Design the right folder structure

[Frederic Baumann]

I personally have the following:

– a MOV project subfolder for clips taken from my EOS 7D camera
– a WAV project subfolder for audio register from my Zoom H4n
– a Renderings project folder for outputs (MP4 in my case)
– and the project file at the root of the project folder.

I was thinking at some point in time that it would be better to have the renderings on a separate hard drive, to optimize rendering times through hard-disk access times. I made different tests with and without this, but I could see no noticeable difference, so I have finally kept the structure described here.

I also keep all my music in a separate hard disk and folder structure, and pick from it when I want to have a music track.

Hope this helps, and I am also interested in knowing how others do,
Frédéric

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[Al Bergstein]

Like Frederick, I have a project folder that includes the CANON (MOV) and AVCHD folders, with AVCHD retitled at the top level and individual clips renamed at bottom level.

I also add a MEDIA folder for JPGs, etc. MEDIA is used similarly on FCP. I also add an AVI folder so I can dump final AVI clips into it. When I archive I delete the AVI folders to keep storage needs lower.

I render to a second eSATA drive. Just so the renders don’t take up space on my project drive. I might do dozens of renders to get my final look. I go back and delete them after I’m done.

I also have a separate VEG folder, where all projects go. This gets backed up daily by Robocopy. Like FCP, I store the VEG files separate than the media for the files. Just habit.

I do not use a SAN for my clips or media.

I do use a RAID1 configuration for my clips.

Alf

[Mike Kujbida]

My folder structure is similar to yours but instead of just one Aux folder, I have separate folders for Music, Pictures, Graphics and Voiceovers.
Unlike others here, even though I may already have some graphics and/or music already on my hard drive, I copy them to the project folder as it makes backups much easier.

[Al Bergstein]

That’s probably a safer bet Mike. It’s probably a queestion of how many graphics and sound bites you use in your productions. I only have a couple of each on mine, in general.

Alf

[Fabio Mereghetti]

I was thinking at some point in time that it would be better to have the renderings on a separate hard drive, to optimize rendering times through hard-disk access times

Western digital RE3 or RE4 have two processors on board and that may drastically improve “self” read/write speeds.

I have both, but haven’t done any test, yet. If and when I’ll do it I’ll share the results.

[John Rofrano]

I usually use a structure like this:

Project Folder
+- source
+- images
+- media
+- music
+- dvd
+- renders

Source contains all of my camera footage. Images are any stills, and media is all others videos like motion backgrounds, logos, special fx images sequences, voice overs, etc. Music contains all the music files and DVD contains all of my DVD assets like menus, music, etc. Renders is my output folder.

This is a shameless plug for my product… 😉 but if you really want an easy way to stay organized, both VASST Ultimate S Lite and Ultimate S Pro have a setup function that will save your favorite folder structures and recreate them for you with matching media bin structure in Vegas. This is great for setting up your projects before you start. Here’s what that tool looks like:

If you check the Create Filesystem Folders box it will create the folder structures for you on your filesystem and in the media bins.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Neal Barlow]

I do something similar as well. I got the structure form Andrew Kramer over at Video Copilot.
-Project Name
—Footage
—–Audio
—–Video
—Project Files
—Images
—FX
—Renders

Helps me out greatly when I am working/editing with someone else.

For what it is worth,

Neal Barlow

Two Man Movies
http://www.twomanmovies.com

[Stephen Mann]

mine is even simpler:

project name
–capture
–DVD files
—-DVD

Everything generally goes into the project file, including veg files, renders, etc. In DVD files I put my .dar file and all work files. DVDA creates the _ts folders and content in the DVD subfolder.

Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com