Recommended preview management?

[arnolddeleon]

Previously I have a "production - 2020-11-25" preview that I use.  All of the live sequences use it.

When I want to tweak the preview/layout for example when introducing a new prop I create a copy of the preview say we call it "dev - 2021-12-18".  I edit it until I'm satisfied and then I would promote it so I now have "production - 2021-12-18"

Previously the next step would be open each sequence and assign them a different preview.  This is painful because open a sequence is really slow.

I thought I would be clever and just call my production "production" no date stamps.  When I was ready to promote my dev preview I just delete the production one and name my production preview "production"

But I just rediscovered that previews are also known internally to the sequences.  When I opened a sequence it noticed that its preview was missing and created an "imported ..." one.  This clearly not what I want.

There must be a better process for handling previews that I'm missing.

[k6ccc]

I applaud you for your putting the date in the preview name as it makes it very clear when that particular preview was created - and eliminates any ambiguity as to which preview is which.

I am not aware of a shortcut as you mentioned.

For the most part, I only make one or two Preview versions for a year before I am satisfied with it.  Then all the previous year sequences are copied into current year folders, and as each sequence gets tweeked for the year, part of the process is to assign the new Preview.  I also maintain a spreadsheet that has a listing of things to do for each sequence.  One column of that sheet is what preview has been assigned.  I ended up with a -3 for 2021 because as I was starting setup, I decided to move about a dozen channels from two controller to their own controller, and that required every sequence to be opened and the preview changed.  As you can see from the dates, I started early on getting going for 2021.

http://www.newburghlights.org/images/Christmas_ToDo.png

 

[dibblejr]

I use a preview with a person name (Thanks to my friend Phil Massey) it make a lot of sense. I have a lot of previews from helping others, mine were getting confusing so Barney is my working preview and Fred is my working Grid View.

When I want to add a prop that may be difficult I will make a Preview for that Prop. If the prop tests correctly I will then export the prop and import the prop to my working Preview.

When I help someone through screen sharing or telephone I always make their Preview name Christmas/ Halloween 2021

JR

[Box on Rails]

I use 5 different Previews in my show. They are all the same in terms of props but I have 5 different Motion effect singing Characters for my matrix set up. I created these animation using Motion effects and each preview has the character's name in the title. I pretty much use the same preview name set up that JR uses with the added Character name ie.. "Christmas 2022 Santa" "Christmas 2022 Snowman" and so forth for each animation matrix. I really have 6 previews but only 5 are used in the show. I have the basic prop set up tilted "Christmas 2022 Templet" that has all the props with a basic matrix. The reason I use the multiple previews and not one is If I was to combine all the  Matrix Motion effects for each animated Character from all 5 previews to one I would have almost 100 Motion effects rows in the matrix prop. I prefer to keep each animated Character in it's own preview. I Don't know if this creates any lag time in the show but It doesn't seem to. In this manner when I sequence new songs I decide which singing Character I want to use and start with that preview. If I add or eliminate a prop I use the Templet preview and make the changes, then carry those changes over to each Character Preview. This works for me for what I am doing.