Client Access
Hey Cameron -
I was searching for client access info and saw that you have some features in the queue that sound perfect for what I need... basically a simple way to share shots for review with my director in Germany, without overloading him with irrelevant info or allowing access to view and/or edit vital info. The FAQ states:
"What we have in the queue are special approval pages for
clients, directors, producers, or basically anyone who you don't
want seeing the innards of your project. This would also be good
for anyone who needs to be spoon fed exactly what to look at with a
minimum of complexity. Your client would get an email message with
a link. He clicks on the link, might optionally sign in, and then
sees a page with: a note from the supervisor, the asset(s) for
review, and a place to type in comments. There would also be a
checkbox for "Approved" -- I'm thinking I would fill in the date
and time that he hits the checkbox, and keep a record of that.
QUESTION: Should the email link have an authentication code
built-in? Or is that too much of a security risk and we need to
make the client log in to a session?"
Regarding your question I think both options should be available
if possible. If not, I would opt to require a session log-in since
security is always a concern with clients, but it would still be
cool to have the option to send a pre-authenticated link to those
EP's who can barely check their email.
Any idea when this will be available?
Thanks!
Chad
Support Staff 2 Posted by cameron on 17 Jun, 2010 02:15 PM
Hi Chad,
What I haven't figured out yet, is how you, the VFX artist or supervisor should set up such an approval page, and what it should be attached to. Do you have any thoughts on this?
One thought I had, was do just do a special version of "Submit Work". Another idea is to essentially create a "Page" that represents a shot version. If you go in and create a page under the "Pages" tab, you'll get a sense for what I mean. Imagine that there would be a feedback area and approval buttons at the bottom.
Also, we are currently working on video transcoding. So we'll be able to pull thumbnails from uploaded videos, and also transcode them to a couple of different output formats for web display (h.264/mp4 and vp8/WebM).
If we can really nail down how it should work, I can build it.
Cheers,
Cameron
3 Posted by chad on 18 Jun, 2010 12:19 AM
I'm still mulling it over, but for me I think it should be similar to 'Submit Work' in that it is a button under the 'Shot Details' of each shot, and similar to 'Pages' in that it is customizable (and ideally we can create a template for the client review page so we don't need to create one each time-- I'm guessing this would be beneficial with 'Pages' as well).
I imagine clicking on 'Submit Client Review' under 'Shot Details', and it brings up a default client review page (video viewer, shot details & thumbnail, text area for comments from vfx sup, text area for comments from client reviewer-- or maybe one that the user has created) with the option of customizing the page by adding or removing objects. I'd upload my quicktime, put in my notes/questions for the director, and send. He would get the link via email, click, log-in, review, add notes and submit, which would then send me an email saying that this shot has been reviewed, and what those notes are. This review page would then be accessible under the details for each shot, maybe an additional 'Review' or 'Notes' item under 'Frames' that is a link to the review page (or simply shows the notes & what version # the notes are referring to).
I also imagine there being a 'Reviews' or 'Feedback' main tab (where 'Pages' are) that shows all shots reviewed, and whether they are client or internal reviews (and maybe a filter to help sort). I'm sure there are aspects of this that are a little ambitious or impractical, just kinda throwing out a best-case-scenario off the top of my head. I'll continue to think how it would be best executed and what issues might come up...
Thanks,
Chad
Support Staff 4 Posted by cameron on 19 Jun, 2010 09:36 PM
I wonder if we should allow a normal "Submit Work" to be converted to a client review?
Do you see wanting to include multiple attachments (playlist)?
Do you want them reviewing the exact QuickTime you upload? Or should we transcode it to a web-friendly format? (Could affect color -- but then, there is QuickTime's legendary gamma shifting issues anyway.)
We will also need to introduce the notion of a 'version' -- which I see primarily as a marker in the notes stream.
I guess the best thing would be to try to mock this up -- that tends to help when things are complex and abstract.
Thanks,
Cameron
5 Posted by chad on 21 Jun, 2010 09:47 PM
You bring up some good points... yeah I'm sure a client version of Submit Work would work fine. The idea of a playlist is interesting, though I would want to make sure the notes for each shot in the playlist would also be visible under the Shot Details for each respective shot once they are given.
As far as the transcoding, I'd say yes to that, but again it might be nice to have both options available if possible. You're right though, the gamma shift happens anyway so as soon as they're viewing a QT the idea of color accuracy is already kind of moot.