Quote Hi all,
I seem to have some kind of a problem where I can not find a clear and also a bit more guided answer.
So, the problem is this...

I have multiple projects edited on my laptop (just a quadcore) and have many files laying on the disks here.
Now, there is a nother 12 Core/24 Thread Machine with a superior GPU upstairs which I wanted to use to "produce" the projects as this machine could do this in minutes/hours instead of hours/days.

Is there any way to export everything in a package and move it to the second PC so that I can just open the projects on the second PC and proceed with what I was doing on the laptop?

If so, how to do this?
As a small addition, the disk layout is different, so I doubt it would work to just copy the media files over to somewhere on the second machine and copy the project files.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

I think I found a workaround for this in a youtube video. Wich basically is archiving, but that should work also. I will try that.
However, it would be nice to know if there is another way which is more intuitive to move from one machine to another.

Open up each project on your original computer, then use Pack Project Materials under PD's File menu.

Save the packed project (which includes all the media files) onto a portable flash drive, or onto a shared network drive. Do this with each project, and then copy everything to your 2nd machine (or access the shared network drive from there) and each project should open up correctly.

YouTube/optodata

DS365 | Win11 Pro | Ryzen 9 3950X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB RAM | 10TB SSDs | 5K+4K HDR monitors

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Quote Hi all,
........As a small addition, the disk layout is different, so I doubt it would work to just copy the media files over to somewhere on the second machine and copy the project files.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

As well as the advice Optodata gave, also make sure that any "PDR wide" (not project specific) customisation variables are the same on both systems - like fonts etc. so that your packed projects operate in the same environment on the new machine, avoiding small , but irritating, glitches.

Cheers
PowerDirector Moderator

That's a very good point, and I didn't know how to address it in a brief statement so I was basically hoping that OP hadn't downloaded any extras...

The biggest potential obstacle is if there are many FX, PiP objects or titles that have been downloaded from DirectorZone, the only way that the projects will work on the new machine without any user intervention is if every effect was also installed there in the exact same order.

That's because PD appends a new numeric value to the each downloaded item's folder name, with the first one called Title_000, for example. So if the original project uses Title_013, OP will have to download and install 14 titles to even reach that number of folders, and the last one has to be the same one as on the original machine.

That headache would be completely avoided if the original item's name was used in the folder name, but that's not how PD works

Quote Open up each project on your original computer, then use Pack Project Materials under PD's File menu.

Save the packed project (which includes all the media files) onto a portable flash drive, or onto a shared network drive. Do this with each project, and then copy everything to your 2nd machine (or access the shared network drive from there) and each project should open up correctly.

But Pack Project Materials completely destroys directory structure and makes it flat. This is not the modern projects should be treated.
Is there any other way to export a project? _______________________________
regards, Tom
(PD365, Win10 Pro x64, Dell Precision T3500, Xeon W3670, 12GB, SSD)

Quote But Pack Project Materials completely destroys directory structure and makes it flat. This is not the modern projects should be treated.
Is there any other way to export a project?

It's really a personal choice, I don't think any answer fits everyone. I organize all my source footage and pics (~15TB) on a particular drive letter in a hierarchal fashion, and then just bring those into PD as needed. My source essentially stays untouched and is always available and in the same place. If I have old content on a non active drive I just mount the external backup drive in a dock and give it my universal drive letter and then all the pds projects I've created and saved on the drive reload fine, except for PD anomalies. The bad part about "Pack Project Materials" is it duplicates all "source" clips in the pack as it's named, flat too as you say. So, if you use little bits and pieces of several large source files in multiple projects, you get everything duplicated every time. It's good for sharing an immediate project, in my view a wastey long term retention method. I've also found through the years that it does not necessarily pack everything that was used in a project either so not as good as it sounds.

By the way, your now a "Member" at 50 msgs so can change your profile.

Jeff

There is no other way, other than to copy all of the individual folders, clips and the exact file structure of any downloaded resources to the new computer so that PD can find every single resource in the correct place. If you don't want to duplicate all the source clips, copying them to a portable USB drive with the same driver letter on both machines can work, although it would be easier if you started the project that way.

If you haven't used any content downloaded from DirectorZone and you have installed the same packs on the other machine using the App Manager, then it's possible to copy just the required source clips over and then manually browse for each of them on the new computer after opening the project there. However, that's very tedious and will likely become unmanageable for large projects or when custom or downloaded content is involved.

I would probably help to have a screenshot of your complex project's timeline to understand why a "flat" packed project seems so unusable to you.

YouTube/optodata

DS365 | Win11 Pro | Ryzen 9 3950X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB RAM | 10TB SSDs | 5K+4K HDR monitors

Canon Vixia GX10 (4K 60p) | HF G30 (HD 60p) | Yi Action+ 4K | 360Fly 4K 360°

Quote
By the way, your now a "Member" at 50 msgs so can change your profile.

That's what I did immediately

Quote
It's really a personal choice

I do it similar way. I have all my projects hierarchically organized od D drive. On my laptop, I try to keep the same structure. Because laptop only has C drive and a tiny D one, I had to use some tricks like symbolic links to simulate D drive directory which in fact resides on bigger C drive.

It all works fine except of you and optodata mentioned - titles, shared sound clips, additional packs. It is really annoying. It looks like CL developers really don't care about moving projects from one computer to another. _______________________________
regards, Tom
(PD365, Win10 Pro x64, Dell Precision T3500, Xeon W3670, 12GB, SSD)

Quote I would probably help to have a screenshot of your complex project's timeline to understand why a "flat" packed project seems so unusable to you.

Movie clips are not my main subject so I do them occasionally. From time to time, when I move away from home and have to continue a project I use my laptop for video editing. That's when problems start. If I use an Export feature and move a project from PC to laptop, all directories disappear. Then after moving back... there is no way to recreate them automatically on PC (to move files to their previous directories).

I need a way to start a project on PC, then edit it occasionally on a laptop and move to PC back again.

It looks like manual sync of both installations and mirroring directory structure is the only way though it is not what I expected from Cyberlink as a leader in the industry. _______________________________
regards, Tom
(PD365, Win10 Pro x64, Dell Precision T3500, Xeon W3670, 12GB, SSD)

Quote I need a way to start a project on PC, then edit it occasionally on a laptop and move to PC back again.

It looks like manual sync of both installations and mirroring directory structure is the only way though it is not what I expected from Cyberlink as a leader in the industry.

Jeff's way of doing things makes more sense than packing a project when you're expecting to back and forth with the same project on different computers. A variation of that is to use cloud storage for all relevant clips, which would be accesible from both machines and also reduce the risk of loss should your portable drive get lost/stolen or suffer a failure.

Remember that I mentioned above that all of this was assuming that you had no downloaded content outside of what you installed from the App Manager. Whenever you download content from DirectorZone, for example, PD assigns that item a numerical folder name (which is unrelated to the content), and when you add that item to your project, PD uses the numeric folder ID in the PDS file.

This becomes a problem when you open that project on a different computer. Even though you may have downloaded that item (FX, transition, title, particle, etc.) on the new PC, unless you downloaded and installed all of the same kinds items in the exact same order, PD will draw whichever content resides in that folder on the new PC which can really mess up the project.

It can take significant effort to identify which item you actually used in the original project and then try and recreate the folder structure or browse to where the content is located on the new machine, but then you'll have to deal with the same issue again if you bring the new version of the project back to your original machine.

Uploading projects to the CL cloud might also be worth looking at. I actually haven't used it so I'm not sure how seamless or responsive it is, but I do know it was designed specifically for situations like this.

YouTube/optodata

DS365 | Win11 Pro | Ryzen 9 3950X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB RAM | 10TB SSDs | 5K+4K HDR monitors

Canon Vixia GX10 (4K 60p) | HF G30 (HD 60p) | Yi Action+ 4K | 360Fly 4K 360°

Moving a Project on the SAME Computer!

I'm the middle of a large project with getting on for 20 video files running consecutively (yes, it's another Virtual Choir), and another half dozen on the way. Not surprisingly, I'm running into a few problems, like PD freezing mid-edit. I'm just running from a (fairly) new SATA drive. Is 'Pack Project' the best way to move the whole Project across to my (500G) SSD drive?

Quote Is 'Pack Project' the best way to move the whole Project across to my (500G) SSD drive?

You can do that but it's going to duplicate all your media clips. If the only thing you want to do is move the media content to your SSD in hopes of getting all the streams to PD faster, then simply move the media folder to your SSD (with PD closed) and wait for all the content to transfer.

Open up PD and your project again, and when you get the message that PD can't find your first clip, use the Browse button and point to the new location and PD will find all the clips and will update the project file with the new folder.

YouTube/optodata

DS365 | Win11 Pro | Ryzen 9 3950X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB RAM | 10TB SSDs | 5K+4K HDR monitors

Canon Vixia GX10 (4K 60p) | HF G30 (HD 60p) | Yi Action+ 4K | 360Fly 4K 360°

Quote

You can do that but it's going to duplicate all your media clips. If the only thing you want to do is move the media content to your SSD in hopes of getting all the streams to PD faster, then simply move the media folder to your SSD (with PD closed) and wait for all the content to transfer.

Open up PD and your project again, and when you get the message that PD can't find your first clip, use the Browse button and point to the new location and PD will find all the clips and will update the project file with the new folder.

Great! Just what I wanted to know, thanks Opto!