My wife and I have been on a massive vector downloading project. Right now we have a little over 10,000 of them and the number will grow. I need a way to catalog them but making a graphic catalog is out of the question, for size and ink consumption, plus I'd have to manually have to make a thumbnail for each one. my present game plan is to just number them sequentially then make a database with libreoffice, then list a description of what that vector is. That way it wouldn't take my life savings of $12.42 just to buy ink. Also it will allow me to add more.
So I'm up for suggestions for a better way to do it. The best suggestion will win.......... absolutely nothing but you'll feel good because you helped an old guy.

I think it would be easier to sort by folder. IE, you have a root folder called Vectors and you keep making sub folders that keep everything organized. So

Vectors/Nature/Leaves/Maple

or

Vectors/People/Woman/Dancer/Ballet

It will probably take a while to organize it so thoroughly, but this method has two advantages:

1. Phenomenally organized files
2. You will familiarize yourself with your vector files as you organize.

Here's a link to an article to read more:

http://outlawdesignblog.com/2009/06/how ... ign-files/

If your running Windows have a look at, Daminion for a database front-end.
http://daminion.net/

I plan on putting them in folders according to what they are. It mean's I'll have to open every single one of the 10,000+ but it will make it a lot easier to fid what I want.

I have Fotoalbum, which looks a lot like what you suggested but I don't think either can work with vectors.

The only other thing to try is keep all your vectors in one place and copy the link to the location of the original and then just paste the link into separate named folders, this means if you have a mouse running up a clock, you could paste the link into three folders named clock, running & mouse. more work but the vector files will be more categorized.

Names don't really tell me anything, there is no way to know what the image looks like until the image is opened as the example file names show..
╞╬╞╬╞ó┤┬ └╠╣╠┴÷1.eps
8m#1 (1).eps
3430846_illustration.eps

XnView claims to support .eps files and can be used to tag and therefore organise your collection.

It must be said however that my own experience with XnView is not a good one. It was guaranteed to crash every time I used it (on Windows XP). I believe Photocomix has used it with some success.

Kevin

XNview, still worth a try, if it crashes, move to something else.
I use the newer XNviewMP in linux, there is a windows package. Never had any problems.

Many, many options, probably too many, but it does display eps, and all the other file types including xcf. The example here is a couple of eps, an animated gif, a big .CR2 file and a png.
Tagging and sorting. There are preset catagories but you can make your own. This screenshot, I have inset the info panel over the preview, normally it would be one or the other.

Downloads see
http://newsgroup.xnview.com/viewtopic.p ... 62d95b9a6c

Yeah I tried that but it doesn't seem to work on all eps files, I don't know why. I use xnview for a ton of things, it's invaluable.
Amendment: I just updated my xnview and it seems to be seeing all of them so that might be a valid option.

Let us know what you end up using, alright?

I promise but it will be while. unlike bitmaps vectors may or may not work when you download them so I have to open each one to verify if it's good. Then I want to convert all of the ai file to eps, so I got my work all lined up for me.

Well, it should keep you occupied.

And the winners of the best suggestions are to be jointly shared by Maria and paynekj. I had been considering sorting into folders but Maris convinced me. and I forgot that xnview can read eps files. After some experimenting I found that it will also generate batch thumbnails of eps files. So I plan to use both of your ideas plus mine.
So the grand prize of nothing goes equally to both of you. Send me a mailing address and a check for $19.95 for shipping and you'll be getting your prize in the mail shortly. I hope you enjoy it and that it gives you years of enjoyment. Congratulations.