Cinegy Watch Folder Configuration and Setup

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The file folders that are being monitored by Cinegy Watch Folder Service are configured using the Watch Folder Service Configurator – a separate utility provided as a part of the Cinegy Desktop x86 installer.

Note	To use Cinegy Watch Folder Service Configurator (Legacy) the local administrator rights are required.

The main window of the utility has three tabs:

General tab;
Media Watch Folders tab;
Document Watch Folders tab.

Note	If the configuration is changed when Watch Folder Service (Legacy) is active, all settings will be applied on the next processing loop (1 minute by default).

General

wfc_cfg_general

On this tab you can manually set the watch folder query interval in seconds.

Note	Please, note that in case of small files processing, the idle time may exceed the actual processing time.

Using the corresponding drop-down list define the log level: full, partial, custom, or none for no logging.

browse_button

Press the "Browse…" button to define the folder where log files will be stored.

You can also define the the custom debug level by changing manually the trace level (0–5) and error level (0–5) values.

In the "New log every" field, you can define how often a new log file is created.

Media Watch Folders

wfc_cfg_media

On this tab, you can select the directories to be monitored, file mask and the target job drop folders from the Cinegy Archive database.

add_button

Press the "Add" button to add a new watch folder.

remove_button

Press the "Remove" button to delete the selected watch folder or folders from the list. The following warning dialog box appears:

warning_remove

Press "Yes" to proceed with the deletion or "No" to cancel it.

wf_cfg_edit_button

Press this button for the required watch folder to edit its location. The following "Browse Folder" dialog box appears:

browse_folder_window

Select the desired shared folder and press "OK".

In the "File mask" field, enter the video file extension(s) that will be watched for from the corresponding watch folder or leave the default "*.*" value to watch for all the media files in the defined watch folder.

wf_cfg_edit_button

Press this button next to the target job drop folder to change it for another one from the Cinegy Archive database:

target_job_folder_window

In the "Target job folder" dialog box that appears, select a target job drop folder for the video import.

Exceptions

exception_button

Use the "Exceptions" button to set up the particular file exceptions to be ignored during monitoring by Cinegy Watch Folder Service:

exceptions_list

add_button

Press the "Add" button to add a new file exception; the following dialog appears:

new_exception

Enter a filename mask and press "Add"; the new exception will be added to the "Exceptions" list.

remove_button

Press the "Remove" button to delete the selected exception from the list. The following confirmation dialog box appears:

exception_remove

Press "Yes" to proceed with the deletion or "No" to cancel it.

Pre-Populated Metadata Fields

You can automate the process of filling in the metadata fields for the imported files. In this case, the pre-populated metadata will be automatically applied to the imported material.

To do so, follow the steps using the XML file:

The XML file with the Cinegy.FIDEF.default name should be generated according to the Cinegy XML data definition format and copied into the monitored folder.
The media file(s) should be copied into the same folder where the XML definition file is stored. Metadata values from the Cinegy.FIDEF.default file will be applied to all the media files imported from the monitored folder.

Note	The use of the FIDEF file is optional, you can copy only media files. In this case, the default metadata values (such as Roll name, duration, comment, etc.) will be used.

You can define the FIDEF file for the specified media file only. To do so, generate the XML file with the same name as your media file with the *.fidef extension according to the Cinegy XML data definition format and copy it into the monitored folder, where the corresponding media file is located.

For example, ingesting a hypothetical "VideoEssence.mpg" media file via Cinegy Watch Folder. First, the "VideoEssence.mpg.fidef" file (containing the pre-populated metadata descriptions) should be created and copied into the monitored folder, and then the "VideoEssence.mpg" file should be copied to the same folder.

Note	If the monitored folder contains both the Cinegy.FIDEF.default and *.fidef files, the second one is of higher-priority for the specified media material and will be used only for its metadata pre-populating.

FIDEF File Sample

A sample of the FIDEF file structure is shown below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<FileImport>

  <Global>
    <GlobalParam name="FieldOrder" value="1"></GlobalParam>
    <GlobalParam name="TapeOrg" value="10:00:00:00"></GlobalParam>
    <GlobalParam name="RollName" value="Created Roll"></GlobalParam>
    <GlobalParam name="ReadStart" value="10:00:00:00"></GlobalParam>
    <GlobalParam name="ReadEnd" value="10:01:00:00"></GlobalParam>
    <GlobalParam name="RollDest" value="c01c6036-128b-4c96-ad6a-4750f27c0d49" />
  </Global>

  <Roll>
    <Field name="pd_clip_name" value="Changed Roll name"></Field>
  </Roll>

  <Scenes>
    <Scene ClipName="SceneName1" ClipStart="10:00:00:00" ClipEnd="10:01:00:00">
      <Field name="clip_description" value="Scene1 description"></Field>
    </Scene>
    <Scene ClipName="SceneName2" ClipStart="10:03:00:00" ClipEnd="10:03:15:00">
      <Field name="clip_description" value="Scene2 description"></Field>
    </Scene>
  </Scenes>

  <MasterClip>
    <Field name="pd_clip_name" value="Created MasterClip"></Field>
    <Field name="pd_clip_comment" value="Some MasterClip comment"></Field>
    <Field name="clip_description" value="Some MasterClip description"></Field>
    <Field name="rushes_roll_number" value="RrnXX"></Field>
  </MasterClip>

</FileImport>

There are four sections containing pre-populated metadata fields and the global ingest parameters. They are:

Global
Roll
Scenes
MasterClip

All the parameters have the same format:

<tag_name name='param_name' value='param_value'> </tag_name>

A more detailed description of each section is shown below.

Global

<Global> contains the global parameters for the ingest session. The "GlobalParam" tag is used when its "name" parameter defines:

FieldOrder – the field order in the source file (set the value to "0" to make top field first, "1" – bottom field first, "2" – progressive frame);
TapeOrg – the original timecode. If not defined, the zero timecode will be used instead (00:00:00:00);
RollName – the Roll name;
ReadStart – the start timecode (IN point). If not defined, the first frame in the file will be used as the IN point;
ReadEnd – the end timecode (OUT point). If not defined, the last frame in the file will be used instead as the OUT point. If only duration is known, the 'ReadDuration' parameter can be used instead;
RollDest – the destination Roll or folder ID in the database, where imported audio/video materials will be registered as MOG in the Roll or Roll in the folder.

If "RollDest" specifies the ID of the Roll that does not exist in the current database, a new Roll with this ID will be created in the folder set in the Ingest / Import job drop folder target settings. Alternatively, the existing Roll will be used, and a new MOG will be created in it.

If "RollDest" specifies the ID of the folder object, a new Roll will be created in this folder. When the "RollDest" tag is not set or has syntax errors, it will be ignored, and Ingest / Import job drop folder target settings will be used instead.

Roll

<Roll> contains the metadata fields related to a created Roll.

Note	You can assign any field by its internal name the same way as it is defined for <Roll> in the sample of the FIDEF file structure above. Please see the Descriptors, Presets article within the Cinegy Archive Manager Manual for details about descriptors and their settings.

Scenes

<Scenes> contains the metadata fields for creating subclips. The "Scenes" tag has the following parameters:

SceneName – the scene name. If not defined, a random unique name will be automatically generated from the clip metadata;
ClipStart – the start timecode (IN point) of the scene. This parameter is mandatory;
ClipEnd – the end timecode (OUT point) of the scene. The 'ClipDuration' parameter can be used instead. This parameter is mandatory;
ClipDuration – the duration timecode of the scene. The 'ClipEnd' parameter can be used instead. This parameter is mandatory.

MasterClip

<MasterClip> contains the metadata fields related to the created master clip (entire).

Note	You can assign any field by its internal name the same way as it is defined for <MasterClip> in the sample of the FIDEF file structure. All the metadata field definitions have the same format: `<Field name='param_name' value='param_value'></Field>`

Here 'name' is the internal string ID of the defined metadata field in the database model. For example, <Field name='pd_clip_name' value='Created MasterClip'></Field>

Automatic Media Assets Population

Cinegy Archive can be automatically populated with the media based on the information from the 3rd party traffic systems. This workflow is achieved by using Cinegy Traffic Gateway and Cinegy Convert (either Legacy or PRO version). The list of media to be populated should be provided in Cinegy CSV file format.

Note	Refer to the CINEGY CSV INPUT FILE FORMAT article within the Cinegy Traffic Gateway Manual for details on Cinegy CSV file format.

While processing the CSV file, Cinegy Traffic Gateway is scanning the Cinegy Archive database and/or the media storage for the media files that correspond to the playlist Traffic IDs. There are two file match providers available in Cinegy Traffic Gateway:

CAS – responsible for scanning the Cinegy Archive database;
PowerShell – a script for scanning the media storages and triggering the missing media imports into Cinegy Archive.

In case the media file is available in Cinegy Archive, the corresponding reference is assigned to the playlist item. In case the media file is unavailable in the Cinegy Archive database, a new placeholder is created by the CAS provider with the corresponding Traffic ID. The reference to this placeholder is assigned to an item in the resulting playlist. At the same time, PowerShell will try to search for the media file in the folder that is specified in the Traffic Gateway settings. If PowerShell locates the desired media file, it will create the CineLink file in the Cinegy Convert Watch folder.

Note	The Cinegy Convert Watch folder path should be specified in the PowerShell script.

Cinegy Convert Watch folder service monitors folders and picks up the Cinelink file in order to create the import task and pass it to Cinegy Convert for further processing. CineLink file contains the information about the media file path and the target placeholder GUID created by the CAS. Based on this information Cinegy Convert fills the target placeholder with the specified media.

Cinegy Traffic Gateway composes Cinegy Air playlist through CSV file processing. Once the playlist is inserted to the Cinegy Air control application, the application scans Cinegy Archive for the placeholders that already contain media. Each item referred to the placeholder is automatically updated with the media file URL from the Cinegy Archive media storage.

Note	In case PowerShell is unable to locate the media file with the specified Traffic ID, the Cinelink file is not created. Resulting MCRlist will contain the dummy item with the corresponding Traffic ID.

CineLink File Sample

A sample of the CineLink file structure is shown below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<FileImport>

  <Source>
    <File path="\\SomeServer\videosources\Sample.mxf" />
  </Source>

  <Global>
    <GlobalParam name="TapeOrg" value="10;00;00;00" />
  </Global>

  <MasterClip>
	<Field name="traffic_programm_id" value="ID-001" />
  </MasterClip>

</FileImport>

Source

<Source> specifies the media file path for the ingest session. The "File" tag is used when its "path" parameter defines the network share where the source media file is located.

Note	Other sections are defined in the same way as in the sample of the FIDEF file structure above.

Importing Media into a Placeholder

It is possible to set a Placeholder as the destination for importing media files. To do this, use the automatically generated FIDEF file with the same name, as the name of the media file for importing. Open the FIDEF file for editing and insert the Placeholder MOGs GUID as a value of the <RollDest> tag of the <Global> section:

<GlobalParam name="RollDest" value="c01c6036-128b-4c96-ad6a-4750f27c0d49" />

Important

Refer to the Nodes Explorer article within the Cinegy Archive Manager Manual for detailed information on how to find the GUID of a node in a database.

Copy both files into the monitored folder. After the job processing is finished, the Placeholder will be transformed into a Roll containing a new Entire clip.

Document Watch Folders

On the "Document watch folders" tab, configure the settings for importing a document. You can import various types of document files with metadata, different folder structures are also supported.

Here define the network shares to monitor, file masks to import and the target job drop folder destinations from the Cinegy Archive database.

add_button

Press the "Add" button to create a new document watch folder.

remove_button

Press the "Remove" button to delete the selected document watch folder from the list.

Use the "Maximum number of documents per job" field to limit the number of documents processed per one job. The valid values range lies between 50 and 1000.

Use the "Maximum number of documents per Document Bin" field to limit the number of documents stored in a single DocumentBin during the import. The valid values range lies between 1000 and 5000.

Logging

Here you can define the level for logging: full, partial, custom or none for no logging. For the custom log level you can manually choose the debug log level by changing values of trace level (0 – 5) and error level (0 – 5).

browse_button

Press the "Browse…" button to define the folder where log files will be stored.

In the "New log every" field, you can define how often a new log file is created.

Note	If the configuration is changed when the Watch Folder Service is active, all settings will be applied on the next processing loop (1 minute by default).