Content Library

General Moho topics.

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theotherguy
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Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2009 4:46 am
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Content Library

Post by theotherguy »

Hi y'all. The worst thing in my opinion about Anime Pro was the library function. If things have been resolved then I might consider the upgrade.

- Can you have your files on different physical drives (i.e. an external drive?

- When rendering animation, will Anime keep defaulting to rendering into the same folder that your source files are in?

- Can you move things around (like numbered image sequence files) and put them in sub-folders etc. and 'point' the software at the missing file to restore them?

Speaking of rendering options, will there be more of them and will they be more stable? Honestly, I've had to figure out so many work-arounds with rendering AVI files that now I do a lot of animating in sony Vegas, which isn't even an animation program!
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neeters_guy
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Post by neeters_guy »

It sounds like you are talking about asset management. The Content Library isn't really useful for that purpose, it's simply a repository of local and online content. To move or share AS projects, you'll have to get in the habit of good folder structure as described here:

Asset management tools

If your assets are spread out over different drives and folders, then you can use a menu function in AS7 called Gather Media, which will put your anme file in a single folder along with all your assets in subfolders.

As has been discussed other threads, this is not an industrial-strength asset management pipeline or version control system. But it may be good enough for a small team.

Also, I recommend exporting to Quicktime (Animation codec). I've been able to edit them fine in Premiere 6.5 (which is an ancient piece of software).
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slowtiger
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Post by slowtiger »

I never would recommend Animation codec: it doesn't preserve alpha, and it can create artifacts although it claims to be lossless. Use PNG with millions+ colours instead.

- Files can be anywhere, it just is a mess to sort out. (been there)

- You will be asked before every render where to save your file under which name.

- If you move things around, AS doesn't find them. Best is to stick to a certain scheme:

- project folder
- - .anme file
- - images folder
- - - image001
- - - image002
- - - image003

The trick is to keep your .anme file and the images folder at the same level in the same folder. This way you can transfer those to any drive or location, and AS will still be able to find the images for a scene.

It's even possible to replace that images folder with another one, but named the same (and the images named the same). Why would one do it? Perhaps to replace smaller images with bogger ones. Or with a more recent version of the images. Or with a differently coloured version of those images. If you freshly start AS and open the file it updates all the images automatically.
theotherguy
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Location: Toronto

Post by theotherguy »

Thanks for the input, I've pretty much come to the same conclusion folder - structure wise, though it would be nice if the program was more forgiving.

I use a lot of swap files, to have alternate folders of swap files ready to be - ahem- swapped, via a keystroke or dialogue box would be best.

I guess I'll have to get used to rendering as PNG and the enormous files that creates. I currently use (mainly) 'half size' AVI files with a BLUE backdrop and key them into scenes using Vegas.
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slowtiger
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Post by slowtiger »

If you need video files with transparency, AS renders those. Use the PNG coded with Millions+ colours to preserve alpha.
Mozbo
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Post by Mozbo »

I have ASP7.1, and was fiddling around with the library before I really knew what I was doing...

I have 2 physical hard drives, and an external hard drive as well on my old Gen 4 Pentium XP machine, and have deleted, installed, and shuffled around the Library contents of ASP with no real problems. I have those files on a different drive than the actual program (but the installation puts those files on my C: drive, while the actual application is on my D: drive), so I would think it just a matter of having your personal Custom Library Files located in the same place, just renamed, such as Library1, Library_Project, Library-whatever, and then merely changing the file name when you want to change libraries (renaming the default Library to Library_Default, so as to be able to find it again).

Not quite 2 or 3 keystrokes, but still possible with a minimum of hassle.
~M
Change is inevitable, growth is optional.
Life is short, enjoy the adventure!
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oliver43
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Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 6:41 pm

where is the AS7 library located?

Post by oliver43 »

I just got AS 7 and unlike the previous versions the the library isn't in the application folder.. Im on a mac.

Any advice? I want to put stuff in, but i dont want to have add each item individually thru the application...

Thanks!
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