Getting started with Moxion Basics

Moxion is the world's most powerful dailies and review platform. If you're using Moxion for dailies, cut review, or screeners, there's a few things we do a bit differently (we think better!) than other systems. This guide is here to help you learn the ropes and get you (and your production and post production teams) comfortable with using Moxion.

8 Steps to get up and running with Moxion Dailies

  1. Get to know the Moxion Interface
  2. Administrator Training
  3. Add (and train) your Editorial Team
  4. Decide on metadata tagging options
  5. Set your Asset Options in the Folder Settings
  6. Explore Playlinks and Folders for Distribution
  7. Create your Dailies Distribution list
  8. Onboard your Viewers

Get to know the Moxion interface

The core Moxion interface is comprised of three tabs: Inbox, the Desktop, and the Viewer. 

Inbox

The Inbox is the first place people land as soon as they log into Moxion and doubles as both a notification for incoming shared content, like Playlinks or uploads to a Folder, and a player where anyone can view content shared.

To learn more about the Inbox and all the features, reference our guide: Inbox Overview.

Desktop

The Desktop tab is the organizational center of Moxion, where content is organized into Groups, Productions, and Folders, and you can also access any of the Production or Folder Settings from the Action Menus.

This video will give you a quick overview of how organization works in the Moxion Desktop.

To learn more about all of the elements on the Moxion Desktop, reference this guide: Desktop Overview

Viewer

The Viewer tab is synonymous for being inside of a selected Folder, and where the work happens. Here's where content is not only viewed, but also uploaded and shared. It's also where collaborators can make comments on any shared assets: Commenting and Markup.

To get to know the Viewer and what it's like inside of any Folder in Moxion, read our Viewer Overview.

Administrator Training

Moxion's user management is self-managed making it super easy to add users, on the fly, right in app without going through us! It's more secure for you (as you know who everyone is and what access they should have) and less red tape. Moxion Administrators are the dedicated team members responsible for adding users and granting permission and access levels, creating Folder structure, and defining security settings. 

If you're not sure who should be a Moxion Admin, check out the video below:

We also recommend scheduling Admin Training with our team to learn the ropes with a Moxion expert. You can schedule time with someone from our team at this link.

Add (and train) your Editorial Team

Your Editorial team members are anyone expected to work with the assets themselves, like downloading them to edit clips for director's review, or uploading finished dailies to distribute among your production team. 

You can add your Editorial Team members in the Manage Teams panel. We recommend following the best practices in this guide in Setting up Team members for adding your Editorial Team: Setting up Teams and Adding Users - Workspace Collaborators.

We also recommend setting up a training session with a Moxion Product expert to go through the ins and outs of the editorial workflow in Moxion. Find a time that works for your Editorial Team and schedule a group session with a Moxion product expert to train them.

Decide on metadata tagging options

One of Moxion's great strengths is its ability to provide a rich repository of metadata by gathering information directly from camera and seamlessly making it available to downstream vendors. This video will show you that in action:

With some clever scripting by the Moxion Development team it's possible to pre-map specific Tags based on metadata so they become automatically searchable across a Folder. When you then upload assets with an ALE to Moxion, the script will trigger and the specified tag will be applied to the designated Assets.

If you'd like to take advantage of this feature, Contact Us and let us know the Metadata Field you'd like us to Tag for, and the Tag you'd like to apply.

Set your Folder Settings

In the Folder Settings you'll find the Asset Options and Upload Options menus, where you can set a number of options for playback and quality. 

Allowable Playback Resolutions

With adaptive streaming playback, you can choose the resolutions available to viewers. All of these are selected by default, but if you'd only like the highest quality available, you can toggle off the lower quality options.

Having the 480p option enabled can be handy if the production or someone on it is in a remote area and won't have a lot of bandwidth to work with.

Transcode to MXF

Typically used with our Immediates workflow, this allows files that are uploaded into a Folder to be transcoded into DNxHD36 or 45 formats alongside the standard playback files we create. They won't be viewable within Moxion, but they can be made available for editorial teams who need something of better quality or that's more compatible with their timeline. Higher bitrate DNxHD options are not available because the proxies files we get from QTAKE (or other methods) are not of sufficient bitrate to warrant DNxHD115 or 175 quality.

Original files that you upload to make use of transcoding to MXF will need to have a resolution of either 1920x1080 or 1280x720.

A user will need  Admin  or  Downloader (No Watermark)  permissions in order to be able to download DNx/MXFs and untouched original files.

It's important to note that transcoding to MXF increases the total amount of storage within your production on Moxion! The creation of those files will impact any storage-related costs. 

iPad Standardize Brightness

Allows you to set a preferred brightness level in SDR and HDR for those viewing assets on an iPad. 

Target Playback Bitrate

The bitrate that we encode video files at for playback on Moxion. More information about the different bitrates can be found in our Upload Specifications.

Thumbnail Position

Allows you to select where the asset's thumbnail is drawn from within the clip. You can change an asset’s thumbnail by scrubbing along it to find the image you want, then clicking and holding on it until the frame pulses.

Asset Transcode Options

Allows you to disable transcoding for the Folder. Toggling the "Non-transcode folder" toggle to ON will disable transcoding, and we won't process any files that are uploaded to it. This should only be used on Folders uploading files to that are not intended for playback. 

Video Processing Tune

A dropdown where you can select a preset for how videos uploaded to the folder are handled.

  • Default - Works best for most scenarios and types of footage.
  • Animation - Optimized for projects that aren't live action. Specifically, those using a 2D-animated style. 
  • Grain - Ideal for work that originated on film or which uses an intensive texture mapping solution like LiveGrain. 

Multi-Channel Audio Layout

Moxion supports 5.1 sound in a number of file formats and two different channel layouts (SMPTE or Film ordering). Generally speaking, you can leave it on Auto (the default), where we will assume SMPTE ordering for any files that get uploaded. You'll only need to specify if the file you're uploading has enough audio tracks that it could be mistaken for another type of ordering. 

More information about this can be found in our Audio Specification guide. 

Validate Files Before Upload

Our upload process includes an optional validation step that can be enabled at the Folder, Production, or Company levels. 

This will check for common issues with Dolby Vision or MXF files before they get uploaded to Moxion.

Explore Playlinks and Folders for Distribution

There are two ways to share Dailies in Moxion:
  1. Create a Playlink to distribute a curated collection of Assets
  2. Invite viewers into a Folder with a Viewer Permission Set

The audience is the key factor in determining what method you should use, and when. Most people use both!

A Playlink is a curated collection of assets you can send to your Production team to watch Dailies, send selects, or share content in any other way without giving Folder access. This will feel most familiar, as it's very similar to other systems, and should be used for your general distribution list. Playlinks are great for sharing content with executives, cast, crew, and anyone who just needs awareness at a high level. This guide covers the ins and outs of Playlinks: Understanding and Creating Playlinks.

Inviting Viewers into a Folder is best for Directors, show-runners, creatives, and anyone else who should be collaborating on content. In other words, Folders are best for the folks whose opinions matter the most, and are actively working on the Production. You can use Folders to create private collaboration spaces to review cuts between the editorial teams: Folders (and Subfolders)

Create your Dailies Distribution list

The easiest way to create a dailies distribution list for Playlinks is to create a Team and upload a CSV directly into that team for your list. The CSV should be formatted by First Name, Last Name, and Email. You can download a sample CSV to use here: Download a sample CSV.

To set up your Dailies distribution list

  1. Click on the More Actions menu of the Dailies Folder and select Show Participants to open the Manage Teams panel
  2. In the Teams column, select New Team and Create your Team
  3. With the Team selected, it should be highlighted on the left with a color, click Import CSV
  4. Upload your CSV of team members, in the format First Name, Last Name, and Email 

You now have added your production team to a dailies distribution list! 

Adding Contacts to the Contacts Column or to a Team does not prompt an invitation or login to Moxion. The only ways to do that are to assign a Contact to a Folder (or to a Team that's added to a Folder), assign a Team the Contact is a part of to a Folder, or send them a highly secure Playlink.

The Team will be available to select when using Playlinks to send out your Dailies. 

Onboard your Viewers

If using Playlinks to distribute Dailies, you may want to generate the login for team members in advance before principal photography starts, since logins are only generated when Contacts and Teams are either added to a Folder, or if a Playlink is sent.

The best way to get your team introduced to Moxion is to send a Playlink with the Viewer Overview Video from your Getting Started Folder. 

If using Folders to share content as collaboration spaces, an invitation to create an account is triggered when they are invited to the Folder, so there's no need to send a Playlink ahead of time!

We have some helpful videos and guides to make sure your team feels comfortable viewing content in Moxion: Onboarding your Team.