be the most shared and widely accepted format across
platforms
or jpg >>>>>>but you may not want compression

[Ronald Keller]

The Photo CD.8BI file that I have works fine here in CS3 and CS4.
The version is 9.000 and the filesize is 139264 bytes.

If you want the file to try you are welcome to contact me via e-mail.

Ronald

[KatWoman]

"Ronald Keller" <ronald...@scarlet.be> wrote in message
news:59b68...@webcrossing.la2eafNXanI...

I just put the Kodak CD
my comp will not even show the file names!!
so no way to test the opening of them in PS

will report back later after trying the file suggestion

[KatWoman]

"KatWoman" <ali...@address.com> wrote in message
news:VFO7l.2089$Y32....@bignews8.bellsouth.net...

well I put the proper extension into the plug ins file formats
and still my comp will not read the CD at all- in windows or in Photoshop
no files show at all

[KatWoman]

RE: >>> The Photo CD.8BI file that I have works fine here in CS3 and CS4.

> well I put the proper extension into the plug ins file formats
> and still my comp will not read the CD at all- in windows or in Photoshop
> no files show at all
>

my DVD will not read the CD
however my husband's comp has different brand DVD and it will read the files
so I copied the folder called IMAGES to his and then to mine
and now I can open them
the 8bi file was in my old CS presets folder

[Geoff_K...@adobeforums.com]

I came across this thread today when I wanted to look at some old Kodak pcd files but couldn't open them in CS4. I've now copied the old Photo CD.8BI in to the Photoshop Plug-ins/File Format folder and I can now open the files OK in Photoshop.
However I can not view them in Bridge. I have put the Photo CD.8BI file in to the Bridge plug-ins folder with no success. Anyone else got any advice about this? It's not a big problem as I don't have a lot of pcd files.
Thanks,
Geoff.

[Ray_...@adobeforums.com]

I had no problem in CS3 with this, using the included plug in. But that plug in does not seem to work in CS4 and I don't think one was included this time?

[steve_g...@adobeforums.com]

Kodak stop providing support for this format a while back. The plug-in was last included as an installed component with Photoshop CS2/Bridge CS2. In Ps CS3, it was included on the installer disk as an optional component [http://www.adobe.com/go/kb400945]

For Windows, I would suspect the plug-in might have problems loading on Vista.

[Geoff_K...@adobeforums.com]

As I said in post #10, I copied the old Photo CD.8BI in to the Photoshop Plug-ins/File Format folder and I can now open the files OK in Photoshop. This is inCS4 using Vista 32 bit. However, it's not a supported file format so it may not work on all set-ups.
Geoff.