Final Cut Server Administrator Guide
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Contents Preface 5 5 5 6 Welcome to Final Cut Server Administration About Final Cut Server About the Final Cut Server Documentation Additional Resources Chapter 1 7 7 12 15 22 23 26 General Settings and Preferences Overview of Final Cut Server Administration Working with the Administration Window Preference Settings in the Administration Window User-Configurable Preference Settings Administrator-Only Client Functions About Unicode Support Chapter 2 27 27 29 30 31 Backing Up Final Cut Server Develop
Chapter 5 73 73 74 76 76 77 83 91 Managing Devices About Devices Adding a Device Using the Administration Window Editing a Device Using the Administration Window Deleting an Existing Device Using the Administration Window About Specialized Devices Device Type Details Searching Devices Chapter 6 97 97 98 99 Managing Transcode Settings About Transcode Settings Adding Transcode Settings Assigning Transcode Settings to Devices Chapter 7 101 101 102 102 104 118 121 122 Managing Automations About Final
Preface Welcome to Final Cut Server Administration Final Cut Server is extremely flexible and configurable. It is also designed to become fully functional quickly, allowing you to expand its capabilities as your needs grow. This preface covers the following: • About Final Cut Server (p. 5) • About the Final Cut Server Documentation (p. 5) • Additional Resources (p. 6) About Final Cut Server Final Cut Server is powerful media asset management and workflow automation software.
• Final Cut Server Administrator Guide: This administrator guide describes how to administer most components of the Final Cut Server system. It does not describe day-to-day use of the system, such as browsing assets and managing jobs, productions, and orders, which are described in the Final Cut Server User Manual. Important: An understanding of the material in the Final Cut Server User Manual is assumed in the Final Cut Server Administrator Guide.
General Settings and Preferences 1 You use Final Cut Server System Preferences and the client’s Administration window to configure Final Cut Server. This chapter covers the following: • Overview of Final Cut Server Administration (p. 7) • Working with the Administration Window (p. 12) • Preference Settings in the Administration Window (p. 15) • User-Configurable Preference Settings (p. 22) • Administrator-Only Client Functions (p. 23) • About Unicode Support (p.
About the Accounts Pane of System Preferences The Accounts pane of System Preferences on the computer on which you installed Final Cut Server can be used to manage local user accounts and groups. After you have added users and formed groups in the Accounts pane, you can then add the groups to Final Cut Server and assign their permissions using either Final Cut Server System Preferences or the client’s Administration window.
Important: It is strongly recommended that you use the settings in Final Cut Server System Preferences as much as possible for your administration tasks. Final Cut Server System Preferences contains the following groups of settings: • General: The General settings include the Final Cut Server Start/Stop button and other basic settings, most of which are duplicated in the client Administration window.
• Devices: The Devices settings include the ability to add and configure devices using Device Setup Assistant. See Managing Devices for more information. • Automations: The Automations settings include the ability to add and configure watch and respond behaviors using Automation Setup Assistant. See Managing Automations for more information.
• Backup: The Backup settings include the ability to add and configure automatic backup operations for the Final Cut Server catalog. See Backing Up Final Cut Server for more information. About the Final Cut Server Client Administration Window The Administration window of the Final Cut Server client contains extremely detailed settings and configurations covering all aspects of Final Cut Server. You should only need to access this window for advanced configurations.
3 Click Continue to view the Administration window. Working with the Administration Window The Administration window contains a variety of panes that you can use to configure your Final Cut Server system. Important: Some changes you make in the Administration window do not immediately appear in the Final Cut Server client. To see the changes, you need to log out and log back in, opening a fresh Final Cut Server client. Select a pane to configure from this list.
• Permission Set: Click to configure permission settings. • Metadata Field: Click to define metadata fields used throughout Final Cut Server. • Metadata Group: Click to define groups of related metadata fields. • Metadata Map: Click to maintain mappings between standard and custom metadata fields. • Lookup: Click to define lists of lookup values that can be used to validate metadata fields. • Devices: Click to define creation, editing, storage, or playout devices connected to Final Cut Server.
The Administration window also includes a search feature. Searching allows you to quickly find specific items in the list. You can click the disclosure triangle to see advanced search options. These options vary, depending on the pane you are working in. Enter text to search for in the current pane. Advanced search options Click the disclosure triangle to see the advanced search options.
Preference Settings in the Administration Window The Preferences pane of the Final Cut Server client’s Administration window contains most of the settings from the General pane of Final Cut Server System Preferences. It also contains many additional settings. Choose a set of preferences to display in the pane. Select Preferences to see the Preferences pane. Global Preferences Settings The Global Preferences pane contains the most common settings.
Final Cut Server can be configured to send email notifications for a variety of reasons, such as a set of assets being ready for review. See About Email Responses for more information. • Max Running Jobs: Enter the maximum number of jobs that can run concurrently on Final Cut Server. Most facilities will set this to no more than 20 jobs. • Retry Count: Enter the maximum number of times to retry a failed job. • Retry Timeout: Enter the period in seconds to wait before retrying a failed job.
Proxies Preference Settings The Proxies pane contains pop-up menus that allow you to choose the devices that store your normal proxies and the optional edit proxies. Each of these devices is actually created during the installation process. See the Final Cut Server Setup Guide for more information.
• Edit Proxy Device: Choose a device from the pop-up menu for the storage of the edit proxy files (Contentbase devices only). The default Edit Proxy device is named Edit Proxies and is at the location specified with the installer’s Production Media Location entry. Each time you upload a Final Cut Pro project, you can have Final Cut Server create edit proxy files. This option is controlled by the Enable Edit Proxies checkbox. These edit proxy files are stored in the Edit Proxies device.
Analyze Preference Settings The Analyze pane is where you configure the various proxy formats created when an asset is added to the catalog. For each item in the list, you can choose a format to use for that representation of an asset. There are two media types: image and video clip. Following are the Analyze pane settings: • Thumbnails: These are the small images that appear in the Thumbnails view of the client’s main window.
Guidelines for Creating and Modifying Clip Edit Proxy Settings If you modify the existing Clip Edit Proxy setting, you should test the proxy file to verify that the following items did not change during the transcode process. If any of the items listed below change during transcode, the proxy file may not connect in Final Cut Pro. • Frame Size and Aspect Ratio: Verify that the proxy file’s frame size and aspect ratio did not change during the transcode.
Important: When you create several proxy transcode settings for the same filtering criteria, Final Cut Server will apply the filters from the top down in their listed order. It is suggested that you order multiple proxy transcode settings for the same filtering criteria by complexity, listing the most specific one first, and the more general ones second and third, to optimize the proxy transcode process.
User-Configurable Preference Settings In addition to Final Cut Server System Preferences and the Preferences pane of the client’s Administration window, there is a third set of preferences for users to customize how Final Cut Server works for them. These preferences only affect a user when using a particular client on a particular computer. (If the user logs in to a client on a different computer, the user’s preference settings do not follow.
Important: Changing the cache location will result in all current caches becoming unavailable. • Maximum Cache Size: Enter a value to define a maximum cache size. • Current Cache Size: This shows the current size of the cache. • Clear Cache: Click Clear Cache to delete all caches from the cache location. • Saved aliases for prepared media files: Click the Choose button to select a location to use for storing aliases to cache files.
Configuring Smart Searches A user logged in with administrator privileges can configure Smart Searches that will work in every Final Cut Server client. After creating a Smart Search, and after the client user’s restart their clients, the new Smart Searches will appear under the Smart Search heading in every Final Cut Server client. Smart Searches created by your Final Cut Server administrator A user’s local Smart Searches Important: Final Cut Server does not come with any default Smart Searches.
The Smart Search is no longer listed under the Smart Searches heading. Important: After deleting a Smart Search, you must instruct every client user to quit and restart their Final Cut Server client. Manually Analyzing Assets and Regenerate All Proxies When assets are added to the Final Cut Server catalog, they are automatically analyzed. This process extracts a variety of metadata from the asset and then creates the asset’s proxy files.
2 Click the Locks button to show the Locks pane. Click Locks to see an asset’s lock status. Administrators can click this button to clear this lock. 3 Click the Cancel button. About Unicode Support Final Cut Server can store textual metadata as Unicode using UTF-8 encoding. This means it can support a wide range of multibyte character sets including a range of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean characters. Unicode metadata can be stored, modified, and searched through the Final Cut Server user interface.
Backing Up Final Cut Server 2 The Backup pane makes it easy to manually or automatically make backup copies of your Final Cut Server catalog. Final Cut Server includes a backup feature that allows you to create a backup copy of the Final Cut Server catalog. Being able to restore the catalog from the backup copy can help you get your system running again should you need to reinstall Final Cut Server.
It is especially important to back up your Proxies and Version devices when you back up your Final Cut Server catalog. Both of these devices contain special assets used by Final Cut Server and both use the Contentbase file system. A suggested backup strategy is to back up the Final Cut Server catalog and place its backup file on the same volume as the Proxies and Version devices.
Stage 4: Installing Final Cut Server You need to reinstall Final Cut Server from the original installation disc. Any settings you configure during the installation process, such as the location for the proxy server, are changed back to the previously backed up settings when you restore the Final Cut Server catalog. Important: The backup files are specific to the version of Final Cut Server being used when the files are saved.
You have two options for backing up your Final Cut Server catalog: backing it up immediately or scheduling regular backups. To back up your Final Cut Server catalog immediately 1 Select the Backup pane of Final Cut Server System Preferences. 2 Click the Back Up Now button. A dialog appears in which you enter the filename and location for the backup file.
It is strongly recommended that you back up the Proxies and Versions devices, along with the Final Cut Server catalog backup file, shortly after you back up the Final Cut Server catalog. These devices use the Contentbase file system format and rely on Final Cut Server having an accurate catalog of their contents. Being able to restore the devices and catalog from files created at the same time results in the Final Cut Server catalog accurately matching up to these devices.
Devices You should configure your computer to support any internal hard disks, Xsan systems, RAIDs, network volumes, and external drives that Final Cut Server uses for its devices. If any of the devices are on volumes that require a password, you will have to manually configure those passwords using Device Setup Assistant after you have restored the Final Cut Server backup file.
Groups and Permissions 3 Final Cut Server includes features that allow you to precisely define the catalog access of each group of users. To be able to use Final Cut Server, you must add at least one group with at least one user. In most cases, you will create several groups, each configured with different permissions, and then add the appropriate users to each group.
You can add the groups using the server’s Final Cut Server System Preferences or you can use the client’s Administration window. See the Final Cut Server Setup Guide for information on using Final Cut Server System Preferences to add groups to Final Cut Server and assigning permission sets to them. To add a group to Final Cut Server using the Administration window 1 Open a Final Cut Server client and log in as a user with administrator privileges.
The Group Permissions window closes. To see the new group in the Group Permissions pane, click the Search button. Adding and Managing Permission Sets Each group has a permission set applied to it. A permission set defines a wide variety of permission settings, including asset and production filtering. Important: The “admin” permission set is the only one that allows access to the client’s Administration window.
2 Click Permission Set in the column on the left to open the Permission Set pane. A list of existing permission sets appears. By default there is one called “admin,” plus others that the installer created based on the customer profile you selected. See the Final Cut Server Setup Guide for more information. Click Permission Set to see the Permission Set pane. Duplicate and Create buttons The Permission Set pane contains three columns: • Name: This is the name of the permission set.
The Permission Set window appears. 2 In the column on the left, click Create, Asset Filter, and Production Filter to open and configure their panes. See Settings for Permission Sets for details on the settings in these panes. 3 Select the All Permissions checkbox to set this permission set to have the same permissions as “admin,” but without access to the Administration window. This is often the best way to create a permission set.
The Permission Set window appears. 2 Click Metadata, Trait Permissions, and Device Permissions to configure each group of settings. See Settings for Permission Sets for details on the settings in these panes. 3 Click Save Changes. This window closes and the permission set appears in the Permission Set pane with the changes you made.
The priority setting determines the order in which permission sets are consulted when a user belongs to multiple groups with different permission sets. Higher values are consulted first. For example, if a user belongs to a group with a permission set that has a priority of 3 and a second group that has a permission set priority of 4, the second group’s permission set (with the priority of 4) is used. Asset Filter Select Asset Filter to define a metadata filter applied to all asset searches.
Production View Filter Select Production View Filter to define a metadata filter applied to nested production searches. These metadata filters will be used to perform searches initiated by members of the group. Production Filter Select Production Filter to define a metadata filter applied to top-level production searches. These metadata filters will be used to perform searches initiated by members of the group. Click Production Filter to configure production search settings for this permission set.
Trait Permissions Settings Click the Trait Permissions button to configure access to a variety of areas within Final Cut Server, including assets, productions, jobs, users, and so on. See Setting Trait and Device Permissions for more information. Important: Most of the settings in the Trait Permissions pane are highly specialized and should not be changed unless you have specific needs and are willing to spend time testing the changes to make sure unintended side effects do not occur.
Device Permissions Settings Click the Device Permissions button to configure a group’s ability to perform an action on the selected device. Permissions applied to the group apply to all group members. See Setting Trait and Device Permissions for more information. Setting Trait and Device Permissions The Trait Permissions and Device Permissions panes list traits or devices in rows and actions in columns.
Column Trait permissions Device permissions Edit details Edit selected item details. n/a Search Search for items, in traits like All Assets and All Productions. Search device. Delete Delete items. Delete items from device. Copy from Copy items from a device to anywhere else. Copy items from a device to anywhere else. Catalogue n/a Catalog items on device as Final Cut Server assets. Edit hints Edit field hints.
Managing Metadata 4 Metadata is the heart of Final Cut Server. Final Cut Server uses metadata for nearly all aspects of managing assets, as well as for configuring many aspects of the client. This chapter begins with a summary of the default metadata sets that were created when Final Cut Server was installed. This is followed by a detailed explanation of how to manage metadata in Final Cut Server. This chapter covers the following: • About the Default Production Metadata (p.
Package Production Metadata Set The Package production metadata set is available in all five customer profiles. It includes two metadata groups: • Production (PA_GRP_CUST_PRODUCTION_PACKAGE) • Rights (PA_GRP_CUST_PRODUCTION_RIGHTS) Show Production Metadata Set The Show production metadata set is available in the Television Station and Video Production customer profiles.
Metadata is used to describe, find, use, and repurpose content.
The relationships between the various metadata items for assets and productions are as follows: Assets Productions One metadata set is assigned to each asset or production. Media assets Metadata sets Media metadata sets Production assets Production metadata sets One or more metadata groups are added to each metadata set. Metadata groups One or more metadata fields are added to each metadata group. Metadata maps Metadata fields Data from one metadata field can be mapped to a different metadata field.
Important: As you use the various panes in managing your metadata, you will find many settings, options, and listings that are intended only for internal Final Cut Server use. Many of these are noted in the following descriptions. In addition to using metadata to add information to your assets and productions, you can use the same techniques to affect other areas within Final Cut Server.
• Group Category: This is the automatically assigned metadata field’s family. All metadata fields you create are in the Custom Metadata family. Note: This column is not related to the metadata field’s Category setting. • Description: This is the description entered when the metadata field was created. • Data Type: This is the data type selected when the metadata field was created.
The Metadata Field window appears, showing the settings for that field. For details, see Settings for Metadata Fields. 2 Make any necessary changes and click Save Changes. The Metadata Field window closes. Settings for Metadata Fields Each metadata field has a variety of settings. The actual settings a field has are affected by the Data Type setting.
• Filesize • TypeSelect • Order Attach • Restriction Note: The None setting is used for almost all custom metadata, with the remaining settings reserved for internal use. • Suffix: Enter any suffix that should be displayed after the field. For example, you could enter “per hour.” • Display hints: Enter a width value (in pixels) that defines how wide this field should be. Specialized Settings The following settings apply only to certain data types.
• Date: A date/time field • Floating Point Number: A floating-point number • Integer: An integer field that supports up to 32-bit numbers • Large Integer: An integer field that supports up to 64-bit numbers (not normally required for custom metadata) • Timecode: A video timecode value, in the format hh:mm:ss:ff • Unicode String: An alphanumeric Unicode string About Metadata Groups Metadata groups provide a way to organize related metadata fields.
Some groups are required for internal Final Cut Server functions and cannot be edited. However, many of the settings within a group are editable, so you can define the look of the group. Click Metadata Group to see the Metadata Group pane. Click the Create button to add a new group. The Metadata Group pane shows the following columns: • Name: This shows the name of the metadata group. • Metadata Group ID: This is an automatically generated name for the group. This is for internal use only.
2 In the Metadata Group window that appears, configure the settings for the metadata group. See Settings for Metadata Groups for more information on the settings. 3 Click Save Changes to save the custom metadata group. The new metadata group appears in the Metadata Group pane. You can also open the Metadata Group window and edit existing metadata groups. Note: You are not allowed to edit the required metadata groups.
Settings for Metadata Groups Each metadata group has a variety of settings in addition to having metadata fields that you assign to the group. The Metadata Group window contains the following settings: • Category: An automatically generated category for the group. This appears only if you are editing an existing metadata group. • Metadata Group ID: An automatically generated name for the group. This appears only if you are editing an existing metadata group and is for internal use only.
For example, you can add the Edit Details action if you want this group’s metadata fields to be editable. You can also add the Create action to this metadata group if you want this group’s metadata fields to be available when creating a new asset. (This requires that this metadata group be part of the metadata set you assign to the asset you are creating.) New groups normally use the View Details, Edit Details, and Create actions.
Field Properties For each metadata field in the group, you can override the field’s data type properties. Click a metadata field in the Selected list to see its properties. Click a metadata field to open the Field Properties section. Note: You cannot change the data type assigned to the metadata field, only its settings. The actual properties that appear vary, depending on the metadata field’s data type.
Many standard metadata mappings are included with Final Cut Server. Additional mappings or changes can be defined using the Metadata Map pane. Click the Create button to add a new metadata map. The Metadata Map pane contains the following columns: • From Field: Shows the metadata field being mapped from. • To Field: Shows the metadata field being mapped to. • Priority: Shows the mapping priority with a range that normally goes from 1 to 3.
The new metadata map appears in the Metadata Map pane. You can also open the Metadata Map window and edit existing metadata maps. Note: You are not allowed to edit the required metadata maps. To edit an existing metadata map 1 Double-click the metadata map in the Metadata Map pane. The Metadata Map window appears, showing the settings for that map. 2 Make any necessary changes and click Save Changes. The Metadata Map window closes. See Settings for Metadata Maps for more information on the settings.
The values depend on the data type and can include text, dates, numbers, or timecode values. The following chart shows a few examples: Lookup name Data type Name entry Value entry Audio Sample Rate Integer 32 kHz 44.1 kHz 32,000 44,100 Order Open Boolean Open Closed True False Calendar Year Date Year Start Year End 1/1/2008 00:00 12/31/2008 23:59 Slate Timecode Slate In Slate Out 00:00:25.00 00:00:26.10 Email List Unicode String Editor 1 Review Group edit1@company.com revgrp@company.
Adding or Editing Lookups You can add or edit custom lookups. To add a custom lookup 1 In the Lookup pane of the Administration window, click the Create button. 2 In the Lookup window that appears, configure the settings for the lookup. See Settings for Lookups for more information on the settings. 3 Click Save Changes to save the custom lookup. The new lookup appears in the Lookup pane. You can also open the Lookup window and edit existing lookups.
Settings for Lookups The Lookup window provides controls to edit an existing lookup or to define a new lookup. The Lookup window contains the following settings: • Name: Enter the name of the lookup. • Data Type: Choose the type of lookup from the pop-up menu. The type of lookup values you can add to a lookup varies based on the data type you choose. See Data Types for Lookups for more information about the data types. • Options: Enter the name and corresponding value for each lookup value.
• Large Integer: An integer field that supports up to 64-bit numbers (not normally required for custom metadata) • Timecode: A video timecode value in the format hh:mm:ss:ff • Unicode String: An alphanumeric Unicode string Managing Metadata Sets There are different types of assets and productions you use with Final Cut Server. Metadata sets (which contain one or more metadata groups, each with its own metadata fields) allow you to assign different metadata groups to each type of asset or production.
• Metadata Set ID: An automatically generated name for the metadata set that is for internal use only • Class: The type of items the metadata set can be applied to, either media assets or productions Adding or Editing Metadata Sets You can add or edit custom metadata sets. To add a custom metadata set 1 In the Metadata Set pane of the Administration window, click the Create button. 2 In the Metadata Set window that appears, configure the settings for the metadata set.
• Class: Choose either Media Asset or Production from this pop-up menu. Note: You cannot change this setting when editing an existing metadata set. • Md Groups: You choose the metadata groups that this set contains. • Selected: Lists the metadata groups in the set. • Available: Lists the metadata groups available to the set. The available groups depend on the class of the set. Use the Add and Remove buttons to change the groups in the set.
Device is master This synchronization policy regards the device as the authority on what the real metadata is. Device metadata is mapped to custom metadata. Subsequent changes to the metadata on the device are mapped to the custom metadata when they are detected. Custom metadata fields that map to device metadata can be edited but those changes are not mapped to the device.
Keep the following in mind when you decide to customize the user interface: • Any changes you make affect all clients connected to the server. In many cases though, you may have to close the client and log in again to see the changes. • Use care when modifying metadata groups. You will often find multiple metadata groups or fields with the same or similar names. Be sure you choose the correct ones to modify. • Modifying a metadata group may impact more than one area of the user interface.
Customizing Advanced Searches There are several areas in the Final Cut Server client where you can choose to configure advanced search options to fine-tune your search results. By modifying selected metadata groups, you can add and remove metadata fields as well as rearrange the order in which they appear. For example, you might want to add the Required reviewers metadata field to your asset searches.
• Tiles metadata group, PROJECT_INFO_VIEW group ID: This metadata group defines what fields appear in the main window’s Information pane when viewing productions. • Tiles metadata group, ASSET_TILES_VIEW group ID: This metadata group defines what fields appear in the info window that appears when you double-click an asset or a Final Cut Pro project in the main window.
A window opens showing the details of the file. 4 Click QuickTime in the column on the left. The metadata details for the file are displayed. Note: You may see some metadata fields that contain duplicate settings. Final Cut Server shows both the older FOURCC (which is limited to four characters for the field’s name) and the newer field identification entries.
Managing Devices 5 The Administration window makes it possible to create highly customized devices. This chapter covers the following: • About Devices (p. 73) • Adding a Device Using the Administration Window (p. 74) • Editing a Device Using the Administration Window (p. 76) • Deleting an Existing Device Using the Administration Window (p. 76) • About Specialized Devices (p. 77) • Device Type Details (p. 83) • Searching Devices (p.
Device Setup Assistant also makes it much easier to install certain kinds of devices, such as network devices and Xsan volumes, by simplifying the number of settings. Additionally, Device Setup Assistant verifies all settings you make before allowing you to continue to the next step. (Devices created with the Administration window are not verified until you actually use them.
Note: It is strongly suggested that you do not create any devices on the server computer’s startup disk. Devices contain large media files and can use all of the available disk space of their hard disk, which causes serious issues if that hard disk is also the startup disk. To add a device using the Administration window 1 Open a Final Cut Server client and log in as a user with administrator privileges.
Important: The Proxies, Edit Proxies, and Version devices must use the Contentbase file system. Additionally, Contentbase devices cannot be watched by a watcher automation. • FTP Server: This device type uses FTP to transfer media to and from it. • Filesystem: This is the traditional file system used by most computers. It supports subfolders and normal filenames. The Devices window changes to reflect the device type you chose. You can choose a different device type if necessary.
To delete an existing device using the Administration window 1 Select the device in the Devices pane. 2 Control-click the device, then choose Delete from the shortcut menu. A confirmation dialog appears. 3 Click Delete. The device is removed from the device list. Some things to keep in mind when deleting a device: • You cannot undo a device deletion. • Deleting a device removes it and all of its assets from the Final Cut Server catalog.
Setting Up the Edit Proxies Device Each Final Cut Server installation has one Edit Proxies device. Each time you upload a Final Cut Pro project to the Final Cut Server catalog, you can create a set edit proxy files created with the Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy) codec (default) or other available codec of your choice. These edit proxies are created in addition to the set of low-resolution files stored on the Proxies device.
To choose the version device 1 In the Administration window’s Preferences pane, click Version Control to see the version preferences. 2 Choose a device from the Version Control Device pop-up menu. Note: Because the device used to store versions must use the Contentbase device type, the Choose button is not available. See About Contentbase for more information. 3 Enter the maximum number of versions that can be associated with an asset in the Version Control Limit field.
Final Cut Server supports multiple archive devices, and most devices can be set as an archive device. The following things should be considered when creating an Archive device: • Archive devices can use the Contentbase or Filesystem Final Cut Server device type. • Assets on a Contentbase device type cannot be archived unless the archive device is also a Contentbase device type.
Important: Be sure to inform the Final Cut Server users about where and how to upload image sequences. About the Export Device A user can choose to export an asset from the Final Cut Server catalog to his or her local computer. When the user Control-clicks an asset in a Final Cut Server client, an Export option appears in the shortcut menu.
Does Your System Support Edit-in-Place? There are two common system configurations where edit-in-place devices work especially well: when the client computer is connected to an Xsan using a Fibre Channel network, and when the device is actually a hard disk directly connected to the client computer. In both cases, you should have sufficient bandwidth to be able to work in real time on the assets with no dropped frames or other low-bandwidth issues.
An example is: • file:////MediaServer/Images/ Device Type Details Devices supported by Final Cut Server are listed and described below: • Contentbase: See About Contentbase for more information. • FTP Server: See About FTP Server for more information. • Filesystem (including local, Xsan, NFS, AFP, and SMB/CIFS): See About Filesystem for more information. About Contentbase Contentbase is a Final Cut Server-managed file storage system on or connected to the Final Cut Server server itself.
2 Choose Contentbase from the Device Type pop-up menu. Choose Contentbase. The Configuration pane for a Contentbase device type contains the following items: • Device Name: Enter a descriptive name for the device. • Local Directory: Enter the root path for this device as it appears to the Final Cut Server server. For example: /Volumes/Macintosh HD/Final Cut Server/Contentbase Device/.
• Archive Device: Select this checkbox to add this device to the list of archive locations a user can choose from. About FTP Server Final Cut Server supports access to any server running standard File Transfer Protocol (FTP) such as a Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, or UNIX host. Other devices can be set up in this way; for example, Macintosh file server, Windows NT or Windows 2000 file server, and UNIX file server.
• Passive Mode: Select this checkbox to use passive mode FTP transfers. • Port: Leave blank to use the default port number, or enter a different port number. • Show Dot-files: Select this checkbox to display all files beginning with a dot or period (.) on directory listings and searches. Otherwise these files are not visible. Important: Do not select this option unless specifically required. • ls -a: Select this checkbox to include files whose names start with a period when listing the server’s files.
• Metadata Sync Policy: From this pop-up menu, choose the policy by which metadata is synchronized between Final Cut Server and the device. See Metadata Synchronization Policy for more information. • Generate Thumbnails: Select this checkbox to generate thumbnails of images when using Search Devices from the Server pop-up menu (the pop-up menu in the Final Cut Server main window that appears when you click the Server button).
• Assume Stills: Assume files with missing or unknown file extensions are still images. • Ignore: Do not analyze files or create proxies for files with missing or unknown file extensions. Guess the file type by the file’s extension. • Case insensitive filesystem: Select this checkbox for FTP devices that do not recognize case differences (for example, they see FILE.mov and file.mov as being the same file).
Important: Enter information into either the Local Directory field or the Server URL field, never into both fields. For Windows SMB/CIFS devices, enter the Uniform Naming Convention (UNC) root path that includes the workgroup and user using the format: smb://workgroup;user@servername/shared. You must also enter the user name in the User field. Note: Device Setup Assistant from the Final Cut Server System Preferences pane includes a workgroup entry.
• Macintosh edit-in-place URI: Enter the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) for editing media from a Macintosh client directly on the device, instead of downloading and editing it on the client. The device must also be accessible as a mounted file system from the client.
• Pre-restore Command: This only applies if Archive Device is selected. Enter the path and name of the script or other executable file that should run before an asset is restored. This can enable integration with other external archiving systems. The script is given the complete path to the file as its first argument on the command line. • Pre-delete Command: This only applies if Archive Device is selected.
2 Click Search. By default, clicking the Search button searches from the device’s root level. You can enter text to search for in the search field. Important: Be sure to enter entire words in the search field. Unlike the search field in the Final Cut Server main window, the Search Devices search field does not return full words if you search for a partial word. For example, if you want to find all assets that contain the word “frame,” you must search for the entire word.
Other Ways to Search Devices After opening the Search Devices window, you can click Choose to open a window that allows you to specify a folder to search. This window allows you to browse the contents of the device. You can double-click a folder to show its contents, or you can use the buttons along the top edge to manage this dialog. Click to navigate up one folder level. Click to jump to the device’s root level. Click to add a folder to the current level.
About the Catalog Button When you select one or more items in the Search Devices window, the Catalog button becomes active. Clicking the Catalog button allows you to add the asset to the Final Cut Server catalog. Click the Catalog button to add the selected item as an asset to the Final Cut Server catalog. Note: It is possible that the selected item is already an asset in the Final Cut Server catalog.
• Export: You can use Export to make a local copy of the selected item. You are able to choose the location and a transcode setting to use (if applicable) for the export process. • Duplicate: You can use Duplicate to make a copy of the selected item onto any of the Final Cut Server devices. The copied version of the item is not added to the Final Cut Server catalog, regardless of whether the original item is in the catalog. • Delete: You can use Delete to remove the selected item from the device.
Managing Transcode Settings 6 Transcode settings streamline copying media between different systems by hiding complex audio and video codec details from most users. This chapter covers the following: • About Transcode Settings (p. 97) • Adding Transcode Settings (p. 98) • Assigning Transcode Settings to Devices (p. 99) About Transcode Settings Transcode settings can be helpful in many ways.
The Transcode Settings pane of the Final Cut Server client’s Administration window lists the current transcode settings. Click the Create button to add a new transcode setting. Adding Transcode Settings Final Cut Server includes a large variety of transcode settings. All clip transcode settings are based on Compressor settings, and most image transcode settings are based on internal Final Cut Server settings.
4 Choose the type of transcode setting to create from the Media Type pop-up menu. This setting controls the items available in the Compressor Settings pop-up menu. • If you choose Video Clip: Only video-related items appear in the Compressor Settings pop-up menu. • If you choose Audio Clip: Only audio-related items appear in the Compressor Settings pop-up menu. • If you choose Image: The window changes to include a variety of still-image formats.
Additionally, you can use the Transcode Settings pane to manage the transcode settings of the Export device. This device provides the list of transcode settings to choose from when using the Export option of the shortcut menu that appears when you Control-click an asset in the client. The Export device that appears first in the list of available devices (described next) is the device used for these download operations. See About the Export Device for more information.
Managing Automations 7 Final Cut Server includes several methods you can use to automate your workflow. Each method is completely configurable and extremely powerful. This chapter covers the following: • About Final Cut Server Automation (p. 101) • Automation Operations (p. 102) • General Automation Tips (p. 102) • Response Pane and Window (p. 104) • Watcher Pane and Window (p. 118) • Subscription Pane and Window (p. 121) • Schedule Pane and Window (p.
Automation Operations All of the automations you set up are based on one of the three following operations, with the goal of each being to issue responses at the appropriate times: • Watchers: File system watchers monitor a device for specific changes, based on an interval you configure. When the specified change happens—for example, a new set of still images is added to a folder on the device—the watcher issues one or more responses. The responses can perform a variety of functions.
An exception is when you and everyone who might want to access a reference QuickTime file are on a SAN, such as an Xsan system. In this case, when a user checks out or exports a reference media file, the file will have access to the media files that the reference file needs. About Final Cut Pro Projects Final Cut Pro project files include the file paths to the project’s media. Final Cut Server locates the project’s media using the file paths stored in the Final Cut Pro project file.
About Media Files with No File Extension In some cases, Final Cut Server automations can correctly recognize, upload, and process media files that do not have a file extension. To ensure that all files upload and are processed correctly, be sure all media files have an extension. This is especially true if the files are being uploaded to an FTP device.
The Response window appears when you click the Create button. The settings that appear in the window, along with the items that appear in the area on the left, depend on the action you choose from the Response Action pop-up menu. Note: If you edit an existing response by double-clicking it in the Response pane, you cannot change its Response Action setting. Response Actions What you choose from the Response Action pop-up menu defines the response’s basic purpose.
Response action Triggered by Description Monitor Scan Poll watcher Scans for specific metadata settings. Move to Archive Asset subscription No additional options. Moves the media to the selected archive device. Purge Subscriptions Schedule Deletes subscriptions that have not been active for a specified number of days. Read XML Poll watcher No additional options. Reads XML data from an external system. It is used in conjunction with the Write XML response action.
About Scan Responses Scan responses are one of the most commonly used custom responses. To access the scan response settings 1 Click the Create button in the Administration window’s Responses pane to create a new response. 2 Choose Scan from the Response Action pop-up menu. 3 Click Scan to view the scan settings. The Scan pane of the Response window contains settings that define what is being scanned, the metadata that is applied to the items found by the scan, and the actual scan mode and settings.
Note: Scan responses created using the client’s Administration window have version control set based on how the Final Cut Server Installer was configured. However, all scan responses created using Device Setup Assistant have version control disabled, regardless of how the Final Cut Server Installer was configured. This means that all assets and Final Cut Pro projects added to the Final Cut Server catalog by a scan response will, by default, not track versions.
• Recursion Limit: This defines the number of folder levels the scan will include. A value of 0 means unlimited subfolders are scanned. A value of 1 means that only the folder specified by the Scan Source pop-up menu is scanned. • Background Analyze: Creates the proxy items for the assets as a background task. Normally, assets are analyzed as a foreground task, one at a time.
To access the scan production response settings 1 Click the Create button in the Administration window’s Responses pane to create a new response. 2 Choose Scan Productions from the Response Action pop-up menu. 3 Click Production Scan to view the Scan Productions settings. The Production Scan pane of the Response window contains settings that define what is being scanned, the metadata that is applied to the items found by the scan, production metadata settings, and the actual scan mode and settings.
Note: By default, all scan production responses have version control set based on how the Final Cut Server Installer was configured. You can verify and change version control for a scan production response by choosing the Versioning metadata group (in the pop-up menu just below the Metadata Set pop-up menu) and selecting the Version checkbox. See Version Control Preference Settings for more information about the installer’s version control setting.
• Entity Type: Choose the type of entity to scan for: • File: This is the default setting. It sets the scan to look for all files except image sequences. • Image Sequence: This sets the scan to look for a folder containing a series of numbered image files. • Video Frame Rate: This defines the number of frames per second that will be used to produce an image sequence asset’s proxy video. • [None]: Choose Auto to use an automatically generated frame rate gleaned from the media’s metadata.
• Wildcard Exclude Filter: You can use this to define types of files that the scan should not process. For example, if the folder that the scan is processing includes PDF documents that you do not want to have processed and added as assets, you can enter *.pdf (which indicates that all files with a .pdf extension are not processed). About Copy Responses Copy responses are one of the most commonly used custom responses.
Destination Metadata Settings • Job Priority: Choose the priority of the copy job from the pop-up menu. • Copy Metadata: Select the “Run in parallel” checkbox to allow this response to run at the same time as other copy responses in a watcher or subscription. When this is not selected, the response runs serially, based on its order in the watcher or subscription. Select the Overwrite checkbox to overwrite an existing destination file if it has the same filename as the file being copied.
The Email pane of the Response window contains the settings for configuring the email. See the Final Cut Server Setup Guide for information about email response details, including codes you can enter to add automated data to the email, shown above as the text in brackets ([ ]). Choose Email. Click Email to show the Email pane. The Email pane contains the following settings: • To: Enter the email addresses that should receive the email.
3 Click Write XML to view the Write XML settings. The Write XML pane contains the following settings: • Destination: You choose the device to copy assets to with the Destination pop-up menu. You can also enter or choose a subfolder to copy the asset to. • Use ID for Filename: Select this checkbox to change an asset’s filename to a unique Final Cut Server asset or production ID number. This change will only apply to assets modified using a Read XML or Write XML response.
The Run Script pane of the Response window contains the settings for configuring the script to run. Choose “Run an external script or command.” Click Run Script to show the Run Script pane. The Run Script pane contains the following settings: • Command Path: Enter the path and name of the script or other executable file this response runs. • Command Parameters: Enter special parameters that can be used to customize the script that runs.
2 Choose “Check the disk space of the database volume” from the Response Action pop-up menu. 3 Click Check Database Disk Space to view the Check Database Disk Space settings. Choose “Check the disk space of the database volume.” Click Check Database Disk Space to show the Check Database Disk Space pane.
The Watcher pane lists the existing watchers. Click the Create button to add a watcher. Click Watcher to show the Watcher pane. The Watcher pane includes the following columns: • Name: This is the name of the watcher as entered when it was created. • Enabled: Shows either true (if the watcher is running) or false (if the watcher is stopped). • Description: This is a description entered when the watcher was created. • Monitor Address: When applicable, lists the device being watched.
The items that appear in the area on the left depend on the Watcher Type you choose. The choices include poll and subscription. • Poll: A poll watcher checks the device at timed intervals. This is the most common type of watcher. • Subscription: A subscription watcher is for internal usage only. Note: If you edit an existing watcher by double-clicking it in the Watcher pane, you cannot change its Watcher Type setting.
Subscription Pane and Window Final Cut Server has a powerful engine for modifying behavior to suit the individual needs of customers. Administrators can create and modify subscription rules. A subscription rule consists of an event, such as an asset’s status changing, and one or more responses that are run as a result of that event. The most common response types to use with subscriptions are the copy, delete, email, log, move to archive, restore from archive, set metadata, and write XML responses.
The Subscription window appears if you click the Create button. The items that appear in the area on the left depend on the “Subscribe to” setting. The options include: • Asset: This allows you to define a subscription that detects one or more metadata fields associated with an asset.
The most common responses to use with a schedule are clean jobs, clean logs, measure catalog size, purge subscriptions, scan (all types), and search expired. The Schedule pane lists the existing schedules. Click the Create button to add a schedule. Click Schedule to show the Schedule pane. The Schedule pane contains the following columns: • Name: This is the name of the schedule as entered when it was created. • Enabled: Shows either true (if the schedule is running) or false (if the schedule is stopped).
• Hour: This is the hour of the day (using a 24-hour clock) the schedule runs on when using the hourly or daily periods. For example, 15 in the Hour column means the response executes at 3 p.m. • Minute: The meaning of this number depends on the schedule’s period selection: • For weekly, daily, and hourly periods, this is the minute of the hour the schedule runs on. For example, 30 in the Minute column means the response runs on the 30th minute of the hour.
About Jobs and Logs 8 Each time Final Cut Server performs an action, it is considered a job. Final Cut Server logs jobs and other significant events that administrators and support staff can use to diagnose problems and monitor usage. This chapter covers the following: • Viewing Final Cut Server Status (p. 125) • About Jobs and the Search All Jobs Window (p. 125) • About the Log Pane (p. 130) • About the Log Window (p. 132) • About Clearing Jobs and Logs from the Final Cut Server Database (p.
• Creating a new asset runs jobs to perform the initial copy; create the asset with metadata; and then create thumbnail, poster frame, and clip proxies. • Analyzing runs several jobs to create the thumbnail, poster frame, and browse proxies. Each job also creates multiple log entries for each step of the operation. If you want to monitor what Final Cut Server is working on, simply open the Search All Jobs window. In it, you can search for specific jobs and then see a job’s details.
Progress Status Description Blank field or text RUN Job is in progress. Blank field WAIT Job is waiting for user input or for a turn in the job queue. Full-width red bar FAIL Job failed because of an error. Other fields in the Search All Jobs window include: • Title: Details of the job. • Owner: Name of the user who performed the job. • From Device: For a copy, the source device. • To Device: For a copy, the destination device. • Updated: The time and date the status was last updated.
Using the Search All Jobs Window to Diagnose Problems Besides using the Search All Jobs window to track jobs being performed by Final Cut Server, you can use the Search All Jobs window to view details of each step in a job and diagnose problems. To diagnose a problem using the Search All Jobs window 1 Double-click the failed or idle job that you want to diagnose in the Search All Jobs window.
Note: No parameters are listed if the job was a copy without any transcoding. 4 Click Logs along the top of the window. The Logs pane displays details of each step in the job, exactly as step details appear in the Log pane of the Administration window. The ERROR message in the Detail column explains why the job failed. Using this information, you can correct the problem and then reprocess the job. You can double-click an entry to open it in its own window, which can make it easier to see the details.
Retrying Failed Jobs When a job fails for a reason that is not permanent, it is automatically retried. You can define how many times a failed job is retried and how long to wait between retries in the General pane of Final Cut Server System Preferences and in the Preferences pane of the Administration window. See Preference Settings in the Administration Window for more information. You can also manually retry the job.
Important: Final Cut Server includes a schedule, named Scheduled Maintenance, that clears the Log pane once each day. You can modify that schedule as needed to better fit your needs. Click Log to view the Log pane. The Log pane contains the following columns: • Timestamp: Shows the date and time that the entry was logged. • Summary: Shows a summary of the log entry. • Detail: Shows the details of the log entry. • Username: Shows the user logged in when the entry was created.
About the Log Window You can double-click any items listed in the Log pane to see more details in the Log window. About Clearing Jobs and Logs from the Final Cut Server Database When Final Cut Server is installed, a default Scheduled Maintenance schedule automation that runs the Clean Jobs and Clean Logs responses is set up to run daily at 3:30 am. When it runs, the Clean Jobs and Clean Logs responses archive jobs and logs that are 7 days old, and purge jobs and logs that are 14 days old from the archive.
Appendix Solving Problems This appendix provides information to help you solve problems you may encounter while using Final Cut Server. This appendix covers the following: • Resources for Solving Problems (p. 133) • Contacting AppleCare Support (p. 133) Resources for Solving Problems If you run into problems while working with Final Cut Server, there are several resources you can use to find a solution.
Note: The 11-digit Support ID number is different from the product serial number used to install Final Cut Server. • The version of Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server you have installed. To find the version, choose Apple menu > About This Mac. • The version of Final Cut Server you have installed that you have a question about. To find the version of Final Cut Server on your computer, choose Final Cut Server > About Final Cut Server. • The model of computer you are using.
Glossary Glossary Administration window The Administration window, available in the Final Cut Server client to users with admin permissions, provides access to a wide variety of aspects of your Final Cut Server system. It includes panes that allow you to configure preference, automation, device, and metadata settings. You can also use the metadata settings in the Administration window to customize the options and information your users see when using Final Cut Server.
automation Final Cut Server supports a wide variety of automation features, making it possible to configure Final Cut Server to automatically perform many tasks. There are three types of automations: watchers, subscriptions, and schedules. Each of these automations issues responses when an event occurs. See also response, schedule, subscription, watcher. Automation Setup Assistant Final Cut Server System Preferences include an Automation pane for managing the most common automations you will use.
edit-in-place Generally, in order to use an asset from the Final Cut Server catalog on a client’s computer, the computer must have a local copy of the asset. An exception is if the device that contains the asset is configured as an edit-in-place device and the client computer has it mounted as a volume. The most common example of this is an Xsan system since they support a high enough data bandwidth for video data to be transferred in real time. See also storage area network (SAN), Xsan.
metadata Every file contains at least some metadata, such as its file type, size, name, and creation date. As you add files to the Final Cut Server catalog, you will soon find that it would be useful to have additional metadata fields to use for sorting or locating specific assets. The heart of Final Cut Server is its ability to work with metadata.
subscription A subscription is a type of Final Cut Server automation that runs when a specific metadata change occurs. An example is a subscription that executes an email response when an asset’s status changes to Ready or Review. See also automation, response, schedule, watcher. transcode settings Final Cut Server uses transcode settings to convert an asset from its current codec to a different one. Most often you use transcode settings to convert an asset into one that is smaller or easier to play.
