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Welcome to the documentation of das elementDas Element

This software will help you to organize and tag assists you in efficiently organizing and tagging your asset library.das element

For a quick start, refer to the Quick start guide.


The Das Element software is build built on the concept of a visual effects pipeline. You store your main element elements in a structured folder structure system on the file system, create proxy formats for preview purposes, and store all the data in a database. Categories will help you organize the elements, while tags assure a quick search to get you the element you needensure quick searches, allowing you to find the elements you need efficiently.

  • Elements are stored on disk in using a defined folder structure and naming convention

  • For each element, proxy files will be created. Like such as thumbnails and filmstrips for a quick previeware created to enable quick previews

  • The data of the , including element categorycategories, tags, and media information are , is stored in a database

  • All file paths are stored as relative file paths. You can paths, allowing you to move the library data and only have to simply update the information in the config file

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  • .

Multiple libraries

The idea is that you can setup multiple libraries. Each can have to allow you to set up multiple libraries, each serving a different purpose. You can even create libraries for a specific projectprojects. Use the search function to find the elements your you need across all libraries.

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File path structure

The actual file data is files are stored on either your local file system or a file server. The file path structure can be is fully customizable , depending on to meet your needs. Use the ‚path builder’ to setup the You can use the Path Builder to set up a personalized naming convention and folder structure. Or, or, for a simple simpler setup, just use choose from one of the given provided presets.

Transcoding templates

For a quick preview of the elements, various proxy files can be created. Some , some of which are necessary so for the software can work to function efficiently:

  • for image files, a thumbnail needs to be generated

  • for sequences and movie files, both a thumbnail and a filmstrip will be generated

  • for other files, such as project files or 3D scenes, you can set custom previews, including thumbnails and proxies (movie or 3D model).

Additionally, you can use the transcoding tasks to create a movie proxy file or any other proxy you likeneed.
It is also possible to backfiles back up files to a remote server, like such as a cloud backup into the Cloud , or upload files to a FTP server.

Category Hierarchy Tree

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das element organizes the categories into a hierarchy tree structure

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On one hand, the hierarchy tree is structured on the actual order of categories but on the other hand it is optimized for the commonly used vocabulary in the Visual Effects industry. There are many VFX specific terms that got incorporated into this category tree which makes the most sense from an artists perspective.

There are the top tier categories which make the most sense for grouping certain types of elements together, like fire, smoke, explosions. Organizing the elements into top tier categories helps with naming and storing of elements on disk. This way, you can create a sustainable library and avoid that elements need to be moved or renamed if the category of an element changes. Changing the category can be done easily in the database, but the file stays in the same location on disk. This is important if you want to load a project file from a few years ago and want to avoid missing media files.

More and more categories will be added over time, hence the library structure will improve and become overall more detailed.

Category ID

Everybody has a different understanding of what a certain element is supposed to be called. We all have different linguistic backgrounds. That problem often leads to confusion when talking to your colleges.

Info

The focus of das element is to find one common vocabulary for element category names.

Since each category can be linked to one exact Wikidata page, we can unify one common understanding and vocabulary about what a certain category is called. This should avoid the confusion for everybody in our daily conversation with our colleagues.

The ID for each category looks something like this: Q3196
This text is an identifier that can be used to link to a human readable text in the Wikidata database.

Resource: www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Identifiers
License: cc pd CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedicationan FTP server.

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Let's start here: Quick start