To assign work to colleagues and make virtual workstations available to them, you need to set up a project. For this, you first create a project and then work through the 4 stages of configuration.
To learn more about the basic concept of projects in SimpleCloud, see Projects.
To create a new project:
- Log on as a studio owner or studio manager. Only these types of user have the permission to create a project.
- Select Studio.
- Select your studio and then select Manage Studio.
- Select Projects.
If your studio already has some projects, they are shown in the projects list.
If you do not have any projects, SimpleCloud displays the settings for creating a new project. - Select Create a new project. This step only applies if you see the projects list.
- You will now need to complete the various stages of the project configuration. These are:
Stage 1 - Project name, image, and pipeline
In the first stage of the project configuration, you set a name, a code, an image for the project, and the pipeline (if you use a pipeline).
- Enter a Name for your project. When you enter a name, SimpleCloud will automatically generate a unique code based on the project name. This is to make sure that each project has a unique identifier, in case there are projects with the same name. You can change the code to a different 8-digit code if you prefer, but once these settings are saved, the code cannot be changed again.
- To upload an image for the project, select the default test screen image and then browse to your image. Your image will be shown at 512px ×288px with a dimension ratio of 16:9, so it will look better if your image also has the same ratio for its dimensions.
- If your project uses a pipeline, select it in the Pipeline field. If it does not use a pipeline, select the No pipeline and DAM option.
- Select Next.
Proceed with Stage 2 - Project storage and processing.
Stage 2 - Project storage and processing
In Stage 2, you associate storage space and rendering farms with your project.
- In the Available Storage section, select the storage volume that you want to use for your project. The storage volumes that are listed are those that have been added in the Storage settings and are available for use.
- Drag and drop the storage volume into the appropriate box in the Create a new project section on the left:
- Shared storage - The storage volume will be used as a shared area for storing general files relating to the project.
With shared storage, you can use multiple volumes and users have full access to the drive(s). - Pipeline storage - The storage volume will be used for storing files that are tracked in the pipeline.
With pipeline storage, you can only have one volume per project, and the folder structure and files are managed by the system. To find out more, see Pipeline Storage.
- Shared storage - The storage volume will be used as a shared area for storing general files relating to the project.
At the prompt, choose the operating system that is used for your workstations.
- Set a drive letter for the volume. This letter is used for the drive on the workstations, for example, if you set a shared drive to F:, then your workstations will have an F: drive that contain the shared files.
If you want to split the storage volume into separate drives, use the "Select desired operating system" field to choose an operating system. You then get another field for setting the drive letter. You can repeat this for as many drives as you need. Select Accept when you have finished.
On systems where a pipeline tool is used, the drives are hidden from users, as the file management is handled automatically by the pipeline tool. But it is possible to access the folders if needed, and for that, you will need to know the letter for the storage volume. To find out more, see Pipeline Storage. - If you want to use a rendering farm for your project, select the Farms tab. Then drag and drop a processing farm from the Available Farms section into the Processing Farms section. To find out more about farms and how to create them, see Processing with a render farm.
- Select Next.
Proceed with Stage 3 - Invite members to the project.
Stage 3 - Invite members to the project
In this stage, you invite SimpleCloud users to work on your project. Only users that are assigned to your project can work on your project's files.
To assign members, drag and drop the name of the user(s) from the Studio Members section into the Search for studio members section. If you do not see the name of the user you need, you can use the search field at the top of the Studio members section to search for them by name.
Select Next to continue to Stage 4 - Assign permissions and workstations to the project.
Stage 4 - Assign permissions and workstations for the project
The final stage is where you assign permissions to your project members and set which workstations they can use.
- In the Create a new project section, select the user(s) that you want to give permissions. The checkbox above the list is to select all users at once. Or you can select individual users by checking the box next to their name in the list.
- On the Member roles tab, assign the FTP permissions to the selected user(s). The FTP permissions let you control whether a user can upload and/or download files via FTP (File Transfer Protocol).
- Check the Project FTP access box and the Upload and/or Download boxes to give the user the permission to upload and/or download via FTP.
- Clear the Project FTP access box to prevent the user from being able to upload and download.
- Assign Member roles to the selected user(s), if required.
- Check Member roles in this project and Supervisor if the user needs to assign tasks and manage the project
- Check Member roles in this project and Line Producer if the user needs to be able to edit the pipeline workflow (Line Producer is only available when the project uses a pipeline).
- Check Member roles in this project and Developer if the user needs to access the API
- Clear all of the boxes if the user is an artist.
- Select the Workstations tab.
- Choose which of the available workstations can be used by the selected user(s) on this project. The workstations that are listed are workstations that are associated with the studio and are available for use.
Check the box next to a workstation to assign it to the user(s) or clear the box to prevent the user(s) from accessing it. - Repeat the steps for each user's permissions and workstations.
- Select Create to generate your project.
That's it! You have now created a project that has storage, processing, and members with permissions and workstations.
If you need to make changes to your project, or add a pipeline or DAM, see Edit a project