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Timeline integrates Photoshop with Subversion (SVN) for full version control
My name's Sebastian, I'm a photographer, and I have a problem: I take lots of photos at an excruciatingly high resolution. If 20 megabyte RAW files weren't bad enough, by the time each photo goes through my Photoshop workflow they're 50-100MB each.
But that's OK -- I just keep buying terabyte drives. I'm a junky like that! The real problems occur when it comes to editing: sometimes I make destructive changes and save the file.
Now, any good graphic designer will tell you that destructive changes should always be avoided -- you never alter the original image! But the fact is, shit happens. Even if you never make mistakes, it's still very nice to have an entire changelog of every alteration you make. Maybe you change some text, save, close, go home for the day -- and then, the next day, your boss wants you to revert back to the original text.
That's where Timeline enters the fray. Timeline, through a neat, easy-to-use UI links Photoshop to a Subversion (SVN) repository.
But that's OK -- I just keep buying terabyte drives. I'm a junky like that! The real problems occur when it comes to editing: sometimes I make destructive changes and save the file.
Now, any good graphic designer will tell you that destructive changes should always be avoided -- you never alter the original image! But the fact is, shit happens. Even if you never make mistakes, it's still very nice to have an entire changelog of every alteration you make. Maybe you change some text, save, close, go home for the day -- and then, the next day, your boss wants you to revert back to the original text.
That's where Timeline enters the fray. Timeline, through a neat, easy-to-use UI links Photoshop to a Subversion (SVN) repository.
Subversion, if you're new to version control, is a repository. Think of it as a vault that contains all previous versions of a document -- or image, in this case. You can leave notes when you update a file in the repository, and later produce a changelog that contains all of the changes made by all contributors (this is what you see when a new product is released!) You can also lock files, to prevent two people working on the same file at once -- pretty neat, when you're not in the same office, or collaborating over the Internet.
Because it's just a front-end, there's no real tricks up Timeline's sleeve. It's handy, and it can certainly be a life-saver if you're working on something important, but it's hardly an exciting tool. You could achieve the same effect by installing SVN and submitting your files to the repository manually -- $60 seems a little steep for a plug-in that automates the process.
I'm sure Timeline could be a 'must have' tool for photographic enthusiasts or commercial design studios -- give the 30-day trial a go, if you want to make sure before forking out the money.
[We'll be running a giveaway for five (5) licenses later today, so stay tuned!]
Comments
5
Subscribe to commentsArnieFeb 24th 2010 10:30AM
VisualSVN is an even easier to set up SVN. Its only for Windows though(a fact not lost on me as most graphic designers use Photoshop on the Mac). Its however very very simple to setup and if you have Vista or 7 then it automatically uses the IIS built in(For XP, I think there is a further set up, not sure though) to make your SVN available on your local network or to the Internet.
Sebastian AnthonyFeb 24th 2010 10:35AM
Neat :)
The TortoiseSVN thing that I used was local, without the web server -- just using the normal filesystem. Locks don't work with that though -- but for just editing my own photos, it obviously works just fine.
RyzvonusefFeb 24th 2010 11:24AM
Hmm...I don't suppose us simple Paint.Net users need to worry about such stuff? Because I have never heard of Subversion in this context before...
Sebastian AnthonyFeb 24th 2010 11:50AM
Well, depends what you mean by 'worry' :)
If you save a new file after every change you make, then it's a non-issue. This is for more complicated projects, where you need to keep track of a multitude of changes!
Paint.Net doesn't have version control, as far as I know.
KyleFeb 25th 2010 3:25AM
I can't tell you how many times I wish I could backtrack in Photoshop! This tool could be a lifesaver.