Part 3: Metadata in ShotHub
Following up on parts 1 and 2 of our “Metadata Journey” series covering how to create, use and share metadata with Pomfort’s desktop applications Livegrade and Silverstack, this last part will focus on increasing the benefits of your metadata beyond the film set.
As the metadata generated and collected while shooting is valuable for further production steps and other departments, it’s getting more and more essential to supply this information reliably and avoid any “generation loss” when transferring data from one hand to another.
ShotHub’s core functionality is to provide the rich metadata coming from either Silverstack or Livegrade so that you can get clip metadata or grading information on any device with a web browser far beyond the shoot.
Metadata input: Collecting metadata in ShotHub
Livegrade shot and look information
When uploading Livegrade projects to ShotHub, all shot metadata and grading information is replicated and saved within the cloud project. Your project is then connected to ShotHub and the shot library in ShotHub is continuously and automatically updated.
The shot library is structured in the same way as in the desktop applications, including the same viewing presets and accompanied by a full image preview of the thumbnail (if thumbnail upload is enabled for the project). For each shot, detailed metadata and grading information is shown.
If you use more than one computer with Livegrade, their respective libraries are combined into one ShotHub project to easily overview multiple shot and look collections.
Silverstack clip metadata & file information
Every Silverstack cloud project consists of one or more clip libraries deriving from one or multiple computers running a Silverstack desktop application. The clip metadata and file information of the local databases is automatically uploaded with the cloud project when connected once.
Like the desktop Silverstack applications, ShotHub offers four viewing modes for a selected bin or folder in the library: Summary, Table, Collection, and Full Image Preview. Choosing the clip table view is the best way to access the full range of metadata fields and customize them to your needs. Additionally, the detailed clip metadata or file information is also available in the general info or file tab.
Automatic metadata exchange via ShotHub
Sync local Silverstack libraries
There are many reasons to use two or more computers running a Silverstack desktop application in your workflow. When merging your local clip libraries into one cloud project via ShotHub corresponding clip information and metadata can be synced automatically across multiple instances of Silverstack.
You can currently bring together the clip metadata of multiple Silverstack libraries into one cloud project as separate library folders, but this is yet a uni-directional process.
With the upcoming sync feature all information is available on all computers, and any changes made in a project on one computer are automatically also applied on the others.
As soon as the local library changes are synced via ShotHub, all operators work on the same data set, no matter where they are.
Thus, you can use several devices simultaneously or switch between them; for example when working with your DIT cart, you can continue your work on a mobile computer after leaving the set. When working in a team or with a second unit, you can also use one computer for offloading, one for editing slate info and one for creating reports.
This way, information deriving from multiple sources is collected, merged, and archived into one ShotHub project.
Making use of metadata within ShotHub
Customize the layout by choosing metadata fields
While the automatic and manual metadata collection on set can sum up a large amount of information the project library can easily be filtered and limited to relevant information. The table view gives detailed information for every item based on the selected bin or folder in the project library.
Users can customize their table layout by selecting only the metadata columns you are interested in. As in the desktop applications, every metadata column can be sorted and columns can be reordered according to your needs. You can save and share your individual layouts to use them across cloud projects or provide them to other project members.
Refine the search by metadata fields
A widespread use case is looking for information for one particular shot or clip; with ShotHub you can find any clip or shot by name or metadata to access respective clip or look information. Reveal the clip or shot in the project outline if you need additional context (based on the library structure). It also happens that information is required for a group of clips or shots with specific characteristics e.g., all assets shot with one particular camera/lens or tagged with “VFX”. In that case, refining your search by the corresponding metadata fields enables you to find all assets meeting these criteria.
Metadata output: Sharing metadata from ShotHub
The easiest way to provide metadata to others is by inviting them as external users to your cloud projects. External users can directly access your libraries online (in read-only mode) to find the information they are looking for.
Livegrade cloud projects
Look matching via ShotHub:
When working with Livegrade and Silverstack, ShotHub builds the bridge to transfer grading information for the look matching process without additional manual exports. Every look that is saved in the shot library of your Livegrade cloud project is instantly accessible from the Silverstack desktop application for look matching (with additional metadata from Livegrade). Of course, the Silverstack user has only access if authorized with an invitation to your cloud project.
Download ASC-CDL files:
In Livegrade cloud projects, you can create and export ASC-CDLs straight from your web browser for a single shot or as batch export for a whole bin or folder if needed. The CDL grading information is saved with each shot and is at hand via ShotHub if for example, the look changed in the last minute.
Silverstack cloud projects
Download shooting day or clips reports:
With ShotHub, you can create and download shooting day or clips reports as PDF for a selected bin or folder in your library. Clips reports are based on customizable table presets so that you can choose only the metadata columns of relevance.
Download CSV files:
Additionally, you can export and download generic metadata of selected clips as .csv files to hand over relevant information to other departments or for further processing in 3rd party tools.
Archive metadata in ShotHub
When the shoot is finished, storing your clip and shot libraries in the cloud keeps valuable metadata within reach. Lookup metadata or grading information anytime to remind yourself or support other production departments by providing information.
Whether you are using Livegrade, Silverstack or ShotHub, or all of them, with this last part of our series about the metadata journey, you got the complete picture of the broad range of options for creating and collecting, sharing and archiving metadata within the Pomfort Ecosystem and beyond.
All posts in this series:
Posted in: Product know-how
Posted on: May 27, 2021
