Productions

In PostLab, all work lives inside of a Production.

A Production is where your project files, or Documents, live. Productions are saved locally, so you aren't working from the cloud. Your NLE is working with locally stored files, as would be the case without having PostLab. PostLab observes changes made to Documents within a Production, and changes are synced to other Team Members through our cloud servers.

Creating a Production

  1. In PostLab, go to POSTLAB CLOUD > Teams > (Your Team) > ➕ > Production.

  2. Then define:

    1. PRODUCTION NAME

    2. LOCATION - the Folder or Subfolder where this Production will live.

    3. DESCRIPTION - add any additional details about your Production.

    4. Open production after creating ☑️ - opens the Production once you click Create.

  3. Click Create.

  4. Done!

Inside a Production

Activity

All Document operations are logged under Activity. Logged activities include:

  • Started working on...

  • ...canceled upload

  • Documents - additions and deletions

  • Tasks - additions and completions

  • Bookmarks - additions and deletions

The last nine activities are displayed, with your last logged activity being the first one displayed. Show all Activity shows you all logged activities in a Production from the moment of creation. You can also use the search bar to filter activities by Document names, operations, or Team Members.

Tasks

Tasks help your Team stay focused using To-Do lists combined with a lightweight chat experience.

  1. New Task

    1. TASK TITLE - name it.

    2. ASSIGNED TO - assign it to a Team Member.

    3. DUE DATE - give your task an end date.

    4. DESCRIPTION - describe it.

  2. Add Comment - discuss, clarify, give progress updates... it’s your Task!

  3. Done? Click Complete Task.

Drive

Launch and access PostLab Drive directly from your Production. For security reasons, Drive is only available to Team Members, not External Members.

Bookmarks

Bookmarks are aliases, or shortcuts, to folders on PostLab Drive.

  1. In a Production, click Drive to connect your Team’s Drive. Your Team’s Drive will appear in a new Finder window.

  2. In Finder, locate or create a folder to add to this Production’s Bookmarks.

  3. Drag and drop the folder from Finder to PostLab.

  4. Done!

Bookmarks are available to all Team Members, but not External Members.

Bookmarks serve as the underpinnings for Drive Thru, a suite of file transfer services available for PostLab Drive. Two of these services, Drop Off and Pick Up, let someone without a PostLab account upload to or download from PostLab Drive using a special access link. No app required.

Drop Off & Pick Up

Documents

In PostLab, Documents are your video editing app’s project files added or imported into a Production. Once inside a Production, Documents are synced with the PostLab Cloud service for activity tracking, versioning, and collaboration possibilities.

Documents

Questions

How do I make project files available to my Team?

Add or import project files as Documents inside a Production. If you’re using PostLab Drive, you might be tempted to upload these directly to Drive. If you do, you'll miss out on PostLab's core collaboration features such as remote locking, activity tracking, and versioning.

Where are Productions stored?

Productions are bundles of files containing your Documents and related activity (Preferences > General > DEFAULT PRODUCTION LOCATION). Productions are downloaded and locally cached on your computer. When you upload your work, those locally cached changes are synced with the Productions and Documents on PostLab Cloud.

How do I rename a Production?

  1. In PostLab, go to POSTLAB CLOUD > (Your Team), then click the Production to rename.

  2. In the Info & Options panel, go to ABOUT > ⚙️ / (⋯) Options > Edit Production.

  3. Read - WARNING!

  4. If you're sure you want to rename this Production, enter a PRODUCTION NAME, then Save it.

    • Optional: you may also change a Production’s LOCATION and modify its DESCRIPTION from here.

How do I rename a Folder?

  1. In PostLab, go to POSTLAB CLOUD > (Your Team), then click the Folder to rename.

  2. In the Info & Options panel, go to ABOUT > ⚙️ / (⋯) Options > Edit Folder.

  3. Read - WARNING!

  4. If you're sure you want to rename this Folder, enter a FOLDER NAME, then Save it.

    • Optional: you may also modify a folder’s DESCRIPTION from here.

How do I move a Production to a different folder?

  1. In PostLab, go to POSTLAB CLOUD > (Your Team), then click the Production to delete.

  2. In the Info & Options panel, go to ABOUT > ⚙️ Options > Edit Production.

  3. Read - WARNING!

  4. If you're sure you want to move this Production, pick a new LOCATION, then click Save.

How do I delete a Production?

  1. In PostLab, go to POSTLAB CLOUD > (Your Team), then click the Production to delete.

  2. In the Info & Options panel, go to ABOUT > ⚙️ Options > Delete Production.

  3. Read - ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DELETE THIS…?

  4. If you still want to delete this Production, follow the instructions, then click Delete Production.

What's the maximum number of Documents you can add to a Production?

If you add more than 8 Documents total to a Production, PostLab warns you:

Maximum Recommended Number of Documents

PostLab won't prevent you from adding more Documents to a Production. Right now, this is only a warning. But if you need more than 8 Documents for your work, we recommend organizing your work into multiple Productions. Here's why.

A Production is like an 8-passenger car, not a touring bus. 4 people? Comfortable. 5? Still comfortable. With eight people, everyone still fits, and it's still comfortable. But add one more person? They might fit, but it starts becoming uncomfortable. One more? Even less.

PostLab has limited support for huge FCP Libraries and Premiere Pro Projects. As a rule of thumb, a Production should never exceed 2 GB of data, counting all Documents and versions. A Document should be less than 1 GB, including its Activity history.

The larger a Document, the longer it takes to upload, download, sync, and calculate differences between versions. Doing so in a region not close to you will impact this even more.

If you experience any of this with FCP, try splitting Events across multiple Libraries, or saving the latest version of a Library as a new Document. This removes a Library's Activity history, so be sure to delete the old Library only if you do not require to keep those versions around.

If your FCP Libraries and/or Premiere Pro Projects routinely exceed 1 GB, reach out to us: [email protected]

With PostLab, you can create garages full of cars:

  • Garage = Folder

  • Cars = Productions

  • Driver, Navigator, Passengers = Documents

So if you see this warning in a Production, PostLab's saying, "Please don't use this car as a touring bus." If you know you'll need more than 8 Documents for your work, plan ahead, organize work into multiple Productions, and your Productions will stay smooth and drivable.

What is Housekeeping?

PostLab saves each version of a Document, but it doesn't save a complete version each time. It only saves the parts that have changed.

When you go back to a previous version in PostLab, the Document is reconstructed based on which parts changed and when. To achieve that, a lot of reference points are saved. Over time, many of these become moot. Housekeeping checks each of those references and decides which ones are needed. If it's not needed, it's removed. Then Productions open faster, feeling more responsive.

Housekeeping is done automatically on the server, so downloading a Production for the first time always feels neat and tidy. But like real life, housekeeping can be time-consuming. The more versions there are of a Document, the more references to compare, the longer Housekeeping takes.

For best results, run Housekeeping after finishing a job, or if a Production starts to feel a bit sluggish. If your Production still feels sluggish:

  1. In Finder, delete the Production bundle from PostLab’s Default Production Folder (Preferences > General > DEFAULT PRODUCTION LOCATION).

  2. In PostLab, redownload the Production when prompted.

Downloading a Fresh Copy of a Production

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