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Bins (Beta)

Beta Feature

The bins feature is currently in beta and available by request only. To have this feature enabled for your project, please reach out through our live chat support (click the chat icon in the bottom right corner) or email us at odailies@ottomatic.io.

The bins feature in o/DAILIES allows you to upload and share additional clips that don't originate from principal photography, such as content from editorial or VFX departments.

Understanding Bins

Bins serve a distinct purpose separate from the regular dailies workflow:

Important Note

Bins are not designed for managing footage from principal photography. For on-set footage, always use the standard dailies workflow with Silverstack or ALE metadata integration for optimal organization and searchability.

Key Benefits

  • Independent Organization: Bins exist outside the standard scene/take metadata structure
  • Flexible Permissions: Share bins with specific team members, including those without dailies access
  • Supplementary Content: Perfect for editorial cuts, VFX reviews, and other post-production materials

Upload Structure

_bins

After the bins feature is enabled for your project, a _bins folder will appear in your project directory. Each subfolder directly inside _bins becomes a bin, and any deeper subfolders become folders inside that bin, mirroring your directory structure:

Project A
├── _bins
│   ├── Editorial_Review        # Each top-level subfolder becomes a bin
│   │   ├── Scene_42_Cut.mp4    # Clips here land at the bin root
│   │   └── Rough_Cuts          # Deeper subfolders become folders in the bin
│   │       ├── Ep101_Cut_v1.mp4
│   │       └── Ep101_Cut_v2.mp4  # A second version of the same clip, not a second clip
│   ├── VFX_Dailies
│   │   └── Shot_Comp_v3.mp4
│   └── Temp_Music_Tests
└── ... (other standard folders)

Names ending in a version number

A file whose name ends in _v2, _v3 and so on is treated as a new version of an existing clip rather than a clip of its own. See Versions.

Folders can be nested as deeply as you need. Re-uploading a directory tree that was uploaded before folders were supported moves the existing clips into their folders instead of duplicating them.

Reserved folder names

A folder named exactly like a 16-character lowercase hexadecimal string (e.g. 0123456789abcdef) is reserved for internal upload bookkeeping when it is the direct parent of a file; avoid such names for the last folder level.

Folder Structure Example

/Users/<your_username>/Documents/odailies/
├── Project A
│   ├── _bins             # Only appears after beta activation
│   │   └── ... (your custom subfolders)
│   ├── _done
│   ├── _error
│   ├── _graded
│   ├── _log
│   ├── _proxy
│   └── _still
└── ...

Uploading to Bins

Bin clips can have any aspect ratio, including vertical video; thumbnails and the player adapt to each clip.

To add content to bins:

Drag and Drop

Drag and drop media files directly into the bin. This works best if you only have a few files to upload. When exporting from editing software, it's recommended to use the watch folder method.

Watch Folder

  1. Ensure the bins feature has been activated for your project
  2. Create a subfolder within the _bins folder
  3. Place your video files in the subfolder, following the standard file specs
  4. The o/DAILIES/MANAGER will detect and upload these files

No Metadata Required

Bins content doesn't require Silverstack integration or ALE files, as these clips aren't associated with the standard metadata system.

Organizing with Folders

Inside a bin, clips can be organized into folders:

  • Navigate like bins: Tap a folder card to open it; the back button goes up one level, and long-pressing (or right-clicking) it jumps directly to any parent folder or the bin. Inside a folder, swiping (or the arrows next to the title) moves between the folder's siblings, just like moving between bins. Folders can also be found by name in search.
  • Create and manage folders in the app: Anyone with write access to a bin can create, rename, move, and delete folders using the toolbar actions of the folder that is open. Deleting a folder also deletes all clips and folders inside it.
  • Move clips: Select clips in a bin and move them into a folder, or drag and drop files onto an open folder to upload directly into it.
  • Upload via watch folder: Nested directories under a bin's _bins subfolder are mirrored as folders automatically (see above).

Folder names

Folder names cannot contain /, and two folders at the same level cannot share a name.

Versions

Material in a bin tends to come back: an assembly edit gets recut, a stunt or VFX previz gets re-rendered, a temp comp gets another pass. Rather than filling the bin with near-identical clips, o/DAILIES keeps those deliveries together as versions of one clip.

A clip with versions is still a single item in the bin. It shows the newest version, carries a V2 badge, and keeps the same link, so a link you have already sent to someone goes on working and always opens the current version.

Creating a version

There are three ways a new version comes about:

  • Name the file after the clip. A file ending in _v2, _v3 and so on becomes that version of the clip with the same name. Ep101_Cut_v2.mp4 is version 2 of Ep101_Cut. This works both through the watch folder and by drag and drop, and it is the usual way when deliveries are already numbered.
  • Upload it against a specific clip. Open the clip, use Upload New Version in the version menu, and pick a file. The file can be called anything at all: you have told o/DAILIES which clip it belongs to.
  • Stack clips that already landed separately. Select two or more clips in the bin and choose Stack as Versions. You pick which clip is kept, and the others become further versions of it. Use this when deliveries arrived under names too different to be matched up, or before versions existed.

Which of these applies comes down to how the file reaches the bin. Through the watch folder or dropped into a bin, its name is all o/DAILIES has to go on. Sent with Upload New Version from inside the app, the clip is already named, so the file can be called anything.

flowchart TD
    A["A file arrives in a bin"] --> B{"How did it get there?"}
    B -->|"Upload New Version,<br/>from inside the app"| C["A new version of<br/>the clip you sent it to"]
    B -->|"Watch folder,<br/>or dropped into the bin"| D{"A clip of that name<br/>already exists?"}
    D -->|No| E["A new clip"]
    D -->|Yes| F{"Name ends in<br/>_v2, _v3, …?"}
    F -->|Yes| G["That version of the clip"]
    F -->|No| H{"Same file as the<br/>current version?"}
    H -->|Yes| I["Nothing happens"]
    H -->|No| J["The next version of the clip"]

The name a clip is matched on is the name without its version number, so Ep101_Cut_v2.mp4 and Ep101_Cut.mp4 are the same clip, while Ep101_Cut_Alt.mp4 is a different one.

A numbered name always means the number it says. Sending Ep101_Cut_v2.mp4 again, with a corrected render, replaces version 2 and leaves the other versions alone. A version is never quietly overwritten by a different delivery.

Re-uploading a file that is byte for byte identical to the current version does nothing, so re-syncing a watch folder does not fill a clip with copies of itself.

Reviewing versions

Open a clip and the version menu next to the share button lists every version, newest first, each with the file name it was delivered under and when it arrived. Pick one to watch it.

Comments stay with the version they were written on. A note about version 1 is a note about frames that may not exist in version 2, so it is not carried forward. By default you see the notes on the version you are watching; switch on All versions in the comments header to see every version's notes at once, each marked with the version it belongs to.

An EDL belongs to one version too. Upload an EDL for a specific version and matchback for that version resolves against that version's cut. A later cut does not inherit the EDL of an earlier one.

Managing versions

From the version menu, choose Manage Versions to:

  • Make Separate Clip: take a version out of the stack and give it a clip of its own. Its comments and its EDL go with it.
  • Delete Version: remove one version and the comments written on it. The other versions are untouched.

The last version

A clip always has at least one version, so the last one cannot be removed on its own. Delete the clip instead.

Matchback

Upload a cut to a bin together with its EDL, and o/DAILIES links it back to the original camera clips. While you watch, matchback answers the question "what else was shot for the take I'm looking at right now?", so you can compare the take that made the edit against the ones that didn't, without leaving the player and without digging through the dailies.

graph LR
    A["Assembly you are watching<br/>Ep101_Assembly_v3"] -->|"EDL event<br/>at the playhead"| B["The take in the edit<br/>Scene 42A, Take 2"]
    B -->|"other takes<br/>of the same shot"| C["Take 1"]
    B --> D["Take 3"]
    B --> E["Take 4"]
    style B fill:#2196f3

Setting it up

Export an EDL of your cut and upload it into the same bin folder as the video it belongs to. The EDL is matched by the TITLE field written inside the EDL file: set it to the name of the video file the EDL describes, version number and all.

An assembly uploaded as Ep101_Assembly_v3.mp4 therefore needs an EDL whose TITLE is Ep101_Assembly_v3. That attaches the cut to version 3 of the clip, and a later version keeps its own EDL rather than inheriting this one (see Versions).

If the EDL has no TITLE, its file name is used instead: the trailing _V2 track suffix is set aside, and any _vN on what remains gives the version, so Ep101_Assembly_v3_V1.edl attaches to version 3. A file name that carries no version this way, like PICTURE_LOCK_V1.edl, attaches to the clip's newest version.

When the assembly has several video tracks, export one EDL per track and end each filename with the track number: Ep101_Assembly_v3_V1.edl, Ep101_Assembly_v3_V2.edl. Where tracks overlap, matchback follows the topmost one, the same picture you see on screen.

Two numbers, two meanings

In Ep101_Assembly_v3_V1.edl, the _v3 is the version of the clip, and comes from the TITLE inside the file. The trailing _V1 is the video track, and comes from the file name. An EDL file name ending in _V2 always means track 2, never version 2.

Using it

Once an EDL is attached, a matchback button appears in the player. Open it and you get:

  • The source clip under the playhead, resolved through the EDL.
  • The other takes of the same shot, which you can play and compare side by side.
  • A marker on the take that is in the edit, so you can see at a glance which one editorial chose.
  • A marker on uncircled takes, when any take of the shot was circled.
  • Suggestions: propose a different take for that point in the edit. A suggestion is saved as a comment on the cut, at the timecode you were watching, and is included when the comments are exported as an EDL, so it travels back to editorial.

Requirements

Matchback finds the other takes by looking for clips that share the current clip's scene and shot, and it compares those values exactly. If the scene and shot in your metadata are inconsistent (1A in one clip and 1a in another), those takes will not be grouped together. Clips with no scene or shot cannot be matched.

The EDL's reel names must correspond to the camera clips in your project. An EDL that references reels o/DAILIES doesn't know about will open with no takes to show.

Permissions and Sharing

Bins have their own permission system separate from dailies access:

  1. Granular Control: Share specific bins with selected team members
  2. Extended Access: Include people who don't have access to regular dailies
  3. Flexible Collaboration: Perfect for cross-department reviews

Permissions always apply to the whole bin: folders inherit the bin's sharing and cannot be shared individually. If a set of clips needs different access, put it in its own bin.

Future Features

We're actively developing additional functionality for bins:

  • Version Comparison: View two versions of a clip side by side
  • Approval States: Mark a specific version as approved, independently of which one is newest
  • Enhanced Organization: Additional metadata options specific to post-production workflows
  • Improved Search: Find content across bins and regular dailies

Feedback Welcome

As this is a beta feature, we welcome your feedback and suggestions for improvement. Please share your experience through our support channels.