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Project Settings

Intro​

Project Settings create a relationship between Scenes, Assets and Renders (and more). When a Project is set a Project Description is created in a set location on the file system. A Project Description is simply a .json file specifying default file paths to other directories. The result of this is that when for example, double clicking in the Assets Window to import an Asset, Finder (macOS) or Explorer (Windows) will open in the directory specified.

There are various benefits to this. For example, when working in a studio with other artists a Project can be used to help the team stay organised. Renders go here, scenes go here etc. or in other words, a pipeline. Or when sharing a project with a client/ colleague/ freelancer outside of the studio, setting a Project means all file paths to images, audio, fonts etc are relative to the Project and so all links to any imported assets are maintained.

UI​

To create a new Project:

  1. Go File > Project Settings or click the folder icon in the bottom left of the Assets Window
  2. Click the Create... button at the bottom right of the Project Settings window.
  3. Select a directory on the file system as the root folder for the Project.
  4. Give the Project a name (by default the name of the folder chosen in step 3 will be used).

Edit the paths in the fields to customise them:

Name - The name for the project. This is the name that's used in the Assets Window.

caution

Changing the project Name will not change the name of the actual directory on the file system.

Scenes - The default location to save scenes to or open scenes from.

Renders - The default location to save renders to.

Assets - The default location to import assets from.

Autosave - The default location to store autosave files.

Palettes - .pal files saved here will appear as Library Palettes in the Color Window. See - Palettes.

There will now be directories called Assets (+ Palettes), Renders, Scenes and Autosave created within the 'Project' directory along with a file called projectDescription.json.

When running File > Open, Finder/ Explorer will open into the Scenes directory within the Cavalry directory. This is also true for File > Save. When double clicking in the Assets Window, Finder/ Explorer will open into Assets. The Path in the Render Manager will be pre-populated with 'Renders' and hitting render will write files into that directory.

To edit a Project open the Project Settings window again.

The projectDescription.json file can also be manually edited in a text editor but ensure that it is not in use when doing so.

{
    "description": {
        "assets": "@project/Assets",
        "autoSave": "@project/Autosave",
        "name": "Cavalry",
        "palettes": "@project/Assets/Palettes",
        "renders": "@project/Renders",
        "scenes": "@project/Scenes"
    }
}

path-to-project​

When a project is set, a file called path-to-project is created alongside any saved scene files. This is a simple file which points to the projectDescription.json file from the location of the .cv file. For example, in a default Project like:

📁 Project
  ┠ 📁 Assets
  ┠ 📁 Autosave
  ┠ projectDescription.json
  ┠ 📁 Renders
  ┠ 📁 Scenes
    ┠ yourSceneFile.cv
    ┠ path-to-project

When opened in a Text Editor, the path-to-project will read as simply .. which just means go up one level to where the projectDescription.json file is located. This file can be edited as required for any custom pipelines. For example, go up two levels and then into a directory called Project would be ../../Project.

A path-to-project file is required for scenes which include assets (images, svg, audio etc) when using Cavalry Player. It's also useful when rendering via the Cavalry CLI.

The presence of a path-to-project file also means that when opening the yourSceneFile.cv file, Cavalry will automatically switch to the relevant Project.

Quick Switching Projects

The drop down menu at the bottom of the Assets Window can be used to quickly switch to recently used Projects.

caution

Changing the names of directories in the Project Settings will also change the names of directories on your file system. For example, if the path to Assets was @project/Assets and is changed to @project/Images the Assets directory on the file system will be renamed to Images.