Painfull organizing

Well, I got a G5 with two fat 400 GB drives plus a 400GB external seagate drive.

A crew of editors just finished editing a pretty intense project (lots of, Motion, SFX, PSD documents, ect). The only problem is that when they started, they didn't really have a storage system (there're are random files just sitting on the desk top!)

Anyway , I just read Lary Jordan's article about archiving and organizing your project. I didn't follow his method to the tee just because I didn't like the way he did a few things. So, I still have a few questions.

Right now, this is how I have things organized:

All my project files are stored on the boot drive (FCP Projects > "VW project" or whatever your project is named)

On my second drive (storage HD) I have the folders:
FCP Media which contains the folders, "Audio Render Files", "Capture Scratch", "Render Files", "Additional Audio", and "Photoshop".

So, the question:
From what I understand, inside of "capture scratch" > "VW project", should be all your footage. Right? And then all your audio in "Audion Render Files" Right?

Right now, it goes: Capture Scratch > VW project, and then another set of Capture Scratch, Render Files, and Audio Render Files. That can't be right can it?

It seems like there should be three folders of "VW Project" within the three top folders.

I'm sorry if this is really confusing. If you can, please help me sort this out. If you have a good system that's worked for you, please post it.

The only thing that I didn't like about Lary Jordan's system, is that he had some of the media stored on the boot drive. I like all the media to stay on it's own seperate drive.



"A man that does not reply to his own thread after receiving help truly sucketh."

Sometimes someone will set the CAPTURE SCRATCH>VW folder as the scratch folder, and when you set a folder as teh scratch drive, instead of just the drive itself, it will create a whole new set of RENDER, CAPTURE SCRATCH, AUDIO RENDER folders. I have done that a few times. There might be more media in those folders. If the projects are working, I'd leave them be. They are in the VW folder so things should be fine. If you do move the media from those folders to the main folders (what I'd do because I am an organize freak) then you will have to reconnect the media.

And the AUDIO RENDERS folder is for just that...audio that you rendered. Typically audio is tied to video, unless you tell it to capture audio separate from video.

I keep my main project on the system drive, backed up to my external nightly. Then music on the same drive, in a folder that says PROJECT NAME MUSIC.

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah, I think that's probably what happened. Makes sense. I probably will move the files to the main folder (I too must have an ultra clean computer).

One other thing, I've got about four "PAR" folders, they look like DVD SP projects. Is that right? If so, I'll consolidate all thoase into one folder.



"A man that does not reply to his own thread after receiving help truly sucketh."

The way to get around that thing of having Capture Scratch> 'VW clips' or whatever is to go into SYSTEM SETTINGS, then under the drive selection, click SET.
Once the selection comes up, click once only on the MEDIA drive of your choice, dont select a folder within that drive. FCP automatically creates a new folder every time you start capturing into a new project...

M

Hey Malc,

The trick is to develop a healthy system before digitizing a single frame. I have a filing system for all my projects that has worked for me for years. I set up a system of sub-folders inside a Main Project folder that has the Job # on it:

? SS1000 Main Project
--- ? 3D (C4D Projects / textures / associated files)
--- ? after effects / motion (project files)
--- ? edit (FCP / Express Pro project files)
--- ? ftg/imports (listed below)
------ ? VO
------ ? music
------ ? sound fx
------ ? ftg (video captures / bkgd QT's)
--- ? photoshop/illustrator (project files / stills)
--- ? renders (AE / Motion / C4D / FCP QT Refs)

I use a 320 Gig Ultra SCSI RAID tower. All projects / Captures live there. I use a central Capture Scratch area (outside any Project Folder) for all captures and drag all into each ftg/imports folder. At the end of a project, I blow away FCP renders / caches upon backing up (waste of space - can be rerendered if called up again).

- Joey



Post Edited (09-17-05 16:07)

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Hey, thanks everyone. Just finished cleaning up my computer. The only two icons blemishing the glowing, surreal-blue background of my desktop are "Macintosh HD" and "Storage HD"

Hi Joe.
"The trick is to develop a healthy system before digitizing a single frame."
He, he. Isn't that the truth! I think I'll do okay now. I've got eveyrthing in it's nice clean folder. My file system is pretty close to yours, with the exception of your project naming system.

Until now, I've just named my projects whatever they were "St. Patrick?s day Speech", "Silent night". Now, however, I'll implement a numbering system to go along with the name.

Once again, thanks.



"A man that does not reply to his own thread after receiving help truly sucketh."

Smart move, Malcolm. Databasing and systematizing are painful to do midway through a project, but leaving it just makes it more painful in the future. If you super-organize from the beginning, people think you're nuts and laugh at you at first, but when you start getting the 5000th file into the project, you'll be the one laughing.

"If you super-organize from the beginning, people think you're nuts and laugh at you at first, but when you start getting the 5000th file into the project, you'll be the one laughing."

Ha, ha, ha! You're so right!



"A man that does not reply to his own thread after receiving help truly sucketh."