I work primarily in Revit, my Revit library is upwards of 3000* families(Revit Blocks are families, I’ll use the term Block from now on) and I'm beginning to build/convert pre-textured ORBX proxies for the blocks I use in a repetitive fashion: commercial furniture, vegetation, etc.
Occasionally it is necessary to make project specific changes to these blocks, and occasionally you also notice that a block doesn’t work perfectly, or doesn’t quite comply with relevant regulations. The firm I currently work with is ISO certified and has a well-documented archiving process, so we don’t lose any of these version branches, but they just hang out on a dumb server, and we cant tag them, comment them, or communicate in any smart way anything about the file management apart from what windows server gives us – that is to say last modified, owner, date stamps, etc.
Evidently, occasionally we (as a firm) redo work… not just models. Furthermore, occasionally its quicker for me to retexture, readjust, remodel something simple than find the ‘twin version I remembered from last year’ which would do the job perfectly.
I’ve recently also been exposed to the concept of Digital Asset Management via friends in the automotive industry, and via Dassault Systems & their new SAAS cloud system (3DS Experience?). So my eyes are open to the possibility of working smarter with our assets.
So that’s the context. Off the back of the above predicament, and wanting to have a perfect system of blocks/3D assets and a way for all the users to contribute, communicating issues, or comment with changes made (ie “Pan Clearance amended to meet AS1428 - AB10/02/2015”) I started looking for solutions and came across several.
Specific Digital Asset Managers packages (DAM):
-Alienbrain
-Perforce
-Evolphin
-Sharepoint
Some have plugins for software, ie 3DS Max, some do not. All seem to be a 3rd party interface(as opposed to replacing file explorer, and all open dialogue boxes within windows), which with varying degrees of seamlessness allow you to view thumbnail/snapshots of the asset, and the metadata attached to it, check out assets, maintain versioning information, and a bunch of project management info which I’m not really interested in. (this stuff is all not-really-billable, and is well covered by our project time management package)
Then theirs generic Content Storage Management (CSM’s)
-XYplorer
-ETC
Not sure where Adobe Bridge fits into this, but I don’t believe it can Tag/Comment any file (ie. My blocks, or an ORBX file, so its not much use)
I suspect since I don’t want the project management stuff that a simple CSM will be better for me.
Criteria for a solution:
1. Simplicity: even a Windows File Explorer context menu which adds comments to any file (as a 1-way client end solution ) then a Basic CSM backend (or Adobe Bridge – if it can read the added comments)
2. Can display thumbnails of all files – EXR, HDR, Basic Images, RVT, RFA, 3DM, MAX, DWG, ETC. We’re visual people.
3. Can tag, comment any file type.
4. Version trail information would be nice, but TBH: comments & user input could be enough if aiming to satisfy criteria #1
5. Powerful Indexing – if I search for Banquette, or Reception Desk, Eucalyptus, or Concrete, or AS1428 I want all files which match that in a logical fashion: grouped by file type, and folder, sorted by version, etc)
6. Can create filing structures not dependant on folder/location: ie either pre-set searches, or a faux hierarchy of assets which is dynamically, or periodically updated to include new stuff.
7. Support drag + drop . I’m not sure the technical requirements here, but if I can list all ORBX files which match ‘concrete’, and I see the one I want, I want to click & drag it to Octane or at worst right-click to capture its path so I can dump it into an open dialogue on my other screen (this could work for save-as too, since the simplification of filing is one-way based on the above criteria).
8. Deployable. This is a want, not a need: if the solution did all of the above, manual installation & setup wouldn’t be a deal-breaker.
Just to reiterate; this is not so much additional features to be added to octane (unless thumbnails for windows explorer, and drag+drop materials can’t yet be done??)
This is more of a cry for help to find a way to manage a large asset library – which just increased exponentially in terms of octane specific assets (both created, and yet-to-be-created placeholders), user input/requests for maintenance, etc.
I’m sure for those who visualisation/programming is ALL they do, and who have superhuman memories, they have a folder & naming system and remember all the additional specifics regarding files/projects.
For the rest of you – how do you manage your assets, models, images, backgrounds, billboards, code snippets, notes, inspiration images, request for work, filing, archiving, retrieving, etc?
*I’m sure 3000 blocks tiny compared to some – wasn’t meant as a brag, just giving some scale/context to the problem.
EDIT: Just to clarify: 3000 is the clean library - project specific files are upwards of 6000 last time I bundled them all up via an extensive wildcarded search of the server.... but who knows how useable any of the 6000 are - and what solution they were created to achieve - hence the above...
P.S. this is less for my current firm, and more for the new one - who employed me based on some of my Octane renders, so thanks!
