Most efficient folder structure

V-Ray V-Ray Common Off-topic
1

So after 8 years of clutter, I finally have some time off to clean up my entire NAS, I also want to restructure the whole thing for most efficient folder structure! I am looking at 300GB-500GB of garbage!

Right now my setup is as follows:

Client Name → Project Name → 0_INFO, 1_MAX, 2_MAPS, 3_PSD, 4_RENDERS

0_INFO and 4_RENDERS folder is organized by subfolders with dates like so: 2015-06-03
1_MAX folder has 2 subfolders: a_proxy and b_assets

The biggest issue is the MAPS folder, because I find myself with a lot of duplicate materials in almost all the projects, its also a pain to relink stuff when I work from my laptop.

Have you guys had any experience with putting all the textures and maps into one GIANT FOLDER for all your projects? If yes, have you had any issues?

Also do you do partitions on your HDD to separate work from personal / financial folders? Right now I have everything in 1 partition, but I would love to have a more secure way to keep the personal stuff away from work stuff.

What is your total folder size, how many HDDs you are using?

Would love to hear your folder structure setups.

2

I just create a client folder and I use MAX’s ‘set project folder’; pointing it to the client folder, and MAX creates everything for me.

3

\\NetworkShare\ClientName\ProjectNumber\
then subfolders of:
01_InProgress
02_Finals
Frames
Maps
Scenes
Post
Source

InProgress and Finals are things that were sent out to clients, compiled videos, etc. Things only go into finals when the project’s done, makes for a quicker ‘what did we deliver’ review on old projects versus digging through all the iterations from InProgress.
Frames is the target directory for all rendering out of Max, typically a ‘current’ subfolder with all renderpass directories created from RPManager under that. Before we render each iteration, rename the ‘current’ folder to the next number increment _001, _002, and make a new ‘current’. Saves us from remapping paths in AE.
Maps - we have the same issue. Pretty much everything thrown in here, duplicated across projects, etc.
Scenes - Usually a “ProjectName_Master_iteration#.max” and however many individual “xref_description_Current.max” are needed. Then a ‘development’ subfolder below that contains all the working in-progress junk. Outside of the development folder is only the scenes used for rendering.
Post - PSDs and AE comps.
Source - Files sent to us from clients, CAD, PDFs, comments, etc.

4

why would you duplicate assets for every job…

We’ve got a jobs drive and an assets drive. All textures, models & proxies get stored in a neat folder structure on assets, all jobs stay in jobs and can be backed up without fear of breaking references. Assets is huge and nothing gets deleted from it, jobs is just the live stuff so signed off jobs get moved off regularly.
assets is 4 folders:
3d models
photoshop (skies, plants etc)
textures
reference (massive, massive library of photography & art)

If you’re going to go this route plan out the folders you’ll make in each one of those beforehand - look through everything you use and think about things you might in the future and write a list of where you might put it. give it a week and look over it again, because you’ll have forgotten some.
do you go stone/marble/type, or just leave marble in it’s own root - etc. figure out what organisation is more logical before you set it up and get the whole thing planned out. if you wing it you’ll want to start over after a year.

5

One thing I rarely see people do is to simply have a folder inside your max, psd, output and renders folders called “Old”. Any new renders sit in the main folder and anything old gets moved there. That way your main folders are always showing the latest of everything. It’s a very simple and effective way to keep things clean and organised, especially when you’re on a job with 10+ drafts of each view and 10+ views etc.

Another thing is naming things properly. I’m extremely anal about file naming to avoid issues. I normally name my max files, max cameras, renders, psds and output files the same thing and always ensure that the version number is suffixed to the file, so they display properly in order in the folders.

I also drop client info into a unique folder inside my main folder with a number prefixed, such as 01_2015_06_04_bedroom, 02_2015_06_05_bathroom etc. This way it’s very clear and easy to find the latest set of info.

As for maps and assets this is always tricky. I have a centralised location for all maps and other assets, but I tend to drop them in to my project folders as duplicates so I can keep track of things more easily. In a larger studio this wouldn’t be such a good idea, I guess, but it depends on the job too.

I am also running my main projects folder off an SSD, and the same for my resources/assets, on a separate SSD. Once the job is done and dusted it gets archived on a series of regular large 4/5/6TB mechHDD across various locations, including off-site. Running live jobs off an SSD has sped things up massively.

Oh and one more thing - but maybe it’s best suited to a new thread about Photoshop file structure - never have hidden layers in your PSD! They’re a nightmare when you pass the file to someone else to work on and they isolate layers/groups to work on, then unisolate and suddenly all these hidden layers are visible. The thing to do is simply to apply a black mask to anything you want to not be visible, but keep in the file, such as matt channels and passes that you might need later, or layers you might want to use later etc.

6

I’m interested in this. We have a centralised NAS, accessed by gigabit connections, with partitions for PROJECTS and partitions for ASSETS. It would be great to have everything running of local SSDs but for us, this doesn’t seem practical or possible without regular syncing between a centralised system and a local system so that daily backups are doing there job properly.

Are you ‘just you’ or is there a team?

7

I feel your pain. We had around 16 years of clutter until we re-structured our ASSETS drive a year or two ago. We still have our old system on line just in case we forget to bring any useful bits and pieces over. It isn’t perfect, but its good to have a bit more order.

8

I wonder how people organize their assets. I mean I had the idea once to make an excel or use a file explorer with keywords to tag all the models that for instance are chairs with thumbnails and everything but I’m afraid it will take me a huge amount of time to organize.

9

I’m afraid there is no perfect solution to this. I’ve seen all kinds of assets organization methods and of course no one is perfect. The most delicate aspect is how granular you go with the hierarchy you put in place. If it’s too light/simplistic you’ll have difficulties finding specific assets and if it’s too detailed and deep it can get in the way too.
Ideally, I’d like a system similar to gmail : you dump everything in one giant folder and then everything gets sorted/organized/collected based on tags. Each person in the team could for eg organize the assets in a hierarchy that suits him. Of course that implies tagging every asset meticulously and rigorously.

10

I was thinking about using XnView · Advanced Image Viewer & Photo Management Software | Free | XnView.com to organize. Anybody experience with this?

11

I use Bridge with keywords tagged to the assets, which are also in folders, and I use favourite folders to manage things too. Works fine for most things.

Richard - it’s just me in the studio with others who work remotely most of the time. Although that might change later this year, potentially.

12

I have my projects organized with numbers…no names, only under my index file. 15001, 15002,etc my drive are: X for projects (active projects) (all the nodes can access it) Y for Assets (Materials, Maps, Proxies, models,etc)(render nodes have a local mirror copy without max files)(All my maps are read only…Custom maps go to a folder inside the project)(access for workstations) O output (raw images from my mini tiny farm) (all the nodes can access it) Q archives (dead projects)(Only my workstation) Z Administration(documents, invoices, expenses, etc) (Only my workstation) Inside each project I have these folders: MAX CAD SU IMG (final images and PSD files, boards, etc) MAPS (custom maps)

13

My problem is reusing models and finding them. Like 5 years ago I combed through all my projects and took out everything I know I will reuse - sitting, lights, etc and put them in MAX files like in a show room. So I have a show room for chairs, kitchen stuff, cars, etc. The problem is now that I don’t update this sometimes and I can’t remember where and when I did a certain chair model and just can’t find it :slight_smile:

I’m looking at this Project manager
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSGp0ngOYAxqXeNX\_K3\_Yog
but I don’t think that’s what I need. Is there a “model browser” or organizer that would have all my objects in a file as a separate entity and thumbnail, and I just drag and drop it in the scene…and why not? :slight_smile:
Did anyone build their own libraries of a sort?

14

Take a look at http://connecterapp.com/ and http://www.archvizscenes.com/content/mt-model-saver/

Don’t have time to make a library but I’m sure I would use this.

15

X drive for active projects and the name goes year/number..1601,1602,etc
each folder has:
INFO (references from the client, general information, emails)
CAD (provided by the client and a sub folder where I have the ones I created/modified)
SU (for Sketchup)
MAX
MAPS (custom maps)
IMG (final Images)

Y: only for assets
O: Output with the name of the project…EXRs, WIP PSDs, etc…When they are finals go the X:
Q: Archives

16

Thanks Vizioen, those look like what I’m after.

17

I go with the Job Number, which always starts with the year. Then the job number and it’s name. Such as: 15-082 Uni of Chichester

Inside there is 3 folders:
Input - for everything client related, their plans, models, reference etc.
Max - Max files and project specific maps, such as an aerial site image which wouldn’t be used anywhere else
Renders - On the top goes the finished Jpeg images. Subfolders for Test renders and PSD. Each will have a Superseeded folder to try and avoid mixups.

All assetts are in a seperate folder called ‘Visualisation Resource’ which contains all the maps, proxies, everything. All 3DS files then link to that.

A library to easily view a preview of the model files would be very handy!

18

That’s my project structure. This one is for static images, that’s why it is Out_s. Animation folder structure is a bit different.
Also i have self-written couple of batch scripts for new project, because i have templates ready for interiors with different lighting setups , exteriors , animations. Presets have render settings ready , lighting setup and Nuke compositions with necessary nodes ready.
Another script is being run from output folder and overwrites Nuke file with paths of the outs and i have composition ready to edit in the end.
Like that i am keeping consistency of the color correction in projects. This can be done with after effects xml format also , but i find it quite limited.

A while ago i started to write my own project manager software in C#, which was capable of scanning and storing projects and outputs in MySQL database hosted locally, so you can find and sort projects quite fast, find latest outputs , comment projects and etc.
Planned to move this thing online with even more capabilities but that time company i was working in did not care about optimising stuff - they cared about amount of images and money :frowning: So the project is frozen and i’m using simple batch scripts for that.
Also i’ve bought “Project Manager”, but now i am looking towards Design Connected app , as it is standalone and quite good.

shot_160618_120322.png
shot_160618_120322.png294×437 5.78 KB

19

I freelance at big and small companies.

Most of the film/vfx’s places I have worked at look something like this

/root/project/sequence/shot/dept/element/software/

They work this way as the file structure in large companies is very strict often you don’t get to open or save files as you do in Max/Maya. Usually they build an in-house shot builder so for example you come in and open shotgun https://www.shotgunsoftware.com/ and see what shots you are assigned to work on.

I want to open a max file I get a dialogue box that asks what shot am on, I fill in a shot name that I get from shotgun something like QUX_1084 and the scene will pull assets ,spaceship or motorbike or whatever from a database and start to build the max file. The same rigidity goes for outputting files so you don’t save your exr. files your elements and outputs will be auto-generated based off the shot name.

When your finished in 3-D open nuke same deal, in house dialogue box asks you what shot number your on and auto finds all the exr. files needed for that shot. Obviously this requires pipeline TD’s to manage. I got really good over the years about being super anal about file naming because of how much hassle it is when it goes wrong but I have to say having a strong pipeline just makes all that stress disappear, it is brilliant not thinking about that stuff anymore.

When I ran my own company we decided on a folder structure that was

Incoming
-client communications

Pre-production
-references storyboards

Production had a bunch of sub folders
- Assets where you can be messy and make stuff then quality control and save them to
- Xrefs to be xref-fed into a
- Scenes …Max files just lights and cameras
- Textures where you can save PSD and be messy and then quality control and save out to a
- Maps folder which get used in material/shaders.

Post Production
-Outputs (renders)
-Composite (Nuke,AfterEffects,Photoshop)
-Edit
-Masters

I built a simple folder structure for a models library took about a week to sort out the files then used project manager.

Pointed it at the models folder let it run overnight came in the next morning and had a thumbnail browser that I could drag and drop any model into a scene.
It automated the process of generating thumbnails and re-linked textures. It was really good.

Was a while ago now but think it can run scripts on the files too. As far as I remember I wrote some simple scripts to put the pivot to base of an object, ungroup and attach all, simple things like that. Obviously this kind of bulk processing messed up some models but out of thousands of models around 80 percent were find.

Edit-- Also cannot recommend highly enough to get a render manager of some sort. I use renderpass manager for Max http://www.rpmanager.com/RPManager\_Download.htm worth every penny.

20

Yeah , production - that’s where things start to be complicated !