Setting up Metadata rules in Creative Force is a flexible and easy process. Below, we’ll cover how to set up Metadata Rules using standard Schema, how to create your own custom metadata XMP namespace, as well as some other helpful tips and tricks for configuring your metadata rules to your studio’s specific needs.

In Creative Force, Metadata is set up on a preset level. If a position on the Style Guide is associated with a particular preset, all assets pushed through the system and mapped to that position will receive the same metadata configuration. As a result, to get started, you’ll want to first head to Studio Settings > Presets. To read more on preset in general, check out this article.

From here, you’ll need to decide if you would like to use a standard schema (We support the most common ones which are Dublin Core, IPTC, XMP, EXIF), or if you would like to create a custom namespace for which we support XMP only. The benefit to a custom namespace is the ability to set a custom name, all data written to that namespace will group together under the defined name when viewing the metadata. Additionally, a custom namespace allows you to select from the custom properties you have created within Creative Force that can then directly correspond to the property value you are writing. We will cover the setup for both options below.

The setup when using a standard schema is quick and easy. To begin, head to Studio Settings > Presets > Edit Preset:

Next, click Image metadata in the upper right corner:

Select “Add”

Here, you can begin creating your metadata rules. First, you’ll select the Schema from the dropdown options:

You’ll then select the property, the property will populate within the metadata as the name of the value you are writing, and the value will be the value itself. For example, the product’s category can be written under the category property; the color under the color property; the product code under the product code property. If you are writing the creation date of an asset, the Property you would select is CreateDate, while the value would be the date value itself 5/23/2023.

There are a wide array of values that can be selected. To view the available tokens, select the “T” icon on the far right side of the Metadata rule row;

To create a custom namespace, first, head to Studio Settings > Clients > Select Client > Edit > Metadata Namespace:

You can select “Add” to create new custom namespace, or edit an existing one:

Fill in the fields with the name of the Schema, and then add the properties you would like to write metadata for:

Click Save. Next, you’ll head back to the presets tab. Within the preset select Edit > Image Metadata :

Note:
The maximum number of characters in the Properties field is 4096. If the value you enter in the Properties field exceeds this number, the data cannot be saved.

The custom Schema you created along with the properties you added will now be available from the Schema and Properties fields:

To the right of each Metadata rule, you have the option to select the exclamation point icon, toggling this on will ensure that the system does not write the property if the property value is empty within the system. For example, if no Model was added to the Team on Set, the system would not write Model Height to the metadata for the asset.

There may be circumstances where you only want certain values written to the metadata if the product meets certain criteria. Clicking the cubes icon to the right of the metadata rule will allow you to set conditional rules which allow you to fully customize when and how a value is written. To read more on conditional rules click here.

Metadata conditional rules can be created based on Production (whether producing an outfit or not producing an outfit), property rules and/or source rules (whether the production was from vendor-provided imagery or photo production).

In the Property rule example above, the property value for “Size” will only be written if the Category of the product is equal to Jackets.

In the lower-left corner of the Metadata rules screen, there is a toggle for “Variant Specific”. Toggling the switch on adds a dropdown so you can select and write specific metadata rules for each variant you’ve created for the preset separately:

In the upper right corner, you’ll notice a small toolbox icon. The metadata toolbox gives you two options to assist you as you set up your rules:

Download Example

When you are done setting up your metadata rules, you can download an example here to verify that things are correct. The download will contain an example for each variant in your preset.

Knowing what namespace and field to use is not always that easy with metadata as various applications label fields differently. This tool lets you upload an image-file containing metadata the way you want it and easily translate that into metadata rules here in Creative Force.

If you’ve already begun or completed production for a set of images and realize you need to update or change a metadata rule, simply head to your Presets > Metadata rules and make the update. Once complete, you can simply reset the product to Asset Delivery and the system will redeliver the assets with the changes applied as long the value for the rules you created/changed is available in Creative Force.

The system will write metadata at two steps in the production process. The first is before External Post, Creative Force will write all available metadata at that step to the asset(s). Creative Force then again writes metadata at Asset Delivery, at this point all metadata will be available and written to the assets.

If you are looking to double-check the metadata of an asset downloaded from Creative Force we recommend using a tool called Exiftool. This free tool can be downloaded here. Simply open a terminal on your machine, type in exiftool then add a space and drag and drop your image. Click “Enter” and the metadata will populate on the screen.