[Digikam-users] crashes and other issues when working with RAW

[Benjamin Girault]

Hi Fabio,

First of all, I'm using Linux, not Windows, but I think I can still
help you a bit.

2013/7/10 Fabio <fagopher at cfl.rr.com>:
> I tried using the panorama stich (from hugin) under digiKam tools menu. I
> selected about 11 raw images and started processing them. It crashed the
> application.

Unfortunately, it's hard to say whether the issue is during the
development of the RAW files, or later during the actual preprocessing
of the developed files. I mean, the preprocessing step has 2 to 3
substeps:

(- if the files are RAW files, develop them)
 - start cpfind
 - start cpclean

Without more debug information (which I do not know how to get), I
cannot say which one of them is the problem.

> I restarted it and tested it again but this time with only 3
> files. I got the following:
>
> Pre-processing failed.
>
> Cannot run C:/Program Files (x86)/Hugin/bin/cpclean.exe:
>
> could not open script :
> C:/Users/fbuitrag/AppData/Roaming/.kde/tmp-FBUITRAG2012-US/kipi-panorama-tmp-1373422454Xniaaa/cp_pano.pto
>
>
>
> I verified and C:/Program Files (x86)/Hugin/bin/cpclean.exe exists but not
> the cp_pano.pto file.

There is actually two issues here, and I'm aware of one of them (and
I'm currently trying to fix). The one I know is that the panorama
plugin try to execute cpclean even though cpfind failed. This is your
case here since cp_pano.pto (which is the output of cpfind) doesn't
exists.

The second issue is that cpfind failed. It happened to me and the
reason was that my computer ran out of memory and cpfind got killed by
the system. So my first question is: do you have enough free RAM? and
enough free disk space (for the temporary files)? Note that at this
point the RAW files have been converted into TIFF files, such that RAW
format is not the reason why cpfind fails.

> I converted the files first into tiff files and re-tested the panorama
> stitch wit all 11 images. It worked and it created the panorama.

How did you develop your RAW files? with digiKam or with another software?

> Back in digiKam, when I select the just created panorama photo (jpg file)
> and opened the editor, the editor opens but showing a different photo (I
> tried a few times) . In the same folder I have the raw files, the converted
> tiff, and the  panorama (jpg). From the editor I navigated (page down) and
> after a few tries it just crashed. Tried it once more, from the editor I
> used the File > Last and it shows blank page and cursor as if it were still
> working but nothing else.

The size of the resulting panorama may be big (especially with 11
photos) such that you may face memory problems here, but since I do
not know how the editor works, I'm not sure.

> Going back to the random crashes... Some times it crashes completely and
> take me out of digiKam. Some other times it opens the Report Bug window but
> always ends saying the information collected is not good enough to report a
> bug. So, how can I collect good debug info in windows platform ?
>
> Also, I would like to know if there are others in this list, that would like
> to share their experience, using digiKam on windows 7 and if they can work
> well with raw files.

I have the impression that you actually have no issue with RAW files,
but I'm not entirely sure.

--
Benjamin.