Jon,
Adrian’s proficuous, and Tony’s judicious comments on pds files, where spot on.
As Adrian said...
it is actually the heart and soul of your project.
That’s a perfect way of looking at the concept of pds files. They are indeed the most important element in your ability to get the most out of your PowerDirector experience.
By understanding, frequently creating, and employing proper management of pds files, you’ll…
- Never lose a project, or any of your project’s assets.
- Have a portable project (as Adrian said), that can moved between computers.
- And have the ability archive your project, and revisit or modify that perpetually intact project, at anytime in the future.
You can kind of think of a pds file as Photo Album. And think of creating a Project Folder (the method I like to use when constructing a project, as in the link you referenced above), as being like a cardboard box where you keep the photo album and a "copy" of all the photos you are considering pasting into the photo album.
Once the photo album is done, you "Pack" your project (as described above), which is like now putting that completed photo album on a bookshelf. So now you can grab this photo album anytime you want, and all the pictures that you have place there, in the presentation sequence that you wanted to display them in, will always remain intact.
And now that the project is "Packed" (on the shelf), you can take that Project Folder (cardboard box), and either...
- Throw it away, as you only put digital copies in the box. All the originals are all still in their original folders on your computer.
- Or save that box of copies if you wish.
It doesn't make any difference to the photo album on the shelf what you do. Because everything it needs is already in the album. Plus, at anytime, you can open the "Packed Project" (photo album), and add other stuff to it if you want. Once the new stuff is added, just "Pack" it again, and put it back on the shelf.
Well Jon, between these last few replies, you probably feel that you've just been bombarded with with the exact same info.
But hopefully it will all help you or other editors understand pds files a little better, and see that...
Far from being a “Pretty Daft System”, pds files are…
Pretty Darn Smart.
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