Uploading

Any time you need to add assets to Flow Capture, you have two options:

Using the Transfer section within Flow Capture, and then clicking the Upload tab.
Using Flow Capture Connect's Transfer functionality, which allows you to upload to the platform using this external plug in.

If you'll be using Flow Capture Connect to upload, view our help doc, located here: Flow Capture Connect - Transfer

If you'll be using Flow Capture itself, click below to view a video walkthrough, or read on for a written instruction guide:

Uploading

Note: If you're on the Assets tab, you'll also see an Upload button near the top. Clicking this will bring you directly to the Transfer Section - Upload Tab, defaulting to the folder selected on the left.

Assets can be uploaded to either a new Batch or one that you've set up ahead of time.

In addition to the assets themselves, you can also attach metadata sidecar files that we'll extract information from and apply to any files you're uploading or have already uploaded. As we dive into the upload panel itself, we'll also be going through through the upload process step by step!

If you're looking for something specific, here's a table to contents to get you there faster!

Starting an Upload

Uploading on Flow Capture begins in the left side of the panel, where you'll choose a destination Batch for for your files. These are containers for files in Flow Capture; they can represent a shoot day, a specific cut of the project you're working on, or however else you want to keep things organized. You can upload to an existing Batch that you click and select, or a new one that you create.

Hide/Unhide Distro Method

You've also got the option to create a Hidden Batch, which prevents any notifications from being sent out when the assets have finished uploading and processing. It will also keeps the batch and everything in it invisible to anyone with the default Viewer permission level.

This is helpful if you want to double-check any of your work before notifying everyone else in the Folder that it's up for viewing. Once you're satisfied that everything looks right, you can Unhide the Batch and choose to send out notifications to everyone on the Folder, no one, or a select few.

Regardless of whom you choose to inform, all the Folder's participants will be able to see and view any assets within the newly available Batch.

Adding or Removing Files

The center part of the panel allows you to either drag and drop the files you want to upload, or to locate them by browsing through your computer and any connected hard drives. Once selected, the files will be shown under the Add Files column.

If you added one too many files, the wrong cut, or just need to make a change, you can remove anything from the upload list by clicking the gray x to the right of each filename.

Options - Metadata and Notifications

The right-hand column gives you the ability to establish the metadata source and workflow for a Folder's video and audio content. This can be extracted from ALEs, XMLs and/or WAVs as supplied by your onset DIT.

Flow Capture keys off filenames when applying metadata from sidecar files, so you'll want to make sure those match in both the assets you're uploading and wherever the metadata is being extracted from.

Any information you attach via this process will remain connected to the uploaded assets, even if you move or copy them elsewhere..

Checking the Overwrite Existing Metadata option will inject the metadata information into the corresponding display field on Flow Capture. If unchecked, the metadata injection routine will only populate the fields that don't have pre-existing information.

When you check Apply To This Batch Only, the metadata is only applied to the Batch you are currently uploading into. If unchecked, Flow Capture will go through and attempt to apply the ALE to all Batches within the Folder.

If you're not uploading metadata sidecars, you can leave all these options set to their defaults and we won't try to add or remove anything.

The option to send notifications about the new Upload to all Participants in the Folder is enabled by default. Toggling it off will allow you to choose individual members to notify or simply not notify anyone. You can also always notify them later by using the Hide/Unhide workflow or sending out a Playlink.

The notification toggle is sticky, and will stay off until switched on again!

Pre-Upload Validation

If you'd like us to double-check your files before you take the time to upload them to Flow Capture, we have a quick process that can scan for common mistakes with Dolby Vision or DNxHD assets to save you from future headaches. You'll want to make sure an Admin in charge has toggled this setting on at either the Folder, Production or Company level.

Once that's enabled, clicking the upload button will perform the validation:

If nothing is wrong, we'll automatically start uploading everything you've added. If there is an issue, a notification window will appear and inform you of the problem:

Clicking through that will bring you back to the upload panel, where there's now an indicator next to the asset or asses that failed the validation step. The upload button will also have a warning icon that can be clicked to bring up the original diagnosis.

While you can continue to upload in that state, you will very likely end up with an asset that fails to process successfully. We recommend reviewing anything that fails the validation process and creating a new file that addresses the issue that was surfaced and then running it through the validation again.

We have breakdowns of issues in our HDR & Dolby Vision and Video Upload Specification articles.

Uploading

Once you're satisfied that everything is ready to upload, click that blue button to start it up. You will see the following status display once you've got an active upload.

The Add More button will allow you to additional files for this upload. Cancel All will stop the upload altogether, and clicking any x next to any filename will remove it from the upload queue.

Note that you are not able to upload to more than one Batch or Folder at a time in the same browser instance.

We are also unable to perform validations on any new files added during an active upload. If you're unsure, it's best to wait and check the file separately!

Asset Processing

Once an asset has been validated and successfully uploaded, the final stage before it can be viewed and shared is the Asset Processing stage.

This stage processes the asset(s) so that they can be played back on the platform, including things like transcoding downres proxies, transcoding an SDR proxy (for HDR uploads), DRM-related processes, watermarking processes, and a few behind-the-scenes processes that make the assets streamable within the browser and iOS devices.

If MXF transcoding has been toggled on, this will also be done within the Asset Processing stage, which will add a bit of processing time.

During the Asset Processing stage, a progress bar will be shown on the Assets Tab to indicate an approximate timeframe for the uploaded asset(s) to be available for playback and sharing:

Users will need to wait until the processing is complete before viewing, or sending Playlinks containing those assets.