start on laptop, finish on desktop

Al MacLeod

Al MacLeod

Well-known member
I'm in the field, I empty my p2 card into my laptop and then start putting my project together in the hotel using Premiere on the laptop.

When I get home to my quad desktop, what is the quickest way to transfer operations to the desktop?

Both machines have Premiere. Is there a workflow that folks use without much fuss?
 
If you can, use an external hard drive. That might not be practical in the field, but you could copy the files before you start cutting. Then you just have to plug the drive in to whatever computer you want to use for that session.
 
When you start the project, put the media and project file into the same folder (have a subfolder for the media). Transfer the folder over as one.
 
Ah, so the project will find all the clips there and won't be tied to the computer of origin?
What about all the files that Premiere generates...do I have to drag all those over too or will Premiere recreate them from the timeline that gets transfered to the desktop?
 
If you've already begun the project, then it might be a little more complicated. Best bet will be to copy all of the files over to the same place on your desktop where they reside on your laptop.

For future projects, before you do anything, create a folder on your laptop. Make a subfolder for your media, and then when you start the project, save it to the folder you created. All those little files should end up there, too. Then, it should be as easy as copying over that single folder.
 
Casalen said:
If you can, use an external hard drive. That might not be practical in the field, but you could copy the files before you start cutting. Then you just have to plug the drive in to whatever computer you want to use for that session.
Click to expand...

I think an external drive goes on my next trip...thanks !
 
Sometimes you do have to tell it where to look. In the past when I've done this the files are stored as absolute paths (h:\media\1\somevid.avi). If it can't find the file Premiere just asks you where it is, and you tell it the new path. I don't know if it can intelligently understand just one part of the absolute path changing or not. With an external, just make sure it's the same drive letter on both if you go that route.

The point is that it isn't tied to the computer. You need your project file that you save everything to, and you'll need to find all of your clips and other files eventually, or most of them and replace others. Quite easy to switch around.
 
I do this a lot. I don't work with P2, it's the same concept. What I do is use a portable drive that I label on the notebook as X:\ (my desktop at home recognizes it as something else). On my desktop at home, the internal media drive is also labeled as X:\. I put the entire project into one self contained folder. I also makes sure that Premiere puts all preview file and such into this folder. I simply transfer the entire project between the two drives. This way, no matter what computer I'm working on, the file path is the same.
 
if the project can't find the files it will ask you to point them to where they are.
Once it finds one it then uses that path for the rest of them until It can't find them.

you really only need the .prproj files, and your footage.
 
Arson said:
if the project can't find the files it will ask you to point them to where they are.
Once it finds one it then uses that path for the rest of them until It can't find them.

you really only need the .prproj files, and your footage.
Click to expand...

That's what I tried first. I had a project I had worked on the laptop for a while and had it pretty much complete.

The render took forever on the laptop so I moved all the source material and the ppj file to a folder on the quad machine.

Invoking the ppj file on the quad started Premiere and it asked where each and every file was...had to select them all individually with some not "taking". Pain in the shorts it was.....

I think the suggestions above point the way for next time.
 
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