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Field presets

The fields in the detail panel are not fixed. A shot list carries its own list of them, stamped from a preset when it was created, and you can edit the presets to suit a discipline that is not VFX.

How it works

A preset is a cookie cutter and a shot list is the cookie. When you choose File › New Shot List, Shotwork copies the chosen preset's fields into the new file, and from then on the file owns them. Editing a preset later changes only shot lists made after the edit. Editing a shot list's fields never changes the preset. Nothing crosses between the two unless you ask.

Every preset already has the fields the rest of the app runs on, and they cannot be removed: Name, In point, Out point, Tags, Rating, Notes and Restricted. A preset defines everything else. The shipped VFX / animation preset carries Project, Client / Studio, Year, Role and Assets.

Edit a preset

Settings › Field Presets… lists every preset on the left and the selected one's fields on the right. Add a field with the plus button, choose its type (text, number, list, or a choice with options you define), and set its flags:

  • Hide on restricted blanks the field on overlays when a shot is marked restricted, the way Client / Studio and Project are.
  • Suggest values remembers what you type and offers it again.
  • Logos lets each value carry a logo image, chosen from the button beside the field. On a choice field, each option gets its own.

A built-in preset can be edited; the edit is saved as your own copy, and Revert to Default brings the shipped one back.

Bring a preset's changes into a shot list

  1. With the shot list open, choose Shots › Fields › Update Fields from Preset….
  2. Pick the preset to compare against. The one that shares the most fields is offered first.
  3. Read the list of differences. Each row is one change: a field to add, a field whose label, type or flags differ, the field order, or a field to remove.
  4. Tick the changes you want. Additions and changes start ticked; removals start unticked.
  5. Choose Apply.

The whole update is one step for Ctrl+Z.

A removed field's values are not deleted. They stay on the shots, out of sight, and reappear if the field is added back with the same id. The row says how many shots carry a value, so you know what is going out of view.

Save a shot list's fields as a preset

  1. Choose Shots › Fields › Save Fields as Preset….
  2. Type a name.

The preset appears in Settings › Field Presets… and in the choice File › New Shot List offers when more than one preset exists. Saving under the name of a preset you already made asks before replacing its fields. A built-in's name is never taken over; the new preset gets its own.

What this means when you…

  • …open an old shot list: it has the fields it was saved with, whatever the presets say today.
  • …add a field to a preset: new shot lists get it. Existing ones get it when you run Update Fields from Preset on each.
  • …set up a second discipline: build the preset once, or mark one shot list up the way you want and save its fields as the preset.