Getting started with Zoom VideoFX (Zoom 5.x – 7.2)

For VideoFX to be set up, firstly, it should be enabled for your Zoom license. Then, you need to define some new metadata fields for data-exchange between various servers in the VideoFX setup.

Next, you need to plan and implement a metadata schema to define the way high-res assets (and also optionally the proxy assets) will be stored.

Let us look at these in detail below.

Check VideoFX license

Check if VideoFX license is enabled in the Web Management Console.

In the Web Management Console, open the License Management node under System node in the Admin Menu sidebar. Open License Information page. Check that VideoFX is Enabled. If it is not enabled, then check with Evolphin Support on how to get your VideoFX license.

Define data-exchange metadata fields

A few new metadata fields are required to share common paths and status information between servers, 3rd party transcoders, and archive systems. To add the fields, follow these steps:

1. Open metadataspec.xml for editing (Windows: [ZoomInstallDir]\Evolphin\DAM\conf; Linux: $home$/zoom/conf).
2. Create a new metadata group to store the required fields. For example, create metadata group code ZPIG (for Zoom Proxy Info).
3. Inside this new metadata group, create new fields for the following:
   1. Location of the high-res file. For example, NativeFilePath.
   2. Location of the mid-res file. For example, ProResFilePath.
   3. Location of the low-res file. For example, LowResFilePath.
   4. Status of low-res file generation. For example, LowRes.
   5. Status of proxy generation. For example, Proxy.
   <mdgroup code=”ZPIG” label=”Zoom Proxy Info” editable=”true” appendable=”false” default=”false”>
   <metadataFields>
   <field ns=”zoom” name=”NativeFilePath” label=”Native File Path” keyType=”string” valueType=”string” multiline=”false” allowmultiple=”false” inheritedscheme=”none”/>
   <field ns=”zoom” name=”ProResFilePath” label=”ProRes File Path” keyType=”string” valueType=”string” multiline=”false” allowmultiple=”false” inheritedscheme=”none”/>
   <field ns=”zoom” name=”LowResFilePath” label=”LowRes File Path” keyType=”string” valueType=”string” multiline=”false” allowmultiple=”false” inheritedscheme=”none”/>
   <field ns=”zoom” name=”LowResGenerated” label=”LowRes Generated” keyType=”string” valueType=”string” multiline=”false” allowmultiple=”false”>
   <values>
   <option key=”true” value=”true”/>
   <option key=”false” value=”false”/>
   </values>
   </field>
   <field ns=”zoom” name=”Proxy” label=”Proxy” keyType=”string” valueType=”string” editablekey=”” multiline=”false” allowmultiple=”false” projects=”” roles=”” type=”” default=”” linkedkey=”” linkedwith=”” restrict=””>
   <values>
   <option key=”true” value=”true”/>
   <option key=”false” value=”false”/>
   </values>
   <field ns=”zoom” name=”ArchiveStatus” label=”Archive Status” keyType=”string” valueType=”string” editablekey=”” multiline=”false” allowmultiple=”false” projects=”” roles=”” type=”” default=”” linkedkey=”” linkedwith=”” restrict=””>
   </field>
   <values/>
   </field>
   </metadataFields>
   </mdgroup>

    

   The metadata group or field names could be different from these. But, make sure to save the field names along with group codes so that these could be configured later on.

    

    

   If you will be using the Archive module with VideoFX, then also create these new fields:

   1. High-res asset’s archive status. For example, NativeArchiveStatus.
   2. Mid-res proxy’s archive status. For example, MidResArchiveStatus.
   3. Direct ingest asset’s archive status. For example, DirectArchiveStatus.
   4. Low-res proxy’s archive status. For example, LowResArchiveStatus.

   The metadata group or field names could be different from these. But, make sure to save the field names along with group codes so that these could be configured later on.

4. Save these field names to be used while configuring the script installers later. Save and close the file.
5. Data-exchange metadata fields are now ready.

Define metadata schema

Based on how you want to organize high-res assets on the high-res mount location (also referred to as ‘PSAN’), your low-res assets in Zoom, and even your direct ingest assets in Zoom, select corresponding metadata properties as mandatory on the Zoom MAM Server.

For example, you want to organize your assets based on the name of the show and then by the name of the episode. In this case, you should configure two properties “Show” and “Episode_Title” under a new metadata group, say “CORP”. These metadata properties should be mandatory. The actual folder hierarchy to be set with these metadata properties is specified on Zoom Clients after this setup on the Zoom MAM Server is complete. This is done later while setting up Zoom Clients for VideoFX. Check for details here.

To create the mandatory metadata fields for your metadata schema, follow these steps:

1. In the Web Management Console, open Metadata Editor page under System node in the Admin Menu sidebar.
2. Click Add to create a new metadata group as planned for your schema earlier.

   

3. As per our example above, enter Group Code as ‘CORP’ in all capitals and label as say ‘My Company’. Choose Editable as ‘yes’ and Appendable as ‘no’.

   

4. Select the new group ‘CORP’ in the Group Details box. Now, click Add in the Field Details box below it.

   

5. Specify Name as ‘Show’ and Label as ‘Show’. Choose type as ‘Mandatory’. Add a few key values for the field.

   

6. Click Submit to add the field to the group CORP.
7. Similarly, add the other field ‘Episode_Title’ and set a few values for it.

   

8. Click Save Metadata. The fields for your metadata schema are now ready on the Zoom MAM Server.

Move on to setting up your Ingest Server by following the steps here.

Apart from setting up the servers, you also need to set up Zoom Clients to be able to use VideoFX flow.

Follow for your Zoom version:

• Settings from Zoom 7.3 onwards
• Settings for Zoom versions upto 7.2

From Zoom 7.3 onwards

As hook files are not required anymore while setting up VideoFX, so the configuration for Zoom Clients is also simpler.

Update zoom.properties

Each Zoom Client needs some properties added to their zoom.properties file. The easiest way to do this is to add these properties for the desired locations so these are propagated to all Zoom Clients in that location.

1. Log into the Web Management Console as an admin.
2. Open the Server Zoom Properties page under System node in the Admin Menu sidebar.

   

3. Choose your desired location from the Locations dropdown and click Add. We need to add the properties THIRD_PARTY_MOUNT_POINT and USAN_POINTS for any location that is configured for VideoFX.

   

4. Specify the paths designated for each of them and click Submit to add these properties for our selected location.
5. The properties will now be pulled by the Zoom Clients during auto-sync or manual sync.

Alternatively, you can add zoom.properties file individually on each Zoom Client machine, but this will take longer.

Z Settings

For the first-time set up of Zoom Clients after upgrading to/installing Zoom 7.3, you need to select the location where the Zoom Client is working in. If you do not choose this then by default Global location is set.

After launching Zoom ClientProxy, you will see a message to set up a default Zoom Server.

Click Yes to see the Z Settings window. Alternatively, right-click on the Z icon and choose Settings from the Z menu.

Select Server/WC Settings in the left sidebar.

Click Add to see the Add Server Settings window. Notice that this popup window also has a Location drop-down now.

Specify the Server URL and press Tab to move to the next field. A Zoom Server Login window is shown.

Specify your username and password to log into Zoom. After a successful login, the Add Server Settings window is shown again. Choose a location from the list. Specify an alias, default working copy and default check-out locations. Click Add to log in, validate, and add the server settings.

Click Make Default to make this Zoom Server as the default server. Also, select Always Use Default to make sure that this Zoom Client seamlessly connects to the default Zoom Server every time.

For Zoom versions up to 7.2

For Zoom versions before 7.3, follow the rest of the post to set up Zoom Client machines.

For each Zoom Client, a few settings are required in the property files, hook.properties and zoom.properties. These files reside in the user directory $HOME/.zm. 

Create hook.properties

You could create a single hook.properties as shown below. Copy this file to a test client workstation and replace the paths and folder names as per that client’s settings. Once finalized, copy this file to the Zoom server for automatic push to all client workstations as described here.

Update zoom.properties

Copy this file to a test client workstation and replace the paths and folder names as per that client’s settings. Once finalized, copy this file to the Zoom server for automatic push to all client workstations as described here.

Update Z settings

Use the Settings dialog from Z-Icon to update the following values: 

defaultCheckoutLocation: This property defines the location where, by default, any checked out asset is placed. So, it will not prompt to select location every time a user tries to check-out a file from the Zoom repository.

DEF_ZOOM_SERVER: In typical deployments, clients only connect to a single Zoom server and therefore it is recommended that this property is configured to minimize user intervention in running Zoom operations.  

alwaysUseDefaultServer:  This property directs all Zoom operations from the client to the default server. This must be set to true to execute search operations from inside the Zoom Adobe plugins.