Inside the Auto-assign Preview Tool

“Get to Know Connecter” is a series of articles designed to acquaint you with the diverse features and functionalities of Connecter. Whether you’re a freelancer or a member of a large organization, this series will equip you with the knowledge and skills needed to navigate our Digital Asset Management solution confidently and boost your productivity.

Connecter’s “Auto-assign Previews” tool is one of the most handy features at your disposal. It allows you to define patterns and rules to automatically process and assign custom previews to 3d models, materials, HDRI, and other assets.

With it, you can add visually descriptive information of your choice to the hundreds of assets in your library so you can find the content you need much faster and easier.

Connecter can’t do that without your input because users name and organize assets following diverse patterns that it can’t guess on its own. That’s why you can let it know how you do that, and it’ll follow your process. Let’s see more about that.

Defining organizational and naming patterns

Before you dive into this, it’s important to note that you’ll need to have a defined naming convention, or you won’t be able to process assets effectively. You can use the Batch Rename tool to make the file names follow the same pattern and trim inconsistencies without too much hassle.

Use the Batch Rename tool to fix filenames.

Now that’s out of the way, you’ll find the Auto-assign Previews option in the Tools dropdown in Connecter’s desktop application. You can also choose to use the Legacy version of the tool if you find it more convenient. A window will pop up once you click on either option.

The current Auto-assign Previews (left) interface vs the legacy one (right).

Here are the main elements of the process you can define:

Asset types

If you’re using the Legacy version, you’ll notice this option is called “3d files”. However, that’s not entirely accurate as it also includes MAT files, thus the name change in the current tool panel.

From there, you can choose which file formats to assign previews to automatically. By default, all are selected, but you can modify that to your liking by unticking the format you don’t want to use.

Note that the current version of the Auto-assign preview tool offers more options like video and audio formats, PDFs, ZIP files, and many others.

Short overview of the current Auto-assign Previews tool.

There, you can select an asset and the file you want to use as its preview, and Connecter will use their naming patterns to automate the process. You can save these patterns, select which one to use, and if you no longer need some of them later, delete them.

Alternatively, in the Legacy tool, you can choose from a preset selection of naming patterns for the names of the 3d files you want Connecter to assign previews to. Your options are to include:

• alphabetChar — only letters of the alphabet.
• digits — only numbers.
• exactChar — a specific word like “preview.”
• specialSymbol — a symbol like a question mark, dash, etc.
• anyChar — all characters
• 3d file folder name — the name of the folders containing the 3d assets.

You can do the same for the file names you want to be ignored in the preview assigning process.

Detailed tutorial for the Legacy tool.

Previews types

That is where you select the image formats you want to use as previews.

In the Legacy tool, you use the above naming pattern options to define which files should be used as previews. This time, though, you can also use the name of the folder containing the images as their name.

You can also choose a naming pattern to be ignored.

Asset location

You’ll also have to determine whether Connecter will assign previews to assets in all folders, only selected folders, or selected folders and subfolders.

In the Legacy version, things are a bit more complex. First, you can choose between these levels of organization:

• Same folder — when the preview is in the same folder as the asset.
• Subfolder — when the preview is in a subfolder of the folder containing the asset.
• Same level — when the preview is in a folder different from the one holding the asset but at the same folder level.
• 3d file’s parent folder — When the asset is in a subfolder of the folder containing the preview.

Then, you can also use the naming patterns we discussed to select and ignore folders.

Handling existing previews

This section is necessary for when you update your assets’ previews, and some of them already have images assigned. The options available in this case are to add the new preview and keep or remove the existing previews or to ignore the assets with previews.

In the Legacy tool, if you decide to keep the existing preview, the new one could be added as first or last.

Note: You can tick the box to automatically hide preview files after they have been assigned to assets if you don’t want to see them in the Asset View.

Choosing the right tool version for you

The two versions of the Auto-assign Preview tool bring different benefits and limitations.

On the one hand, the new one is notably easier to use and doesn’t require sticking to complex naming patterns. However, you’ll need to use it numerous times to cover all naming conventions in your library if there are inconsistencies.

The Legacy tool’s cons are its limited diversity of supported formats and the steeper learning curve. But the big plus is that if you know your library well, you’ll only need one or two runs of the tool to get the job done.

So, you’ll need to determine your priorities and evaluate the state of your asset naming practices to decide which one to use.

Wrap up

Connecter’s Auto-assign Previews tool is an indispensable asset management feature, streamlining the process of linking custom previews to a wide range of assets.

Connecter caters to the most popular user naming conventions and organizational structures to enable quicker and more efficient content retrieval. This tool empowers users to organize their asset libraries with precision, making asset management more intuitive and optimized.

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If you’re looking for a way to take control of your digital assets, our DAM might be a good fit for your needs. Contact our support team to find out more about its organizational and collaboration features.

Disclaimer: Some of the images in the article are generated by Midjourney.