Integrating with FocalPoint

CatDV’s has a near unrivalled ability to work with other hardware and tools. Our colleagues at iMedia have worked with us to create an integration with their media project organisation and management tool: FocalPoint Server.

Overview

FocalPoint Server is a workflow collaboration tool: a new way to create, version, track and search all your editing projects, graphics and documents.

As a result FocalPoint Server is a great tool for media project organisation and management. One of it’s best features is creating consistency as new projects and assets are created. CatDV has strength in Media Asset Management, particularly workflow automation and search. As a result the two products working together can support some highly sophisticated workflows.

Projects can be created using FocalPoint Server using standard templates to enforce naming and storage standards. CatDV’s Worker can analyse these projects and intelligently ingest into CatDV.

This means projects and their assets from FocalPoint can be shared more widely through the organisation using CatDV’s desktop, web and mobile clients, plus the door is opened to easy integration with other systems.

Ultimately the combination of CatDV and FocalPoint Server can lead to more consistency, quicker searches and more media being repurposed i.e saving time and cost.

Integrating CatDV and FocalPoint Server

In FocalPoint

In FocalPoint, projects are set up with appropriate tags: for example a project “This is a demo 1” may have; Location: Afganistan, Broadcast Time:Breakfast, Media Type:Motion Graphics, Destination: TV, Status: Animated Prototype (per the image below):

FocalPoint then chooses the right place to store the files according to the storage and naming policies configured for the organization.

In this example the above project data leads to a storage location of:

"<root_storage_location>/qls_AFG_BKFST_MTG_TV_AP_This is a demo_v1"

with project files being stored in this folder and media being stored in a subfolder:

In CatDV

CatDV’s automation engine (CatDV Worker) can watch for these new projects folders being created and automatically ingest the project files and associated media assets, ready for logging and search.

The intelligence built in to the folder path can be extracted into separate CatDV fields, i.e. the Location, Broadcast Time, Media Type, Destination, Status and Version can all be populated. This gives a great starting point for more detailed logging and search.

Walkthrough

Here’s a more detailed example:

The use of portfolios in FocalPoint Server can provide a convenient drag and drop target for related assets. Media directories are created under each portfolio folder so an automated CatDV ingest can be configured to permit more detailed asset description.

Assets are dragged on to the portfolio, note that the ‘file path’ FPS tag has been added to the schema and placed in the lower section of the portfolio.

CatDV Worker may be configured with a watch action to monitor portfolio directories under the root path. The following screen shots illustrate a simple CatDV import with automated catalog naming. The action may be further enhanced with the generation of proxies, as long as codec support exists.

The Worker Action will result in the generation of new CatDV catalogs which match the ‘file path’ FPS tag.

Users may continue dropping assets on to the portfolio and these will be added to existing catalogs after Worker detection.