File sharing best-practices

[kisenberg]

I'd like to hear about any best-practice tips for sharing TVP projects between users who are NOT using the same local network. My colleague and I need to be able to swap TVP files quickly, preferably without copying over all the source files (or, if we do have to do that, we would like a quick and seamless way to collect all relevant files). We want to be able to collaborate so that we can each open up the latest version of a file the other person has worked on, work on it independently, re-save, and send it back to the first person to continue. We have used Dropbox, but we wondered if there's a better solution. We'd appreciate any advice.

TVP Pro version 10.0.18
32 bit version
Mac OS 10.7.3

[idragosani]

Dropbox or Google Drive is a great way to share files for collaboration if you aren't on a local network. Is there something Dropbox isn't providing that you need?

[Svengali]

GWeek 106, a podcast from BoingBoing.com included a discussion last week by Dean Putney (BoingBoing's coding and development person) about:

Bittorrent Sync..."Decentralized Dropbox via Bittorrent. Share your files to lots of people much faster by sharing directly to all of them and letting them share to others. Much more flexible than Dropbox, any folder can become a shared folder, install it on a server and sync to S3."

Read more about BitTorrent SYNC at the BitTorrent Labs website where a download is available.

I haven't tried it myself yet, but their strategy might provide faster and more convenient production file-sharing than dropbox. If you try it, give us some feedback here.

Sven

[oferk]

I have some experience with that. We have just finished working on a project using Dropbox for sharing and syncing. It was a great experience.

There is one major problem with it though, space All team members must have enough space for all project files they need.
In our case, I had more space then the other two members, so they had to selectively sync the folders they need each time, and I had to move folders around back and forth as needed.
There is an option to buy shared space with dropbox business, I think, but its very expensive.
Overall, Dropbox never failed us, it always synced correctly, and we often used the option to restore deleted files or old versions of files. It always worked very well, it is reliable.

Another option is to use Copy, a new cloud storage service that allows sharing folders only on the expense of the owner. It also offers much more free space and is much cheaper. We switched to it in the middle of the project, and it was fine enough. However, it is not as reliable as Dropbox, so be aware. The restore deleted files, and versions, barely works. The interface is unpleasant. On windows, it locks the files sometimes and you must "save as" with a new name. Annoying. Syncing is less relible also. And there was some noticeable downtime as well. But it has lots of free storage.

[hoodness]

Can iCloud be used to set this up?

In my TVP file I have a music clip, some reference QT's, some imported drawings from other sources and then the drawings I've done in TVP. When I share the TVP file, none of the other reference images are there when my "virtual studio" partner opens the file on their end.

What am I doing wrong?

[Paul Fierlinger]

Can iCloud be used to set this up?

In my TVP file I have a music clip, some reference QT's, some imported drawings from other sources and then the drawings I've done in TVP. When I share the TVP file, none of the other reference images are there when my "virtual studio" partner opens the file on their end.

What am I doing wrong?

Which version of TVP? Which OS?

[hoodness]

TVP 10 PRO
OSX 10.8.4

[Paul Fierlinger]

Hmm... I never use Mac but I'm pretty sure in this case it should be the same: In the main menu bar go to Project>Dependencies>Save dependencies in the project and keep that checked.

[hoodness]

Thank you Paul I'll try that!