Digital Asset Management - Image Previews

The Classic Mac OS popularized the concept of visually distinguishing various file types via different icons. Image files saved from Photoshop had a specific Adobe icon design that included a "badge" proclaiming the file type, such as PSD. On the Classic Mac OS it is also possible to embed a custom thumbnail icon of the image data from Photoshop, instead of the generic Photoshop file icon used when viewing files in the Finder (Adobe leverage Apple QuickTime at the OS level). The classic Mac OS also had third party utilities for batch process creation of OS dialog box image previews, such as the application Drop Preview. Photoshop can also embed an image preview into the image file on Classic Mac OS, Mac OS X or MS Windows. 

The File Browser was introduced as a major update to Photoshop 7 and was later improved in Photoshop CS. In the Creative Suite 2, it has evolved into a separate application named Adobe Bridge. When a directory is viewed for the first time, the File Browser or Bridge will build a cache of the image previews. The image preview/thumbnail generation process is moderately fast when dealing with smaller files and fast hard disks, but is less responsive with larger files, CD's or DVD's. 

When burning a data CD or DVD of your images, one can speed up the future process of viewing the disks contents in the File Browser or Bridge by including the cache for the directory that contains the images. A common method is to copy the various files to a separate folder that will be used as the source for the CD or DVD project. One could optionally create a contact sheet, PDF presentation or slide-show of the images at this point.

The File Browser/Bridge is then used to view the project folder. Next, inside the File Browser or Bridge, the Export Cache command is selected (the menu location is different between the various versions). The following cache files will be exported: 

Adobe Photoshop 7 File Browser: AdobePS7.md0, AdobePS7.tb0
Adobe Photoshop CS File Browser: AdobeP8M.md0, AdobeP8P.tb0, AdobeP8T.tb0
Adobe Bridge 1 (CS2): Adobe Bridge Cache.bc, Adobe Bridge Cache.bct

MS Windows OS users can also provide an OS level thumbnail database for inclusion on their CD or DVD, using the Thumbnail icon view when viewing the image directory. Once the thumbnails are generated, a file named "Thumbs.db" will be created (to view or copy this file, "Show hidden files and folders" and "Hide protected operating system files" must be unchecked in the View tab of Folder Options, found under the Tools menu in Windows Explorer).

The final step is to burn the folder containing the images and cache files to a data CD or DVD.