Introduction
This document discusses the role, benefits, and use of the Project Root Folder system, including related terms like Project Folders and Asset Files.
IMPORTANT: Always keep backup copies of your project folders for production safety. Recreating every asset file in the event of unexpected data loss can take several hours/days and incur high costs.
NOTE: Generally, Aximmetry does not force the use of project folders, but offers some benefits for their use. See later.
Project Root Folder
The Project Root Folder represents the collection of all the projects in a single so-called "root" folder. It's called "root" as every project is collected into this single folder.
NOTE: This system is used automatically when installing any of the content packages Aximmetry provides, as Aximmetry automatically sets the target destination of the content packages to be the project root folder's path.
NOTE: For Multi-Machine Environments, the use of Project Root Folders is a requirement.
Benefits
There are two benefits of using a project root folder. First, instead of referencing everything with an absolute path (to describe an asset file's location on the computer), the asset files can be linked relative to the project root folder. This makes managing the projects easier and faster, and it also allows the second benefit to work.
The second and main benefit is that you can move any of your project folders from one computer to another computer's project root folder, and the project will work the same way as it did on the first computer. This, of course, requires two things:
- Both computer has the same version of Aximmetry,
- and the moved project folders contain all asset files referenced by the project.
Project Folder
Project Folders are ordinary folders used to structure data stored on computers. We call Project Folders every folder inside the Project Root Folder.
A single virtual production project could use several such folders to store the required asset files in a structured manner.
You can collect Asset Files into Project Folders based on specific projects (e.g., Projects A, Projects B, Projects C, etc.) or based on the type of the asset files (e.g., Models, Video Recordings, Tracking Recordings, Audio, Compounds, etc.).
In general, the best approach is a combination of both these categorization bases.
Asset Files
Every virtual production is created by combining numerous elements. We refer to elements that are generated/stored on computers as Asset Files. Without these files, virtual production could not be created.
A single production could use up to hundreds or thousands of Asset Files.
Almost any file can be an Asset File (even if it's kept outside the Project Root Folder), but every file inside the Project Folders is considered an Asset File.
Setting Up the Project Root Folder
To add, change, or remove project root folders, open Aximmetry Composer, and in the top menu bar, head to Edit / Preferences. Alternatively, use the Ctrl + P hotkey in Aximmetry Composer to open the Preferences. Select General to see the Project root folder settings:
NOTE: Screenshot representing the default project root folder settings following a default installation of Aximmetry with one or multiple content packages.
NOTE: You can add multiple Project Root Folders.
When a Project Root Folder is specified, you can see its content in the File Browser panel:
NOTE: Projects created by the Wizard are also stored in the Project Root Folder.
