Adobe Bridge vs. OpenAsset

If you're working with tons of files and different types of files and you have to keep them sorted out and be able to tell the differences within the files...this is the best option for you. It will make your life so much easier being able to preview everything quickly while seeing the small details. I do know that some photographers are really happy with how Lightroom catalogs their images, but I think for anyone doing major compositing or video work, Bridge is hands down the way to go. It just saves you so much time and headaches.

Incentivized

If you tag your items with keywords correctly, it is a great resource for quickly finding the digital assets you want. I had meticulously gone through all of our digital assets adding keywords for several categories which made searching for specific items very quick and easy, as well as relevant. OpenAsset is also great for automating the creation of PowerPoint presentations and data sheets. It is a project-based software meaning it works best for those in the AEC industry that sort and store digital assets based on the projects to which they are associated. If you are in a marketing firm or other non-project-based business model then another DAM system would likely work better for you.

Incentivized

• User friendly.
• Works well in combination with it's other adobe products.
• Like that's it's included in the cost of Creative Cloud.

Incentivized

• Automated PowerPoint presentations
• Automated data sheet generation
• Searching for digital assets based on keywords, project types, location, and personnel
• Maintaining albums for quick access to the most used project digital assets.

Incentivized

• User interface could be more friendly--currently it has a very techy feel
• Sometimes it’s a bit slow to load the program initially

Incentivized

• You can create an album to share with those outside of your firm, but the only way to do this is to download files into a zip file. This is antiquated thinking. It would be much better if you could create an album that would generate a temporary web page that anyone outside of the organization could view by clicking on a link.
• There are a number of legacy items that are no longer functional. OpenAsset needs to either make these functional or remove the options.

Incentivized

Adobe Bridge is useful as a jumping off point for file organization within the CC environment. It is a little slow and clunky at times but is useful for preliminary photography selection development including contact sheets, file renaming, and the overall selection process.

Incentivized

Okay so I've actually tried to use Lightroom. Photoshop is its own beast and doesn't have the catalog that Bridge of Lightroom has. Lightroom is not as powerful with being able to check between images, finding files, etc. I wanted to love it, but Bridge won hands down with all the time it has saved me so I can get back to my children instead of complaining that it takes me so much time to narrow down images

Incentivized

I have evaluated MediaValet on a couple of occasions. It is a much more budget-friendly system that is not necessarily project-specific in its architecture. It is much more general in nature in the industries it can target. OpenAsset's integration with Deltek Vantagepoint is a big selling point if you have both of those applications. If you don't have Vantagepoint, MediaValet might be a good alternative to consider.

Incentivized

• it is one of the best ROI because it is essentially Free, coming as a bounus with Photoshop subscription.
• It allows my staff to easily find images on any computer. sharing is easy.
• it is fast familiar piece of software.

Incentivized

• Made the creation of PowerPoint presentations and data sheets much quicker and easier
• Allows for customization of keywords for different user groups.
• Doesn't offer any useful reporting. We wanted it to tell us things like how often a particular image or project was referenced. It can't do that.
• Easy uploading and tagging system.
• Using the DAM as a liaison for populate the website with information from our CRM helped maintain consistency across channels.

Incentivized