PRG Mbox - Folder and File Numbering

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MBOX® USER MANUAL
At startup, the Mbox software performs a media scan to search all folders inside the /Mbox/Media and
/Mbox/Models folders on the hard-drive of the Mbox server. External media can be attached to these folders using
aliases, provided the following guidelines are observed:
+ Aliases must link to folders on the external drive; they cannot be aliased directly to les.
+ An alias cannot refer to another alias.
+ The /Mbox/Media, and /Mbox/Models folders cannot be aliases.
Each time the Mbox server completes a media scan, a text le is created with all media les found and their
corresponding combined le numbers. This text le can be found at /Mbox/Media_Report.txt
Note: The initial media scan allows the locations of les to be resolved at startup, therefore the “distance” of a le from
the main folder has no effect on the time required to nd a le. In addition, the content in the Media folder is allowed to
be nested (folders within folders) to a limit of 64 folders deep.
Folder and File Numbering
Media and object content les are arranged into individual
folders within the /Mbox/Media or /Mbox/Models folders
respectively. Each content folder within the Media or
Models folders must have a name that begins with a 3-digit
index value between 000 and 255. In turn, each le within
a content folder must be named using a 3-digit index value
between 000 to 255 as a prex. This structure provides
the means to select content by using two 8-bit numbers.
Separate control parameters on the console will be used to
select the content folder and the numbered content within
that folder.
Note: The combination of the folder and le numbers together is referred to in this manual as the le’s Folder.File index,
or more generically, as its index.
+ Content folders within the Media and Models folders must have an 8-bit numerical prex and can have a descriptive
name separated from the number by a period or a space. For example:
025.Central Park or 025 Central Park
+ Files within each folder must have a numerical prex, can have a descriptive name if desired, and must have a three-
letter le extension. Each of these parts should be separated by a period:
001.Great Lawn.jpg or 001.obj
+ Content folders and les don’t have to use numbers with padding zeros as shown in the examples above. Using a
numerical prex of “25” is exactly the same as using a prex of “025”. Likewise “1” and “01” are the same as “001”.
The primary reason for the padding zeros is to keep the folder and le names aligned more evenly when they are
viewed in the Finder.
+ Movies, still images, and image sequences may be numbered between 000 and 255 and placed in folders numbered
001 - 254. Models and digital gobos may be numbered between 000 and 255 and placed in folders numbered 001
- 255. Avoid using folders 000 and 255 in the Media folder or folder 000 in the Models folder, if at all possible, as
these folders hold some default content.