Managing Media Files and Projects

Vlog It! is quite flexible in letting you include media files from anywhere on your computer or even on your network. Not all options are created equal, however, and you should be aware that some practices can lead to pitfalls. The suggestions presented here are especially worth observing if you have occasion to copy a project to another computer.

Each time you publish or upload a show, Vlog It! builds the program by assembling all the media files. In order for this process to succeed, the media files must be right where Vlog It! expects them to be, namely at the path where you told the program to find them in the first place. Therefore, it is vital that you not move, delete, rename, or otherwise “hide” your media files from Vlog It! once you’ve added them to a show. Vlog It! doesn’t care if you replace one media file by another of exactly the same name—it's perfectly content as long as it finds a file, any file, by the given name and at the given path. Playing hide and seek with Vlog It!, however, is doomed to fail because the program is not particularly inclined to go seeking for a missing file.

With these thoughts in mind, we strongly urge you to store all custom media files in places where you are sure to remember that they’re sacred (in the profane sense of the word).

Two Copies Are Better Than One: We urge you to keep two copies of your custom media files, particularly those that you think you might have occasion to edit at some point after they’ve been added to a project. Store one set in a working folder and the other in the inviolate project folder. Do all your editing to the files in the working folder. Then if you want the revised graphic, video, or audio clip included in a show, copy it to the project folder. This will avoid inadvertently including media in a show that you edited for other purposes or did not finish revising.

 

File Storage Suggestions for…

… Projects that Will Be Shared on Other Computers

Network File Server/Mapped Drive Solution: If all the computers are on the same network, then one option is to designate a folder on one of the networked computers, ideally a server, as the storage site for all projects and custom media files. Once that master folder is set up, map a drive to on each computer that will be accessing it, assigning the same drive letter in all cases.
This arrangement has potential pitfalls involving such things as network latency and access permissions. Because of the many variables that are far outside the realm Vlog It!, our ability to help troubleshoot such problems will be limited.

All-in-One-Folder Solution: If you will be moving the project among computers by CD, e-mail, or some other medium, then we recommend keeping each project and all of its custom media files in a single folder so that you can copy everything you need in one easy step. As a general rule, the folder must be at the same absolute path on both computers. Do not use a folder that's under My Documents because the user name that's part of the absolute path for My Documents is an insurmountable barrier to Vlog It!  A good alternative is to put the folder on the root of the C: drive—or if you prefer to add one layer of organization, in a parent folder such as C:\Vlog Projects. [Advanced Users Only: The exception to the rule is if you situate the content folder under My Documents\Vlog It! on both computers—in that case, the program will work with a relative rather than an absolute path, but only if you keep the content folder in the same relative position as the project folder (<projectname>.msh) and the hidden companion folder (_<projectname>).]

I didn't think I'd Be Sharing a Project, but… So you’ve already created a show using content that's scattered across your computer. Don't despair—you can still copy the show to another system and make it work. Start on the originating system by copying all content used in the show to a folder created for that purpose, following the principles outlined in the All-in-One-Folder Solution outlined above. Then replace all the media sources with the corresponding copies from the new folder by dragging and dropping them over the existing sources. This will reassign all that content to the path of a single folder that you can conveniently copy to the second system.

I didn't think I'd Be Sharing a Project, but I really, REALLY know what I'm doing in the computer realm, and I don't want to jump through hoops:
This solution is for advanced users only. You might qualify if you not only know what "DOS" stands for, but are also comfortable working on the command-line. If the two machines don’t have the same drive letters and you’ve already made the show, then you may be able to use the DOS SUBST command to make a drive on the destination machine appear to have the same drive letter as the originating machine. This should work if the folder paths underneath the drive letter are identical, but the use of DOS commands to trick Windows is not supported by Serious Magic so you’ll need to investigate it with an internet search for DOS and SUBST.

Getting to Your Projects Easily: With either of the solutions above, you can make accessing your projects and media files a snap by making the parent folder the home for the the Browse Library as follows:

  1. In the Browse Library, navigate to the parent folder.
  2. Right-click a blank spot in the library.
  3. Select Set Current Directory as Home for 'Browse'

… Projects Confined to a Single Computer

Since you won't have reason to copy all the project files and their media inputs to another computer, you can store them anywhere on your computer or network. If you're a proponent of chaos, anarchy, or entropy, then you can scatter the files willy-nilly hither and thither. If you're a devotee of order, structure, and convenience, then you can use Vlog It!'s library bins to full advantage in one of two ways: store your files in the existing Video, Graphics, and Audio folders, which you'll find in Program Files\Serious Magic\Vlog It!\Content (the folder for the Graphics Library is named Pictures, not Graphics); or set up your own Video, Graphics, and Audio folders wherever you please and set them as the home folders for the respective libraries (as explained for the Browse folder in the tip immediately above).

 The Path for Project Files

By default, project files are saved to C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\Vlog It\My Projects.

To change this to a folder of your choice:

  1. Open the Projects Tab in the Media Library.
  2. In the Address Bar, either browse to the desired folder or enter its path in the field.
  3. Right-click a blank spot in the Library window and select Set Current Directory as Home for Projects from the popup menu.

Each time you save a project to a different path through the Save As function, the path you set for the current project becomes the home for all future projects. To do this, click the Save As button on the Project Tab or the option by the same name in the File Menu. This opens a dialog through which you can both browse to the desired folder and enter a new name for the project. If you have formerly saved the project by another name, the entire project is copied to the new path and name, leaving the original version intact. We strongly recommend saving a project by its old name before performing a Save As operation. Otherwise, the first version may be corrupted due to incompatibility between some changes having been saved while others were not.

Saving, Opening, and Deleting Projects

Saving a Project

Of course, once you've created a show, you're going to want to save it. If the file name that's shown in the Name field on the Project tab and the current path are correct, then simply click the Save button on the Project tab, select Save in the File Menu, or press CTRL+S.

Opening a Project

If the project you wish to open is in the home folder for the Projects Library, then double-clicking the project's icon there is the most convenient way to open it. If you saved the project elsewhere, then click the Open button on the Project Tab (or select Open in the File Menu or press CTRL+O) to bring up a dialog through which you can browse to the project's folder.

If the desired project is among the last ten that you've opened, then you can access it quickly through the Recent Projects submenu in the File Menu.

Deleting a Project

To remove a project file (.msh) as well as the batch of associated files, right-click the project's icon in the Project Library and select Delete from the popup menu. This erases only the project file and the content you recorded within the project; still images, video clips, and audio clips that you added as content are not affected.

Be aware that manually deleting an .msh through a Windows file manager window does not get rid of the associated folder. Since that folder contains the files for the content recorded within the project, which can grow to be quite large, and those files are useless without the corresponding .msh project file, you should always delete projects through Vlog It's Project folder.