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Anyone using Premiere Pro in a shared/network storage environment?
Just purely out of curiosity for now, although this probably will be a need to know for the future since I plan on staying a Premiere editor for a while yet.
Is anyone using Premiere Pro in a shared/network storage environment? If so, how is it? Are there any shortcomings and if so what are they?
Cinematographer – Editor – Motion Graphics Artist – Colorist
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13 Replies
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I’ve help spec, set up, and use PPro in both standard network and SAN environments, though this was primarily with CS3 and CS4.
What would you like to know?
Alex
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Aside from the general upsides and shortcomings, I’m largely curious about multiple editors working in the same project at the same time. I just got a second job E2ing at a local production house (Avid-based) and we do this every day. I’m curious if this is also possible with Premiere Pro mainly.
Cinematographer – Editor – Motion Graphics Artist – Colorist
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Hi Owen,
Assets can be shared.
However, working inside the same project simultaneously is not currently possible. That is definitely an Avid advantage.
There needs to to be a server side mechanism to control traffic so people don’t overwrite the same sequences in different states (Avid Bin locking) while working and that’s nonexistent in Adobe as of yet. A particular solution called MXF server might have that, but I’m not 100% sure.It’s not big deal to merge projects though. So the work can be divided up and re-assembled relatively easily.
Alex
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Ah… that’s definitely a feature request I’ll be sending over to Adobe then. Thanks much for the info.
Cinematographer – Editor – Motion Graphics Artist – Colorist
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Even though there is currently no workgroup implementation in which users can actually share and work on projects concurrently, there is a workaround using Adobe Bridge, a very powerful file management package that comes with the various CS versions.
I used it, as art director at a broadcast station to manage hundreds of thousands of files – QT movies, AE projects, stills, audio, and on-air elements – on a daily basis. The only key to making it work was organization (none of this “my stuff”, “Judy’s Projects” and other crap that so many people use). Every project was named just what the project was (“Conversation_with_the_Candidates”, “News_Opens_20010”, etc.). And all files were appended with a numbering system which allowed you to see just which After Effects project, for example, was the latest one worked on. Then when approvals (our internal clients were News, Promotions, and Sales) and changes came through, I would simply add “REV1”, “REV2”, “FINAL” to the project file, so that anyone, on any shift, could fine the necessary materials needed without a phone call or email, or countless minutes searching the stupid “my stuff” folders. It required constant policing, since many of our graphics people were fresh out of school, and didn’t have the foggiest idea why you would want an intuitive, easy to use system for thousands of files, but it worked like a charm.
By using the Collect Files feature in After Effects, and the Manage Project feature in Premiere, we could share an entire project seamlessly using Bridge on our Networks. As a matter of fact, this system worked way better than the AVID Unity system for our five NLE’s which constantly crashed (although it did allow workgroup sharing, when it worked), and was re-linking all the time, and losing projects and elements. I found that AVID promised everything, and then, when it didn’t work, made you buy a 15 thousand dollar solution, or blamed it on the hardware or the OS. Just my take on it, from experience.
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com -
Wow, that is a very real, powerful and persuasive answer, Joseph. Your experience with this should be expanded into a full blown article for web and/or print. Thanks for hanging out at this forum.
John D. Frey
25 Year owner/operator of two California-based production studios.Digital West Video Productions of San Luis Obispo and Inland Images of Lake Elsinore
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[Alex Udell] “A particular solution called MXF server might have that, but I’m not 100% sure.”
From the demo I saw, it’s a project-locking mechanism, i.e. only one user can modify it at a time.
Alex (DV411)
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[Joseph W. Bourke] “I used it, as art director at a broadcast station to manage hundreds of thousands of files – QT movies, AE projects, stills, audio, and on-air elements – on a daily basis.”
Ditto John Frey – this def deserves an expanded write-up.
Where was the media kept – SAN, NAS, or moved locally for editing purposes? What were the file formats?
Alex (DV411)
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Hi Alex –
The files were stored on at least two servers, and a tape backup system deployed on one of our NLEs (Edit* systems at first, transitioning to AVIDs on a Unity system – but don’t get me started on that). The rundown of workstations was more or less this. My Paintbox, (which ran Photoshop, Illustrator, Combustion, and 3DSMax – this was pre-CS at the time), and three graphics machines (running TypeDeko, Photoshop, Illustrator). These were connected to the Graphics Server, which contained all of my elements and master files (.aep, .psd, .ai, .max, .avi, .mov formats, among others), plus all of the day to day newscast elements which were used live, at one point from TypeDeko sequences triggered by the CG Ops, then automatically from the switcher, triggered by the TD or Director during the newscasts, then from a MOS system, directly linked to the AP scripting software, which allowed the producers to preview graphics before air time.
The Graphics server had a tape backup system, which, in my 14 years there, was actually used to restore once, and it didn’t work, since engineering hadn’t configured it correctly, and never saw fit to test it before deploying it. Luckily we didn’t lose everything, and I had a backup of the backup on another server, because I suspected all was not right with the tape system. Anyway – I’m getting wordy here, but it was quite a system, and my file management structure (common sense, really) allowed all of our shifts to access necessary materials for the newscasts without phone calls or emails.
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com -
Alex…
thanks for the clarification on MXF server.
Honestly….I think a bit much is being made of working inside the same project.
Being able to share the assets centrally seems what most situations really call for.
and that’s really what Joseph is talking about as well.Alex
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