Although Aperture does not offer a direct way to burn images to optical media (CD, DVD, etc.), you can combine the various export features Aperture offers with the disc burning capabilities of OS X to accommodate many workflows. Here are some tips:
CD & DVD Preferences
When you insert a blank optical disc, there are several actions that your system may take, depending on your System Preferences settings. These procedures assume that you have the system set to open a Finder window when a disc is inserted. To set your system:- From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
- Click the CDs & DVDs icon in the System Preferences window (or choose View > CDs & DVDs).
- Choose Open Finder from the When you insert a blank CD pop-menu.
- Choose Open Finder from the When you insert a blank DVD pop-up menu.
- Close the System Preferences window
Exporting Versions to share with clients
You may sometimes wish to send a client a disc with sample images from a shoot. In most cases you will wish to send adjusted versions of the sample images.- Insert a blank disc into the computer's optical drive.
- The disc will appear on your Desktop as "Untitled CD" or "Untitled DVD." Rename it as you like.
- Select an image or group of images in Aperture's browser and choose File > Export > Export Version.
- In the Export dialog, select the export preset you wish to use and navigate to the burn folder on your Desktop. In the image below, the burn folder has been named "Aperture Export 1/24/2007".
- Click the Export Versions button. The image versions will be rendered to the burn folder. If you have specified a Subfolder Format as part of the export preset, subfolders will be created.
- If necessary, select additional images and export them to the burn folder.
- When you have exported all the images needed, double-click the disc icon on the Desktop to open the burn folder. Click the Burn button in the upper right corner of the window.
Backing up masters
If you wish to burn your original master images to an optical disc, follow these steps:- Insert a blank disc into the computer's optical drive.
- The disc will appear on your Desktop as "Untitled CD" or "Untitled DVD." Rename it as you like.
- Select an image or group of images in the Aperture browser.
- Choose File > Export > Export Masters.
- In the Export dialog, select the Subfolder Format and Name Format you wish to use. If you wish to export metadata along with the master images, select Create IPTC4XMP sidecar file.
- Navigate to the burn folder. In the image below, it is named "Aperture Master Backup."
- Click the Export Masters button. The masters will be copied to the burn folder, along with XMP side car files, if you so specified.
- If necessary, select additional images and export them to the burn folder.
- When you have exported all the masters needed, double-click the disc icon on the Desktop to open the burn folder. Click the Burn button in the upper right corner of the window.
Backing Up Projects
You can selectively backup particular projects to a disc.- Insert a blank disc into the computer's optical drive.
- The disc will appear on your Desktop as "Untitled CD" or "Untitled DVD." Rename it as you like.
- In the Projects Panel highlight the project you wish to back up.
- Right-click (or Ctrl-click) the project icon in the Project Panel. Choose Export > Export Project from the shortcut menu.
- The export project dialog will open.
- Navigate to the burn folder. In the image above, it's named "Aperture Project Backup."
- Click the Save button. If the project consists of managed images, all the project data including masters will be copied. If the project contains referenced images, whether or not the referenced masters are copied depends on whether the Consolidate images into exported project option is selected in the Export dialog. It is very important to select this option if you want the referenced masters to be included in the backup.
- If necessary, select additional projects and export them to the burn folder.
- When you have exported all the projects needed, double-click the disc icon on the Desktop to open the burn folder. Click the Burn button in the upper right corner of the window.
Archiving projects containing managed images
You can reference the master images for projects to optical discs, while keeping JPEG previews available for viewing within Aperture. This procedure presupposes that you have created JPEG previews for the projects you archive as described below. For more information on JPEG previews, click here.- Insert a blank disc into the computer's optical drive.
- The disc will appear on your Desktop as "Untitled CD" or "Untitled DVD." Rename it as you like.
- Highlight a project you'd like to archive in the Project Panel
- Select an image in the browser, then press Command + A to select all the images in the project.
- Right-click (or Ctrl-click) the project in the Project Pane and choose Relocate Masters for Project from the shortcut menu.
- The Relocate masters dialog will open.
- Choose the Subfolder Format and Name Format you'd like to use, and navigate to a locally accessible folder on a local hard drive.
- Click the Relocate Masters button. The master images will be moved from the Aperture library to the folder specified in the previous step.
- If necessary, select additional projects and relocate them as well. You may wish to create a folder for each project.
- Drag the folder(s) containing the relocated masters to the burn folder.
- Double-click the disc icon on the Desktop to open the burn folder. Click the Burn button in the upper right corner of the window.
- When the burn and verification has completed, check to be sure your master images are safely archived. You can check by opening them with Preview.
- If you like, you can delete folder(s) containing the master images from your hard drive. The JPEG previews will still be available. If you need the masters again in the future, copy them from the optical disk, and reconnect them, or reconnect to the images directly on the disc. For more details on reconnecting images, see page 137 of the Aperture User Manual. .
Archiving projects containing referenced images
- Insert a blank disc into the computer's optical drive.
- The disc will appear on your Desktop as "Untitled CD" or "Untitled DVD." Rename it as you like.
- Drag the folder that contains the masters to the burn folder for the disc. If the masters for the project are scattered in different locations, you may wish to first select them all in the Aperture browser and choose File > Relocate Masters for Project.
- If necessary, repeat for any additional referenced projects you'd like to archive.
- Double-click the disc icon on the Desktop to open the burn folder. Click the Burn button in the upper right corner of the window.
- When the burn and verification has completed, check to be sure your master images are safely archived. You can check by opening them with Preview.
- If you like, you can delete folder(s) containing the master images from your hard drive. The JPEG previews will still be available. If you need the masters again in the future, copy them from the optical disk, and reconnect them, or reconnect to the images directly on the disc. For more details on reconnecting images, see page 137 of the Aperture User Manual.
For more general information about burning discs in OS X, click here.