Photo Mechanic is still your cull-and-edit tool
Photo Mechanic remains the gold standard for ingesting cards, culling selects, cropping, and applying wire IPTC templates. Caption Caddie does not try to replace that speed. After your edited images have wire XMP dateline and credit on file, bring them into Caption Caddie for AI-generated play descriptions and player identification.
Code replacement import and export
If you already build Photo Mechanic code replacement files for a game, import them into Caption Caddie's roster library. Export code replacements back to Photo Mechanic when you need them in PM's autocomplete fields. Your roster data works in both directions.
Wire XMP template merge
Wire shooters apply dateline, credit, source, and keyword stationery in Photo Mechanic before captioning. Caption Caddie reads the wire XMP already on your file and patches the AI-generated caption body into your existing metadata template, fully customizable, so you do not lose the template work you already did in PM.
Supplemental metadata for non-jersey sports
Golf and other sports without traditional jersey numbers can use supplemental metadata fields in the matchup to steer the AI. Track and field shooters get bib name and number reading when those details are visible in the frame.
The workflow: PM → Caption Caddie → FTP
- Ingest and cull in Photo Mechanic
- Crop, edit, and apply wire XMP stationery
- Import edited selects into Caption Caddie
- Review AI captions, approve, and write IPTC/XMP to your files
- FTP to your wire client as usual
See also: AI sports captioning and wire service captions.