file organization software

[sdds]

hi all,

 

getting a little frustrated with myself over organization of projects, file storage, model/texture libraries, documents etc, all the basic stuff that goes into project management. I know I am not a very organized person so am seriously looking into some sort of file/project management software to help me. I run just 2 macs as a freelancer and looking for something that will help organize my documents, plan and track my time better so everything is accessible in one place. The best I have found so far is merlin for osx price wise but would love to hear other peoples views.

[sdds]

how about something like filemaker pro?

[Limbus]

I just use meaningful folder and filenames and made it a habit to sort objects and textures after a project is finished so I can easily reuse them. It takes a bit time to get used to complex naming schemes but it is well worth it. skysraper_03_final_final2.xxx is not very helpfull when trying to figure out which file to open.

 

Just some ideas to get you started:

- the filename of a rendered image should reflect the 3D file it came from

- if more than 1 person is working on a project the filename should reflect the author of a file

- ...

 

Cheers, Florian

[Bwana Kahawa]

We're looking at something like Axomic for our firm, although it's on a slightly larger scale so probably is above what you need!

 

Echoing what Florian says, naming standards is a great starting point. Having a standard folder structure for each project really helps, along with a general resources area to keep commonly used textures, HDR files, etc.

[John Dollus]

There's a Mac standalone version of vfxshowrunner:

 

http://www.vfxshowrunner.com/index.html

[mtutaj]

I've been looking at http://www.archioffice.com to track administrative portions. I havn't been too sucessful on tracking textures and such with Filemaker pro yet. I have alot of ideas, but would need someone to be able to program the ideas.