I am working in a newscutter environment with a brand new ISIS system.  We have two avids running Interplay access (threes still on media manager until training) and I am trying to figure out the cleanest way to import our "Daily-use" elements into a main catalogue folder.  Is it as simple as dragging into the interplay window?  At a previous job, also with interplay, we just created a project to hold any daily-use elements (stingers, resized effects etc) so we could just open a bin and have the items readily available (rather than popping the interplay window up every time we needed a resize).  

Basically, after all the ranting, I am trying to figure out the best way to import these reoccurring elements into a folder that can be reserved and quickly accessed by the editors. I hope that makes sense and thanks for anyone willing to help a rookie out.  

You're answering your own question.

Create a folder in your Interplay Catalogs called "Daily Use" and drag and drop any material from your NewsCutter bins into that folder in the Interplay Window. Don't drop the items on the left-hand folder; drop them in the folder contents region on the right-hand side of the Interplay window. Then all you need to do is place a reservation on that folder from within Access.

It's a bad idea to make a "Daily Use" project and open those bins from other projects. You should retrieve all shared material by checking it out through Interplay Access or the Interplay Window.

Thanks for the quick response.  Good to know.  So when you say retrieve from the interplay window do you mean just have it open with the "daily use" elements in their own tab to be accessed from there?  

You can do that, sure. You can take material from the Interplay window and load it into your Source Monitor directly.

Otherwise, you can make a "Daily Use" bin in your local project and drag-and-drop the items you want from the Catalog to your bin, as needed.

Gotcha.  Thanks again for your help.  

One last thing . . . (since you have been so kind)

I am trying to figure out the best way to create projects for our newsroom's workflow.  We have 6 avid bays that are generally used by 2 editors a day (am side/pm side).  My original plan was to have daily projects for each editor to work from that we can just wipe out on a weekly basis but that would require deleting the project and creating a new one (in order to clean out old bins).  Is that just how it will have to go or is there an easier way to have 7 mon-sun projects that will wipe out all bins in order to have a clean start each week?  

I hope that makes sense and again, thank you for you help. 

The way we do this is to have blank project templates.

Create your projects (Mon - Sun)

Set all your project settings correctly.

Create a folder somewhere (we do it in the projects workspace in ISIS).

Every day delete the old project (use windows explorer delete whole folder)

Copy and paste empty template from templates folder.

All bins gone - clean sheet.

Word of warning:

Make sure nobody is in the project (it won't let you delete it)

Make a backup of the templates ( I have 2: one in the engineering workspace in ISIS and one on a general netwok folder cos sure as eggs somebody will accidentally delete the project template, also helps if settings get corrupted).

Site settings no longer function if you use this method so make sure your project settings in your templates are correct. And if you decide to change your settings don't forget to modify the templates and your backups if its a permanent change.

Good luck

Nice.  Thats how we have it set up now and its working fine. 

My only (and hopefully last) question now is our project folder pathing. Will the amount of subfolders that the actual project folder lives in effect media managment?

For example, when avid set us up originally our path was 

Databases/projects/news/1 monday

but since we have six machines I created a sub folder identifying each bay

for example;

Databases/projects/news/Avid x/1 monday

I take it to achieve this structure that you have set up the Interplay Folder path settings in each editor to match their own sub-folder?

Will it screw things up?

As long as the media checks into Inteplay should be no problems. There are limits to the number of folders and files etc. - can't remember what the exact nos are ( the are documented in readmes etc.), but they are fairly large so you shouldn't run into any issues.

The thing to remember with Interplay is that the database ony deals in metadata - so you can really do what you want with the folder structure as long as it works for you.

As for media management it might complicate it a bit depends on your rules and how much media is shared between editors. If you are in a news environment and using a Mon to Sun project structure you are probably on a weekly delete cycle. So as long as everybody is aware that media goes after 1 week no matter where it lives in the database (unless it is reserved of course) it shouldn't matter. You need to drum into everybody the importance of reservations (i.e. it is the only way to protect media in an Interplay system).

So from a media management point of view (making the assumption that you are on a weekly cycle) they come along on Monday morning (or last thing Sunday) move any media that needs to be protected into a reserved folder and blow away the contents of each "1 monday" folder. By creating 6 Monday folders the Media Manager will have to do this 6 times now if he/she does it manually, but you could also build a search in Access to try and simplify the task. Personal preference really.

Hello Rob,

My name is Tamera and I'm a Media Asset Manager in a post production environment.  Previously worked with Avid Unity Mediamanager with NBC News, now using Interplay in a post house.  I was reading your string on creating catalogs -- have a  couple of questions for you..hoping u can help especially since you are an ASCR-- i sent u an email also -- but you can post your response here as well....