When you import media that resides on an external shared storage device, all the media is copied to Autodesk storage. Any changes that you make to this media are protected, and exclusive to this stored copy. However, it can take a long time to load large files and all of this stored media can take up a lot of space in Autodesk storage.
The soft-import feature provides a more efficient way to handle media. When you soft-import media, Smoke creates a link that references the media at its original location, so that no media is actually imported and duplicated in Autodesk storage. Later, when you move or delete soft-imported clips, you affect only the reference—not the actual media in the shared storage location. If you enabled proxies for the project or media resolution, then only the proxies reside in Autodesk storage.
A proxy is a low-resolution copy of a high-resolution image. There can be one proxy for each frame in a clip. Proxies are used to provide real-time playback of processed results and to provide low-resolution stand-in clips in a compositing environment so that composites can be quickly created. Proxies can be configured.
When soft-importing media, be aware that you have no control if another user modifies the original media files. All soft-imported clips in Autodesk storage that refer to the modified media files are updated to reflect the change. Ensure that all users accessing the same media are aware of these implications.
You can render or process soft-imported media in any module. The resulting new clip is written to Autodesk storage. Since any links to the original media are now removed, changes to this media will no longer be updated on the shared storage. Also, if the media changes in the original external location, the changes are not reflected in your stored clip. This can be useful if you want to prevent other users with access to the shared storage from altering your clip.
You can also soft-import media when importing files using an EDL or recapturing media. See Importing EDL Files and Recapturing Media.
