Creative Force supports embedding metadata into delivered images, providing flexibility to include various properties such as production type, copyright information, or custom fields. This capability ensures that important information is retained within the image file itself, making it accessible for downstream workflows or external systems.

In Creative Force, Metadata is set up at the 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.

When creating a new Preset, you’ll need to decide if you would like to use a Standard Schema, or a Custom Schema. We will cover setup for both in the next sections.

With a Custom Namespace, 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.

To create a custom namespace, first, head to Studio Settings → Workspaces → Edit → Metadata Namespace

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

When done assigning properties, click Save. The custom Schema you created, along with the properties you added, will now be available from the Schema and Properties fields, outlined in the next section.

Creating standard schema required no additional setup or pre-configuration.

After having decided on your schema type and completing any necessary pre-configuration, you’ll head back to the Presets Tab. Within the Preset, select Edit → Image Metadata: Next, click Image Metadata in the top right corner, then Add.

In the Metadata Rule screen, you will have the option to configure metadata line by line. The builder is split into three sections, with various configuration options.

For example, when selecting the IPTC Schema, you could have the Product Code of the Product related to the asset written in as the ProductID.

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.

Next to relevant added metadata fields, a number of modifiers will be available and can be freely toggled on and off depending on the desired functionality.

In the table below, review the available metadata field modifiers, their purpose, and where to learn more.

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 that allow you to customize when and how a value is written fully.

Metadata conditional rules can be created based on Production, Property, and Source level rules.

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.

If you are using Bynder, Amplience, or Akeneo as your Asset delivery location, you will be able to define the mapping rules between metaproperties and Creative Force merge field values at both the Preset and variant-specific levels.

This is particularly helpful if different asset variants have different metadata relevant to where the asset is sent or how it will be utilized in the DAM.

After the metadata has been configured to your Preset, there are a number of actions that can be taken to verify and interact with it.

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:

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.

Once installed, 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.

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 Presets > Metadata Rules and make the update.
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Once complete, you can simply reset the Product to Asset Delivery, and the system will redeliver the assets with the changes applied as long as the value for the rules you created or changed is available in Creative Force.

The system will write Metadata in two steps during the production process. The first is during delivery to the External Post step, where all Metadata values applicable so far are written.
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Creative Force then again writes additional available Metadata at Asset Delivery; at this point, all Metadata will be available and written to the assets.