Tutorial - Cinesync® review session

Rev 1.002, 2020.10.12

How to read this tutorial

Summary

This tutorial is targeting organisations in the media industry performing daily review session using Cinesync® (https://cinesync.com).


Wishing to:


This tutorial is a complete walkthrough covering:


Notes: 

Schematics

Installing and configuring accsyn


Cloud server

We refer to our cloud server tutorial for instructions on how to setup an accsyn server in the cloud,:



On-prem server

You can also setup Accsyn on-prem (standard), either exposing your project storage directly or running separate in DMZ with local intermediate storage.  

Note: running in DMZ  should be interpreted as a cloud server throughout this document, as media first would have to be transferred to the DMZ server for further distribution. 


The following guide is a short summary of the installation process described in detail here: Accsyn Admin Manual.



You now possess a fully functional file sharing service that can act as an replacement for example a FTP server.


Installing and launching the accsyn desktop app

Next, we are going to install the accsyn desktop for transmitting review files and monitoring:

Note: if you installed accsyn on-prem, the desktop app is already supplied with the daemon installer and you can skip these steps.

Sending a review session to multiple participants using the accsyn desktop app.

With accsyn installed, we are now ready to distribute the review session. If running server in the cloud or in DMZ, this operation will be a "transmit" within Accsyn - files will first be uploaded to the server and then sent out as multiple jobs to each participant. If you have exposed the storage were files are located, no upload will be needed and files will be sent out directly to participants.

In this tutorial, we assume two shots are going to be reviewed, each consisting of a high res file sequence and a proxy movie:

P:\projects\theproject\_REVIEW_MEDIA\2020-10-02

  theproject_shot010_v003\theproject_shot010_v003.####.exr

  theproject_shot010_v003.mp4

  theproject_shot010_v006\theproject_shot020_v006.####.exr

  theproject_shot020_v006.mp4


Files will first be uploaded to cloud server and then two separate delivery jobs will be sent to the two participants. 


Note: Make sure you keep desktop app running until upload has finished, otherwise delivery will be interrupted.

Monitoring and managing review transfers using the accsyn desktop app

The accsyn desktop app can be installed on a second computer for monitoring and modifications of review session transfer jobs.

Installing desktop app


Monitoring transfer jobs


Send review session to an additional recipient

In the case you forgot to send out review session files to an additional recipient, or need to add more recipients:


Cancel a review session transfer


Automated review session transfer with ftrack


This automated approach, allows you to run an Action in ftrack media project management tool that distribute the Cinesync review media using accsyn.


Get ftrack

ftrack is a popular project management tool within the media industry, with a user friendly simple yet powerful user interface. For more information, visit: https://ftrack.com.


Install Python


In this tutorial, we run the script with Python 3. Python 2 can be used as well but is deprecated.


Install ftrack Python API and dependencies



Install accsyn Python API and dependencies



Getting boilerplate ftrack action script


We provide a boilerplate Python 3 script at our GitHub: https://github.com/accsyn/ftrack-review-distribute. Download it and place locally, assuming your username is "admin": "C:\Users\Admin\Documents\action.py". 


Modifying action script


Cloud server setup


On-prem server setup

In case you are exposing your project data directly through an on-prem accsyn server, no intermediate cloud storage is needed:


Running action script


Before you can run the script, environment variables has to be set for ftrack and accsyn API:s to be able to authenticate:


Your are now all set up, open up a shell and run the following command within the folder you saved action.py (C:\Users\Admin\Documents):


python3 action.py


Testing action



Hint: If something went wrong or files are missing, check the shell for log output from action script.


Conclusion

Using accsyn for distributing review session files is a very effective and secure way of getting your work distributed to collaborators. By automisation with the accsyn Python API, the entire process can be done with a few mouse clicks within your favourite project management tool.