User Manual

Dos and Don’ts for Editors Working with Avid Interplay
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The following topic is particularly useful if you are new to working with Interplay:
• Dos and Don’ts for Editors Working with Avid Interplay
Dos and Don’ts for Editors Working with Avid
Interplay
The following information is useful for editors who are working with Avid Interplay. It includes
guidelines for working with Interplay and a list of dos and don’ts. Also see “Checklist for Editors
Working with Interplay” on page 1137.
Why Do I Need to Do Things Differently?
When Interplay is part of your workgroup environment, you need to work in a slightly different
way. When you are editing with an Avid editing application (such as Media Composer,
NewsCutter or Symphony) within an Interplay environment, it is important to work with the
asset management tools provided by Interplay. Otherwise, problems can arise throughout the
system, which can stop workflows, and other users, from working correctly.
The main purpose of the Interplay server is to provide a central database of all the Avid and
non-Avid assets that you use during your production process. This database is used as the central
“share point” for material in use in your facility. It is also used by media managers as the primary
tool for deletion of material from shared storage.
If you do not log in to Interplay and check in your work, Interplay has no way of tracking your
work. You will still be using shared storage, but because the Media Tool doesn’t function with
Interplay editors, you will have no way to monitor or delete your material on shared storage. The
storage system will end up clogged up by, literally, thousands of irrelevant media files —
rendered effects, imported files, mixdowns, titles — which will use valuable shared-storage
space. In addition, if you work in this way, there will be no mechanism to locate and identify the
unchecked-in files, other than searching for .mxf files on the Avid shared-storage workspaces.
The .mxf file names do not provide you with any useful information about the clip name, project,
or bin. That is Interplay’s function.
Keep in mind the relationship between the metadata, which is information that is stored in bins
and the Interplay database, and the .mxf media files, which are stored in the Avid shared-storage
system.
When you regularly check in assets to Interplay, media managers can manage and delete these
assets efficiently by looking at specific metadata, for example, who created the assets, when, on
which machine, and inside which project and bin.