Archiving Entries

When you archive entries, there are two methods for organizing the entries: Normal and Compact. Both methods perform some optimization to save space in the archive. The Compact method creates a backup set, which acts like a container that holds the archived material. It appears in the archive as an entry called Backup Set, and all selected entries are within it. Each time you use Compact, a new backup set is created. When entries are archived using the Normal option, the entries appear directly in the archive.

Compact Archives

Compact archives optimize archiving. If a frame appears more than once in any clip being archived, the frame is archived only once. No image data for duplicate frames is archived. This saves a significant amount of space on the archive if your clips contain a lot of duplicate frames.

When you create a Compact archive, the archived material is stored in a backup set. You can expand the backup set in the archive library to view and select the clips. You can restore selected clips from a Compact backup set without having to restore the entire archive.

Compact archives are the recommended archive type for Autodesk Smoke and Backdraft Conform projects since they are usually archived as a whole.

NoteWhen you open an archive, all entries appear exactly as they did when you selected them, even if entire clips were composed of duplicate frames and not archived. The optimization occurs on the tape, and references to all original clips are kept so that the clips can be restored.

To archive entries from a clip library:

Open the archive. See Opening an Archive.
Enable Include Audio if you want audio data to be archived with the clips.

NoteIf you disable the Include Audio button when archiving, the audio track information and audio data will be lost when you restore the clips.
The Archive Information displays the percentage of space used on the medium and how much space is available for archiving, in both megabytes and frames.

(a) Percentage of space used (b) Available space in MB (c) Available space in frames (d) Resolution box (e) Bit Depth box
If needed, change the resolution, bit depth, or both to see how many frames of the specified dimensions can be archived.
NoteWhen archiving to a VTR, you can only archive clips of the resolution supported by the VTR, therefore the Resolution box is greyed out and displays the resolution of the currently selected VTR.
From the Library Type box, select Clip Library. The clip library appears.

(a) Library Type box (b) Clip Library box (c) Backup set box (d) Archiving Mode box (e) Entry Type box (f) Archive & Close button

Images courtesy of Technicolor (formerly Toybox) and Das Werk
From the Clip Library box, select the required clip library.

From the Backup Set box, select the backup set.

Select:	To:
Compact	Maintain a highly organized archive and save space on the device.
Normal	Archive without using a backup set. Entries are archived directly to the table of contents. Source clips remain in play order on tape.

If archiving soft-imported clips, select the archiving mode from the Archiving Mode box.

Select:	To:
Stone	Write the clip to the framestore and archive the content of the media file.
Linked	Archive only the path to the media file.

From the Entry Type box, select the entries that you want to archive.

Select:	To archive:
Project + Shared	Project EditDesk, setup directory, clip libraries, shared clip libraries, and metadata
Project	Project EditDesk, setup directory, clip libraries, and metadata
Project Libraries + Shared	Current project clip libraries and imported (shared) clip libraries
Project Libraries	Current project clip libraries
Selection	Selected entries

Do one of the following:
- Click Archive if you want to add additional items to the archive. Follow steps 6 to 10. When finished, click Close.
- Click Archive & Close to archive selected entries and close the archive immediately.
The selected entries are saved to the archive. If the archives do not fit in the first file, tape device, or VTR tape archive, perform the following steps.

NoteTo abort the archiving process at any time, click anywhere in the grey area of the screen.
If the selected material does not fit in the chosen file or tape archive, a message appears in the message bar advising you of the necessary steps. Follow the instructions and then click Confirm.
TipTo abort the process of a multiple VTR tape archive, click Abort Loading rather than Confirm.
When archiving to tape or VTR, insert the next tape.
Messages reflecting the process status are displayed in the message bar. When your intervention is required, follow the instructions.

Smoke automatically archives the material onto the tape and updates the header information to account for the material being split onto more than one tape. When this process is complete, the related message appears.
Insert Tape 2 in the tape device or VTR.
The procedure for archiving to Tape 2 is the same as for Tape 1. Follow steps 10 to 12.
Repeat steps 12-13 if you want to split your archive onto further tapes or files.
The corresponding message appears when all the selected material has been archived successfully.