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Author Topic: Particles  (Read 1312 times)

Boltron

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Particles
« on: April 30, 2013, 05:33:10 am »

Using Particles with movies is awesome but there is one ongoing issue that has caused me much grief. I can't rename Particle paths when I move my media files around (i.e. \\server1\movies to L:\movies).

Is there any way I can do this other than delete all the Particles and re-create them? I'd even edit the binary library files if you can just give me some guidance on where the info is contained.

Ideally I would love to be able to re-import the library xml which can be exported from the library manager. Or, how about Particle sidecar files?

PS: Actually the ability to re-import library xml files would be super awesome because I can do other really useful stuff also. I have looked around but can't find any way to do this.
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MrC

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Re: Particles
« Reply #1 on: April 30, 2013, 11:37:18 am »

There is a thread by one of the beta users in the beta forum that expresses this matter.  I found a workaround, and posted it there.  It is:

----
First, disable auto-import and have MC not fix broken links.  This is important.

In a view, show all the files you want changed, including their particles and even artwork.

Select all the files, and in the tag action window, edit the Filename (path) field.  Enter an expression that will change the path to your needs.  For example:

  =replace([filename (path)], \BackedUp\, \)

You might be tempted to manually change the name.  Don't.  Use an expression like that above to do the assignment; you're going to use it again so that conditional changes are made.

As soon as you hit enter, confirm you want MC to change the field (shown as Filename).  MC will then get grumpy, complaining about a tagging error for the real files.  Laugh at it, and click OK.  You'll notice that the path to your particle files no longer match the path to the main file.

You can have MC remove the empty folders when it asks.

Now, here's the trick.  Do the same thing again, with the same expression and you're all done.  Since the expression above is semi-conditional (it can only change \BackedUp\ if it exists in the path), the fixup will complete the broken paths.

If the expression above is insufficient to ensure pass 2 will only hit the remaining files, it needs to be modified appropriately.
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Boltron

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Re: Particles
« Reply #2 on: April 30, 2013, 03:19:05 pm »

Holy crap! I can't wait to try this.

You'll probably laugh at me when I tell you that I have over 100 particles and I have had to reenter them about 10 times (I have a spreadsheet with the details). I really hope this works.

Thanks!
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Boltron

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Re: Particles
« Reply #3 on: April 30, 2013, 05:51:51 pm »

I must be missing something...

Auto-import is disabled.
In configure auto-import I have set Fix Broken links: No
As my movie files have already had the path name changed. Only the particles remain.
I made a view which lists particles only using Stack Tag.

So I do:

I used the appropriate =replace(... and pasted it into the filename (path) field of a single particle to do a test.
I do not get a confirmation and MC does not get Grumpy, it says nothing just does the edit.
After the change, filename (path) and filename look correct however filename (name) has had a (1) appended to it and it appears that MC made a copy or is trying to make a copy of the file.
The particle will not play.

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MrC

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Re: Particles
« Reply #4 on: April 30, 2013, 06:03:42 pm »

The (1) would tend to indicate that either the path didn't change or there was an existing file of that name already.
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