The File Browser

The File Browser is an interactive browser to navigate through the network to either load or write scripts, images, lookup files, expressions, or tracking files. With the Browser, images can be listed as a long list of individual files or as a sequence. You can create directories, delete files and directories directly in the Browser. You can also bookmark favorite directories.

Calling the Browser

The File Browser is called from the interface when creating or editing a FileIn or a FileOut nodeor when using the Load Script and Save Script buttons. Clicking on any of these buttons launches the browser.

Clicking on the folder icon next to the file path relaunches the browser from an existing FileIn or FileOut node:

 

The Browser looks something like this:



Navigating in the Browser

You can access a directory in several ways:

Adding directories to the Favorites list. You can explicitly add directories to the list in two ways:

The Bookmark button. To temporarily add an entry to the favorites list, press the Bookmark button.
To save the settings in your script, make sure "include interface settings" is turned on when you save your script. When loading a script, make sure "include interface settings" is on. Otherwise, go to File - Save Interface Settings, and they will load by default.

You can also permanently add to your favorites list, by adding an entry in a ui .h file similar to these:

nuiFileBrowserAddFavorite("/Documents/icons/scr");
nuiFileBrowserAddFavorite("/shots/shot1/pix");

You can also specify directories to look in when Shake starts with the following ui .h settings. Each listing is for a type of file, that is., images, scripts, expressions, and so on. Note the slash at the end of the path:

gui.fileBrowser.lastImageDir= "/Documents/pix/" ;
gui.fileBrowser.lastScriptDir= "$MYPROJ/shakeScripts/" ;
gui.fileBrowser.lastExprDir= "//Server/shakeExpressions/" ;
gui.fileBrowser.lastTrackerDir= "$MYPROJ/tracks/" ;
gui.fileBrowser.lastAnyDir= "/" ;


For more information on a ui .h file, jump to Customize Shake.



Indicates a folder.
Indicates a drive.
Take you to the last directory you looked at.
Take you up one directory. You can also press Backspace.
up/down arrow keys Carry you up and down in the list.
Any letter Once you have clicked in the file listings, hitting a letter on the keyboard jumps to the next occurrence of a file or directory starting with that letter.




Selecting Files

You can select files in several ways:

Selecting Single files:

Selecting multiple files in the same directory:

 

 


Selecting multiple images in different directories:

Use the Next button on the Browser to load the current image(s) and keep the Browser open to continue to add files. When you have reached the last file, press OK instead of Next. At any time in this process, the Node View may be accessed to examine FileIn nodes.

 

You can also press the Space Bar to load in another file.

 


Viewing Controls

There are several tools to help you in the Browser.


Short Listing List only file names, type and size.
Sequence Listing

Toggles the listing of an image sequence as one listing or as several.To read in the entire sequence, ensure this is activated. These icons signify single or sequence files:

Indicates a single file.

Indicates an image sequence.

Images Only Lists only recognized image types.
Show exact sizes Show the exact file size in kilobytes, rather than rounded off in megabytes.
Show full path Lists the entire path of the file you have selected.
Filter Filters out information. Use * and ? as your wildcards:

Wildcard Means...
* Any set of characters for any length.
Example Lists....
*.cin a.cin, image.cin, image.0001.cin, ...
*.cin.*

a.cin.0001, image.cin.hr

*.cin* a.cin, image.0001.cin, image.cin.0001
image.*.tga image.1.tga, image.10.tga, image.0100.tga

Wildcard Means...
? Any character in that single position.
Example Lists....
?.cin a.cin, 1.cin
??.iff

ab.iff, 01.iff

a.??? a.cin, a.iff, a.tga
image.????.iff image.0001.iff, image.9999.ifff
image.???1.iff image.0001.iff, image.0011.iff, image.1111.iff

Reading or Writing Sequences

Select a file by clicking on the file name, or click in the main file display area and use the hot keys as described above. You can also type the name in the File Name box at the bottom. Press OK to validate. If you are reading in an image sequence, press .

To write out a file with a FileOut node, select the directory, and enter the file name in the File Name window. If you are writing an image sequence, be sure to insert a # or a @ sign where you want the frame number to go in the name. Here is a table of examples:

Files Shake Notation
image.0001.cin, image.0002.cin image.#.cin
image.1.tif, image.2.tif image.@.tif
image.iff.0001, image.iff.0002 image.iff.#
image1.tga, image2.tga image@.tga
image.001.tga, image.002.tga image.@@@.tga
image.01, image.02 image.@@

Once you are finished, press OK to validate.