Navigating FPS Views, Tabs, and Pop-Up Windows
The Navajo interface is divided into five views: My Production, Production, Assets, Takes, and Resources. Navajo always opens to the last view visited in the software. You can move between the different views by clicking the buttons at the top of the screen:
• My Production: See all of your tasks, takes and notes in the three tabbed sections that make up My Production.
• Production: Look at sequences, shots, and assets across the production in this view.
• Assets: Lists all the assets in the production.
• Takes: See all the takes in the production, viewable by shot takes or asset takes.
• Resources: Check out the list of all personnel working on the production, divided by department.
Many items that appear in the windows of these views can reveal more information by double-clicking on them to bring up a pop-up window. The pop-up windows also have sortable headings that allow you to sort the data by any column of information.
Here is a list and tour of the pop-up windows accessible via double-clicks:
• Sequence Detail
The Sequence Detail pop-up window contains a sequence's description, location, supervisor, frame information, a list of tasks, and all the notes associated with that sequence. The list of tasks includes the following information – all organized under labeled column headers – which can be seen by scrolling right in the list window: task, status, user, department, due date, estimated start date, actual start date, approval date, production contact, CBB, and unfinaled. The notes section of this window contains this information: to, from, subject, status, priority, and sent date.
There are two tab buttons, Summary and Shots. The shots window lists all the shots associated with this sequence. The Summary window is shown below in this detailed image.
• Shot Detail
The Shot Detail pop-up window contains a shot's description, location, a list of tasks, and all the notes associated with that shot. The list of tasks includes the following information – all organized under labeled column headers – which can be seen by scrolling right in the list window: task, status, user, department, due date, estimated start date, actual start date, approval date, production contact, CDD, and unfinaled. The notes section of this window contains this information: to, from, subject, status, priority, and sent date.
There are three tab buttons, Summary, Assets, and Takes. The asset and takes windows show lists of all the assets and takes that are associated with this shot. The Summary window is shown below in this detailed image.
• Asset Detail
The Asset Detail pop-up window contains its description, location, a list of tasks, and all the notes associated with that asset. The list of tasks includes the following information – all organized under labeled column headers – which can be seen by scrolling right in the list window: task, status, user, department, due date, estimated start date, actual start date, approval date, production contact, CBB, and unfinaled. The notes section of this window contains this information: to, from, subject, status, priority, and sent date.
There are two tab buttons, Summary and Takes. The takes window just shows a list of all the takes that use this asset. The Summary window is shown below in this detailed image:
• Shot Asset
The Shot Asset pop-up window is a small window that shows two pieces of information: the shot asset name and the asset name.
• Take Detail
The Take Detail pop-up window contains its descriptive data, thumbnail images, assigned user, status information, and all the notes associated with that take. The notes section of this window contains this information: to, from, subject, status, priority, and sent date.
Using the Search Bar
When a long list appears on screen, use the search feature to find a specific item. FPS provides a real-time search filter for every screen, and on some pop-up windows, there are two search areas (one for tasks and one for notes).
To search for a specific item:
1. Type the search criteria (keyword or search phrase) into the Search text field below the list.
2. As you type, the list on screen will automatically narrow to those records matching the text you're typing.
To do a new search, use the cursor to click and drag over the old search phrase, then type over it. Or you can backspace to erase the first search phrase.
Creating Notes
Notes can be created from many locations. All of these listed here will open the Note Detail pop-up window:
• Right-click in the list of notes section of a sequence, shot, or asset detail pop-up window, then select Add Notes.
• Right-click in the list of notes section of the My Notes tab in the My Production view, then select Add Notes.
• Right-click any sequence, shot, asset, tracking number, or take in the Production, Assets, or Takes views, then select Add Notes.
To create a note on the Notes Detail window:
1. Type the user or group name that the note is intended for into the To field. There may be a list of names to the left of the To field, which shows you who has received notes already about this item.
2. If needed, fill in a recipient in the CC field to send to the user or group name that you would like to have a copy of the note sent to.
3. Type the subject or short description of the content of the note into the subject line.
4. Select a priority level from the drop-down box. Choices are normal or urgent:
• normal: note does not require immediate action.
• urgent: note is time sensitive and needs to be addressed as soon as possible.
5. Type the body of your note into the large text field under the Priority field.
6. Type any personal notes to yourself into the Personal Notes section of the screen. This includes a subject line, priority, and note body.
7. Click the Post button to send the note, or the Clear button to erase all the fields and start over.
8. Click the Close button to close the window.
Assigning a Task
Once a task for a particular sequence, shot, or asset exists in the FPS database, it can be assigned to a user of the FPS. If the task does not exist yet, contact or leave a note in FPS for a Technical Director (TD) to create the task through the asset management system.
To assign a task:
1. Double-click on the name of a sequence, shot, or asset to open its detail page that contains the task you wish to assign.
2. In the task list, right-click on the name of the task to bring up the menu.
3. Select Users > and the resource name you would like to assign to this task.
4. Click the Save button on the detail page to save your work.
Note: if you do not see the name of the person or resource you want to assign the task, then notify your coordinator. He or she can add a resource to a sequence and tell you if that resource is appropriate for that task.
Tracking Your Tasks and Takes
Artists use FPS daily to keep track of the tasks and takes they're working on. Each morning, open FPS and review the information on the three tabs within the My Production view. Overnight, you could have been assigned new tasks or received new notes.
Typical artist morning workflow:
1. Log in
2. Check status column in My Production section to look specifically for On-Deck status.
• New – added, but not ready
• On-Deck – good to go, assign to artist
• In Progress – artist changes and works on it
• Pre-Approved – lead, dept lead see and says, show this to the directors
• Approved – director signed off
• Completed – All done in this dept
• On-hold – don't work on it now
• N/A – doesn't apply
• Could Be Better – shot is approved but it still could use some work, okay for film as is, though
• Date Info – Coordinator fields
• Approval Date – Auto-fills when item is approved
• Unfinaled – gets checked when a shot is approved/completed, but then that shot goes back to In Progress/Pre-Approved/New/On-Deck (doesn't count against the weekly quota for that dept.)
3. Work on your On-Deck and In-Progress tasks.
My Takes is where the artist would mark takes reviewable for dailies.
My Notes is populated by dailies' assignments, director meetings, or anomalies due to technical changes from other depts. Check all three.
Browsing Assets by Sequence and Shot
1. To browse assets by Sequence and Shot name, left click on the 'Production' tab.
2. Filter the assets by sequence and/or shot by single clicking a sequence and/or shot number in the browser window.
Locate an Asset by Name
1. To find an asset by it's name, left click on the 'Production' tab.
2. Enter the name of the asset in the search box.
Browsing Library Assets by Type
1. To browse the library assets organized by asset type, left click on the 'Library' tab.
2. Filter assets by single clicking on an asset type name in the library browser.
Browsing Resources
1. To see production personnel organized by department, choose the 'Resources' tab.
2. Filter resources by department by single clicking a department name from the browser window.
3. To find a specific person, type the name of the person in the search box.
Viewing and Modifying Sequence, Shot, and Asset Detail
To see the detail view for any sequence, shot, or asset; double click on the desired sequence, shot, or asset name in the Production, or Library Browser.
Updating Status for a Task
1. Open the sequence, shot, or asset detail page that you would like to update a task status for.
2. In the Task Status Window, Right Click (or ctrl-click) on the name of the task you would like to update status for, from the menu select Status--> and the status you would like to assign to this task.
3. Left click on Save.
Submitting Dailies Notes
Using Dailies Director: Any takes that have a review status set to 'reviewable' will display in the 'takes ready for review' listing window', if the take status is set to 'scheduled for review' the take will appear in the 'scheduled for review' listing window. Double clicking on a take will open the detail window, right click will allow you to add notes.
The purpose is to allow quick access for adding notes to all the takes scheduled to be reviewed in dailies. It also allows production management to create schedules/agendas for dailies easily.
Resolving Issues across Disciplines
Takes Tab is good for reviewing the overall number of takes per shot and evaluating if there are issues (creatively, etc.) for the number of takes.