Beta Track

We're working hard on a completely new version of PostLab, set to launch early 2024. If you're interested in helping us shape the future of collaboration, you can sign up for access to our Beta Track here:

https://requestforms.typeform.com/to/YmNSK5bJ

Every week, we qualify new sign-ups and send out invites. If you don't get an invite, we're likely testing something that you cannot help with that week. We'll contact you if we deploy a feature that fits your workflow request or feedback.

Introduction

The new PostLab is a collaboration management tool for all creatives to collectively work on shared project files, check out what they need to work on, and create a saved version history. The new PostLab is very similar to the previous version, but there are some important differences you should be aware of:

• Team Bundles are the central location where PostLab draws all its information from. You can create multiple bundles in multiple locations, but PostLab 2.0 will only read one at a time. Your choice of location for the Bundle will determine who you can collaborate with based on their access rights to that storage location. In the old PostLab, each Production was a bundle; now, a bundle contains more than just a production to allow for the use of files across productions.

• Collections live inside the bundle and are, as the name suggests, the collection of files being used for a project. You can have multiple Collections in one Bundle. In the original version of PostLab, Collections were called Productions.

• Team Management no longer exists. Whilst the original PostLab utilized Teams to manage access, a key part of PostLab 2.0 is that it’s serverless. This means that PostLab 2.0 leverages your existing storage access rights, so there is no additional level of access required. If your team members can access a Team Bundle's location on your storage, they can access the Team Bundle's contents to collaborate.

Download

As always, do not use Beta software for everyday work - it's not production-ready!

https://hedge.video/download/postlab/macos/beta

The PostLab Beta requires a license key, which is provided to qualified beta users in the Beta invite email. Check your inbox or the License Manager for your key.

Beta Instructions

With the Beta Track, we’re focused on the new versioning engine. We want you to test the following:

• The basic versioning stuff: importing, editing, saving, reverting, etc.

• Import different types of documents; we want to be able to support every file type.

• Using the same document across multiple collections.

• Event Locking (Final Cut Pro)

  • Add an event that is part of one library to another library.

  • Events created in Final Cut Pro should be shown in PostLab after checking in your changes.

  • Open a library with an event that is already locked. You should see a lock icon in Final Cut Pro.

• Motion Template Sharing

  • Import a library (.fcpbundle) containing Motion Templates (Library > Inspector > Storage Locations > Motion Content: In Library).

  • All Motion Templates contained in a library are available to other libraries across Collections.

  • All the contents of a Motion Templates folder contained in a library are versioned as a whole. That means you cannot lock individual generators, effects, titles, or transitions.

    • Changes in a Motion Templates folder may include:

      • Adding/removing individual templates from the library.

      • Modifying templates contained in that library.

Known Issues & Work In Progress

• Apple

  • Final Cut Pro - Adding a new role through Edit Roles... without applying it to a clip won’t save after you Save Changes and then reopen your library in PostLab. You must apply your new role to a clip before you Save Changes.

    • Workaround: build a template library with placeholder clips, apply your custom roles to those placeholder clips, and then Save Changes in PostLab.

• Adobe

  • Premiere Pro - Make sure you have no “Same as Project” Scratch Disk locations in use. All 7 (!) PPro scratch locations need to be outside of the project file for now. In the future, we’ll build in a provision for this.

  • After Effects - Not yet supported, as we need to exclude a bunch of helper files that Adobe apps create upon opening a file. These are app-specific, so we'll have to add support for these one by one.

• Document states updating

  • Sometimes the state of a document isn’t updated properly, especially on some SMB file servers.

• Create new Documents & Events

  • Right now, it’s only possible to import Documents. Creating new Documents and Events in-app is being worked on.

• Smart Collections are currently only supported if they're saved in Events, not in the Library itself.

• Templates are not yet implemented.

• S3 - support for storing and syncing PostLab bundles through S3 will arrive early ‘24.

FAQ

• How should I use PostLab for remote collaboration?

  • For best performance, we recommend storing your Team Bundle on a LucidLink Filespace.

• What will the new PostLab cost?

  • A new license will likely have a similar cost as what PostLab currently costs, so $149 for regular PostLab, and $249 for PostLab Pro. Event Locking and S3 support will be Pro features, amongst others. Extending the license with support and updates will likely be 2/3rds of the purchase price of a new license.

Feedback

Obviously, we’d love to hear what you think of the new PostLab Beta. Most importantly, we’d like to hear about what doesn’t work, and if there’s anything that’s hard to understand or use.

If something in PostLab Beta isn’t working as expected, create a set of logs – Help > Collect Logs for support – then upload those to us with some details in the Send Feedback form.

Feature requests are always welcome but not required at this stage. We've gathered all feedback from the last four years and are working through those for future betas and releases.

When in doubt, click Send Feedback in PostLab Beta or start here: https://requestforms.typeform.com/to/kI7zlkO8