Looking for Organization Suggestions / Help

[AgentPatrick]

Hey All,

 

First of all Thank you to everyone out there who responds to these posts. As a self-taught-still figuring some stuff out-sometimes want to punch my computer-user of 3dsMax and VRay I absolutely rely on these forums to get the answers I need.

 

Ok so I would like some suggestions on effective file / organization techniques. Up until the last 6 months I have used 3dsMax and VRay on my personal computer and had a very effective system (at least for me it was) of each project containing the standard Max subfolders which would contain the information needed for the project. (you know archives, autoback, downloads, etc etc etc). The only one of those folders that was not project specific was ...sceneassets\images as I had one Master Library for all my Textures/Materials/Bitmaps etc. which was then configured through user paths to the individual model. (Is this a "normal' way of doing it?)

 

Well....now that I have been tasked with bringing Max and its capabilities to the Firm I work for I am trying to figure out the best way to have one place where everyones models/textures/everything is organzied. Also it needs to be on the Network so all have access.

 

Here's my Questions(s):

1. Should each project contain the subfolders as listed above, or should i have one set of subfolders which contains all of the projects and encompassing information within its folders?

2. To configure user paths all linked back to one master library would I need one path for each type of material (like a path to brick, a path to wood...) or will the user paths dig down through the folders and sub-folders for me?

 

Ok, I'm sorry if this is crazy rambling, it's difficult to discuss what I think is an issue when I am new enough that I don't have all of the technology down. ALL ANSWERS AND SUGGESTIONS WELCOME!!!

 

Thank you,

AgentPatrick

[Tommy L]

Keep everything in one location. By that I mean keep everything on a server and do not keep files on local machines, any files. This week make housekeeping much easier and prevent cross contamination of job amendments, also prevent lost file links/locations.

 

I would keep the MAX file structure for arranging assets specific to the job. So lighting caches etc would reside in the job folder. I would also keep job info in the same job folder, so a typical job folder would contain the following top level folders:

 

MAX

PSD

AE

From Client

To Client

Site information

Drawings

 

So far as an asset library goes, thats difficult to arrange, it kind of evolves in my experience. The top level folders I have are:

 

3d:

Interior Model library

Exterior Model library

Vehicles

Textures

Shaders

HDRI/IES

 

2d:

Pro Libraries

Stock

Photo

[AgentPatrick]

Tom,

 

Thank you so much! That is basically the direction I was headed in but I really like the idea of condensing. Currently I have all my project folders and then I have my 3ds Max folder with each project and it's sub-folders....dumb I know.

 

Also, what about configuring the user paths? would i need to map each individual path that reaches the deep dark corners of my material library or will they penetrate the "top level folders" as you say? For example if i have:

 

-Textures

-Exterior

-Masonry

-Brick

-CMU

-Site

-Stone

 

Would I need to define a user path for each of the "bottom-level" folder (brick, cmu, etc...) or could i just define one path that hits "Masonry" and it would dig into the sub-folders? basically i just want to set all of the user paths and like RARELY ever have to touch them again. or is setting user paths just part of the workflow of as you need a material you set the path?

Edited May 23, 2012 by AgentPatrick

[Tommy L]

Its up to you. I dont configure the user paths as defaults. I select textures on the fly and the file holds the path data.

[AgentPatrick]

Awesome. See I didn't know that...I just assumed that you had to set the pre-defined paths so that it would know where to look for archiving and whatnot. You've been incredibly helpful, thank you!

 

If anyone else has another system I would still be interested in seeing other people methods...

 

-Erin