The Picture Catalogue is a optional set of image that reflect the contents of the archive. The Master Catalogue is a non-editable, read only version of the archive un-like the Workspace which is a working copy of the archive images that may not reflect the contents of the archive as it may contain non-checked-in versions of images that differ from the last version in the archive. This Master Catalogue also contain copies of images so can be damaged or lost without consequences.
Viewing RAW images
In the Archive some image are stored only in RAW format. For the purposes of viewing where possible a viewable version of an image can be generated. In the Catalogue this will be show as an image pair in a similar way that cameras can generate a RAW image and a JPG image of the same shot. However this viewable JPG image is not managed by the ImgArchive and is available to aid viewing images.
In addition, versions of a image can be made at different sizes plus a thumbnail image. However this option is normally disabled as this catalogue is viewed by a file browser such as Windows File Explorer or Windows Photos. Both will not use pre-made thumbnail images or pre-made down sized images. However, in the future maybe a tool can use these images to speed viewing, for example building online contact sheets or pages.
This is achieved be integrating a tool such as Graphics Magic using an application hook and python scripts.