share albums over the network

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danieleVe
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share albums over the network

Post by danieleVe » Fri Jan 28, 2011 8:37 pm

hello, I'm evaluating 3D Photo Browser for my company, to realize if we can use it in our production workflow.
I can't understand how to share the same albums (or categories, I also don't understand the difference) across our internal network.
I think I should put the albums (or categories) somewhere on our NAS, and let each copy of 3D Photo Browser (on different PC) to point at theese shared files instead of on the local machine, but I don't know how to do that.
Can you help me?
thank-you!

mootools
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Re: share albums over the network

Post by mootools » Mon Jan 31, 2011 4:14 pm

Hello Daniele,

When you browse your folder, 3D Photo Browser creates catalog files (named contents.obv) located in the browsed folder. A catalog files is simply a file which contains the thumbnails (and many other information) for a given directory.

3D Photo Browser allow you to browse over the network. If you open a network folder, 3D Photo Browser simply look for the contents.obv file (or create it if needed) and shows you the thumbnails.
There is nothing special to do, just browsing folders (and have access rights to them).

Now if you want to perform some search along network, you can use the network repository options (Edit > Preferences > Network repository and search.

Check Gather catalogs into a repository then select a path (it can be over the network).
Each time you browse an interesting folder (with thumbnails), 3D Photo Browser collect it and adds a shortcut on the selected folder.

When you use the Search feature, 3D Photo Browser will look into this shortcut list and display you the file which correspond to your search. The limitation is that all the data remains on the network and if one of the computer is off, the data is unavailable.

You can also use album. An album contains references to files which are in different folders.
Ie. you want to view several directory over the network on the same album :

1- Create a new album (Down arrow in the status bar > Create An Album)
2- Open a first network directory
3- Press Ctrl and click on one or more other directories located on the network or not.
4-Select all the thumbnails and drop them in the album area (in the status bar).
5- Open 3D Photo Browser > Albums > your album name in the tree panel when you need it. If the network computer are off, the album is still available as it is stored on the local computer. You can protect the album from update by selecting the read only settings (Settings button in the status bar).

Now I am not sure, that all these approaches will match the pipeline you'd like to find. If you explain me clearly how a network access should work in your case, I am ready to envisage some new features to the software.

Thanks,
Manuel

danieleVe
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Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 7:31 pm
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Re: share albums over the network

Post by danieleVe » Wed Feb 02, 2011 6:23 pm

ok, now I understand the difference from Categories and Albums.
Well,
1 - we have all our assets (pictures and models) located on a single computer on the network, and this computer is always on.
2 - I want to use Albums, instead of Catalogues, because different albums can share the same picture, or model, without to have many copies of the same files.
E.g. I may have the same picture located on the album named "Wood" and the album named "Brown".
3 - I want to create Albums only once (it may be a long time consuming work, we have thousands of pictures and 3d models), and then share thees Albums over the office, and let each person inside the office easily access to thees Albums.
4 - we costantly update our library of pictures and models, so we need to be able to easily modify the content of each Album quite often


So, what to I have to do?
A) - Do I have to create Album on my computer, for example, and then copy theese Albums on all other computers (20 or more), and each time I modify Albums to replace all the Albums on all the computers?
or
B) - I can create Albums on a computer on the network, and then read theese Albums from the network, so each time I create/modify Albums all the computers are updated?

Thank-you

mootools
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Posts: 280
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Re: share albums over the network

Post by mootools » Mon Feb 07, 2011 10:36 am

Thanks for these explanations.

Albums is one of the choice that can allow to perform what you need to do.

You may also have an alternative method which would be to assign categories or keywords to your database.
If you correctly describe your database, you can be able to find the appropriate mesh or image through the search panel.

There is two mode for searching : a simple search (you simply enter one or several words), or a precise search (you look for keywords or precise file property).

The search can be done from any computer of your network through the computer which contains your assets. The results is an album which created really quickly.

One of the advantage of this method is that you simply have to describe correctly each new files you add to the database. When an user need to find something he simply has to perform a search on is local version of 3D Photo Browser.

One of the disadvantage is that it works correctly if the database if well documented and described. For example, someone who is looking in the database must know the correct entries (ie 'car' and not 'automobile'...)
So, what to I have to do?
A) - Do I have to create Album on my computer, for example, and then copy theese Albums on all other computers (20 or more), and each time I modify Albums to replace all the Albums on all the computers?
or
B) - I can create Albums on a computer on the network, and then read theese Albums from the network, so each time I create/modify Albums all the computers are updated?
For the moment, the A approach is the only possible and you must create the album over the network (the path store in the album must be network path, not local path.)

A good idea would be to add a B approach to avoid to copy the album on each computers.
I will add this possibility in the new release, so you will be able to manage a single version of your album collection.

If you have any ideas that would make your life easier, please let me know.
Manuel

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