Proper NAS production workflow

[blackboxvisual]

Hey Guys,

I own a small animation and design studio. Recently got a NAS for archiving project files and giving me a bit more options than just passing around external hard drives. There are so many capabilities provided by the system its hard to know what I can take advantage of and what might not be a good idea.

I want to know if anyone out there in the community has some tips or pointers for workflow in a studio environment. I have 4 Workstations that could potentially all be working on a project simultaneously. We often pass lots of files back and forth between the designers and the animators. I don't think I want the workstations working directly off the archive files on the NAS without bringing a copy of the folder down to the workstation first or having a seperate area on the nas where copies of the project exist for working on. I can see problems with versioning or one of the artists overwriting the only copy of files on the NAS leaving no backup.

It would be helpful to know how others use the system in a similar environment. Do you have in/out boxes for projects? Different folders for each workstation? Any advice or good practices would be greatly appreciated.

[Mr Davo]

Hi blackboxvisual,

I am not certain of how your NAS box fits into the workflow that you have envisaged. However after a quick Google it seems likely that you will need a 'VCS' (Version Control System) - https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/0 ... l-systems/.

Assuming that your workflow has some similarities with those of a web development company it may be worth checking out the CVS called Git - https://git-scm.com/

I hope that this little pointer helps.

Kind Regards,

Davo