Change file names

[Rolf Howarth]

Yes, you can bulk rename files. Make sure you’re setting the clip Name field (NM1) as the destination (enable “Show attribute IDs” in advanced user interface preferences if you have several fields with the same name) and also that you have the “Auto rename files when setting Name or Bin” option checked.

[Anders Teigen]

This sounds very good, I just can’t get it to work. I’ve checked auto rename and attribute IDs in advanced user preferences, I’ve got only the Name (NM1), the change works in the catalog, but when revealing the file in finder it’s just the old file name. I am not prompted during this operation as described in the CatDV Help.

It should work, but it doesn’t. It must be me.

[Rolf Howarth]

Ok. For changes to the Name field to rename the file the clip name has to exactly match the current filename. If you already renamed either one or the other then the renaming won’t work. It’s also possible there might be some weird Unicode character thing going on I guess.

In the next version of CatDV we plan to make this a bit easier and let you directly edit the Source Media filename to rename the file, rather than having to do it via the clip name field. In the meantime, if you still have problems please send an email to support@squarebox.co.uk and we’ll try to sort you out. We might ask you to mail us the catalog file and/or the CatDV error log file so we can work out what’s going on.

[Anders Teigen]

Thanks! I’ll do that.

[Anders Teigen]

Thanks Rolf for helping me out here.

Creating a new catalog and importing the file directly works! 

Then I copy a clip from the original project – it does not work. 

The initial importing and logging took place at a different facility, so I cannot account for what they did. But what I can read out of the differences between the imports is this:

• They have the same name identical to the filename – BUT the initial import does not have the extension (mov) in the name. I’ve tried to add the .mov extension and then rename, but it still doesn’t work.
• The logger have changed the tape name in the catalog, and this is not the same as in the mediafile. I’ve tried to change it back, but it still doesn’t work.
• The import path is different (the existing mediapath is the same). I am working on files from an identical disk as the original, so this should not be a problem.
• The field/column called FileExtension differs – and I find this very interesting… The initial imported clip (not working) is said to have XML, while my imported files comes up as MOV, as would be expected. I’ve learned that the initial import was via FCP and XML, while my latest test was importing media directly from disk. I would assume that the dog is burried somewhere along the xml-path.

[Rolf Howarth]

The file extension field refers to the original import source, ie. the XML file you imported the clips from in your case, not the source media file, so you don’t need to worry about that.

For renaming by setting the clip Name to work it has to exactly match the current filename, including extensions, accents, etc. This is kind of a roundabout mechanism however, so in future we’ll let you directly edit the media filename.

[Rolf Howarth]

Ah. That’s interesting, there seems to be a problem with the way file paths containing Unicode characters are encoded in a Final Cut XML file so the files aren’t coming over to CatDV properly. We’ll need to investigate to see if we can fix that at our end but for now your best solution is probably to import the files directly into CatDV, batch rename them there, then send them to Final Cut, if you can do that.

[Geir Ove]

Don’t know if this is to any help with the rename issue in this thread, but I’ll post it here as it is a rename problem.

I figured out that if you have renamed a file and choose “no” when CatDV ask you if you would rename the file, you will not be able to rename the file again in the same catalouge. If you give the file another name CatDV will not prompt the massage where you can choose yes or no to rename the file.
Our solution was to rename the files in CatDV for so to export an XML to Final Cut Pro. Then you can rename the files using the rename file to match clip in Final Cut Pro.
We have also experienced this rename problem when the media files are stored on a shared volume even if the user has read and write access.

Geir Ove

[Anders Teigen]

There is a lot of logging done in the CatDV catalog after initial import that I don’t want to loose. In todays cost-benefit analysis it seams that the manual way is the better one: Rename files in finder, then Attach media for each clip.

Thanks a lot for all help though.

-anders

[Anders Teigen]

It’s a good way to go to rename files, only in my case I have to get rid of the ampersand in my filenames (“&”) before I go to FCP, because the XML goes corrupt, and then I cant get the clips from CDV to FCP in the first place.