Sharing a PDS project between 2 PCs using shared DropBox file for Media Files and for PDS project

montaguelord

Newbie Joined: Aug 04, 2017 10:51 Messages: 2 Offline

Solved by

Jun 26, 2018 12:17

I've set up a shared DropBox file to jointly produce a PDS project with a colleague. She has PowerDirector 16 on her PC and I have PowerDirector 16 on my PC.
When I open the PDS file, none of the media files appear, even though she says that she has created the PDS project with the media folder that we're sharing..
At first, I blamed her for the problem, thinking that she had used media files on her hard disk and just copying the media files to our shared folder. But in our new project today, she used the original media files in our shared folder and never copied any files to her hard disk.
Yet, I cannot see the media files opening when I run the PDS file. Only the timeline with empty media slots. And the media library is empty.
Has anyone had this problem?
Does any one have any idea of why the media files in our shared folders are not opening up when I run the PDS project?
Any suggestions on how to fix this maddening issue?
Thanks in advance for any help that can be offered by the User Group!

ynotfish

Senior Contributor Location: N.S.W. Australia Joined: May 08, 2009 02:06 Messages: 9977 Offline

Jun 26, 2018 15:17

Hi MontagueLord -

It sounds like the projects aren't being packed before sharing. i.e. the only thing being shared is the project (.pds) file.

If you use File > Pack Project Materials, the project & media files are collected into a folder. In taht way, the project can be shared for collaboration.

Example: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/b2i4hd33gbvb6z5/AAAZQ9IpVCI_pKxER7aIuJlha?dl=0 should contain the media files and open correctly once downloaded.

Cheers - Tony

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jun 26. 2018 15:18

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PowerDirector Moderator

Senior Contributor Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan Joined: Oct 18, 2016 00:25 Messages: 2104 Offline

Jun 26, 2018 15:58

Hi,

As Tony explains, the only real way to share a project and it's media assets is to use the Pack function, which is designed to make a project "portable". There are some nuances that exist as to what non-media resources can be included in a packed project but, in essence, packing the project makes it portable.

The reason is that the .pds file is a plain text instruction file within which the file names and locations are hard coded. So unless two systems are exactly the same (in this regard) the .pds file will probable reference the wrong locations and report missing files when opened on a second system.

In the attached example, part of the .pds file is illustrated.
The first two highlights show two standard sample clips, but used from a dropbox location - similar to your context I presume.
The third, marked in red, is a sample clip from the original default location.

The hard coded dropbox address will be different on different systems - if only in differing UserName.

Packing a project removes this hard coding issue and allows the project file to reference the media assets "packed" with it from the local location when opened.

Cheers
PowerDirector Moderator


Filename	Dropbox test.PNG	Download
Description
Filesize	23 Kbytes
Downloaded:	3 time(s)

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jun 26. 2018 15:59

montaguelord

Newbie Joined: Aug 04, 2017 10:51 Messages: 2 Offline

Jun 27, 2018 09:57

It worked! Thank you sooooooo very much!!!!!!