4. Files Management and Display
By selecting the detailed Media Files List format – it is selected by default, but you can also manually select it by clicking on the Show Detail View button – you will have access to data related to a selected media file’s resolution, FPS, duration, etc. The Media Files List features columns that display this data. If you want the Media Files List to show or hide specific kinds of media file data, right-click in the header. A contextual menu will open and allow you to alter the list’s columns (and therefore, its data categories).
The “Net” column in the Media Files List will show a green check mark if a specific file has been imported and is available on all of the servers in your Server Group. If there is a red X in the “Net” column, the file is not currently available on all servers in the network. Moving the mouse cursor over the column will display a pop-up window that indicates which servers have the file and which do not.
You can interact with the items in the Media Files List by right-clicking on them. Doing so will open a contextual menu that lets you:
Delete a file;
Convert a file (only on original files);
Sync Selected, which synchronizes a file on all servers in the Server Group (this is useful if you added a new server to a PHOTON Project or are missing a file on a specific server);
Force Refresh a file’s thumbnail;
Show in Folder, which opens a Windows file explorer in PHOTON’s “content” folder where the selected file is highlighted.
The Media Files List can be viewed as a series of thumbnails or as a list that includes detailed information about the files.
Click on the Show Thumbnail View button located in the top left corner of the File Manager window to view the Media Files List as thumbnails.
Click on the Show Detail View button located in the top left corner of the File Manager window to view the Media Files List as a detailed list.
Items in the Media Files List can be arranged in an order based on their attributes, so long as they are represented by a data category in the list’s table.
Move the mouse cursor over the top row of the Media Files List table that shows the data categories. Arrows pointing upward and downward should appear near each data category.
Click on the upward arrow to sort files in an ascending order.
Click on the downward arrow to sort files in a descending order.
The order chosen for a specific playlist in the File Manager module will be shared in the Media Properties window section of the Timeline.
The left section of the File Manager window contains a list of toggles that represent different media types. The toggles can be used to select a specific media type and filter out the other kinds of media contained in the Media Files List.
There is a search field at the very top of the File Manager window that will allow you to look for specific files in the Media Files List.
To find a specific file in the Media Files List type its name into the search field.
File extensions are also taken into account. For example, by typing “.png” in the search field, you will limit your search to .png files.
The Group checkbox allows you to create a parent-child group where the original media file and the .vci version of it will be included.
The Hide Originals checkbox allows you to mask original media files. .vci files that were created from these originals by means of conversion are the only ones that will be shown.
Normally, all files should be present on all servers, therefore allowing any server to backup the others at any time. If all of a PHOTON Project’s servers were included in the Server Group prior to importing files, this should be the case. There are very few exceptions to this. (The ALBION Server is an exception, and will not have a local copy of media files.)
If for any reason a media file is missing on one of the servers, you can synchronize the selected file across the network. This operation will send the file to every server, where it will be reconverted.
Right-click on the file in the Media Files List and select {Sync Selected} from the contextual menu to launch synchronization.
To be able to synchronize a media file across the network, the server from where the operation is being launched must have the original file .vci files cannot be synchronized.
