Post Production Workflow

Multi-Platform Support

Facilis designed the Shared File System around the needs of modern facilities. With tools available that expose the best features of mulitple OS flavors, no solution should limit your ability to expand your artists' creativity. Facilis supports Windows XP/7, Mac OS 10.5-10.7 and Linux Redhat, Suse, Ubuntu and Centos distributions.

Each Facilis client has it's own copy of the Terrablock Manager.This application allows the user to access volumes that they have been given read or read/write permissions by the administrator, over fibre channel and Ethernet.

There is never any 3rd party software required to use the same filesystem across multiple operating systems. Facilis has taken care of everything.

Popular applications on every OS have been qualified, including Avid, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, Autodesk Flame Premium, SCRATCH, Iridas (Adobe), and many more. Facilis qualifies and supports the entire network. When we say somehting will work, we stand behind it.

Choice of Connectivity

Your workflow may consist of full and part-time workgroup members, expanded access into other departments, various types of bandwidth requirements and hardware platforms. To fit the scope of the modern post and broadcast facility, TerraBlock can be deployed in Ethernet-only, mixed fibre and Ethernet, and fibre-only configurations.

Ethernet workstations can transform to fibre-attached overnight when that new delivery or ingest format arrives. You'll be pulling three times the bandwidth, working on the same volumes. Owners of a traditional fibre-attached SAN can maintain their investment on the infrastructure, while scaling up over Ethernet, and taking advantage of the advanced bandwidth and feature set.

There is no metadata networking with Facilis. When connected via fibre, one fibre cable is used for all Shared File System activity. Ethernet connections are easy, with no special client-side hardware, switch settings, or 3rd party software required.

Avid Emulation Mode

When Avid first introduced project sharing in the 1990s, it was a groundbreaking feature. To this day it's the defacto standard for collaboration in video editing. For over a decade, Avid editors have enjoyed this simple and intuitive feature set. Today, the best editing talent insists on it.

Normally Avid systems only allow this feature set on Avid-based shared storage. With the Facilis Shared File System, all of the project and media sharing features in your Media Composer are available with TerraBlock Multi-user Write volumes as well. Bin lock icons, hardware tool display, clip icons and host-based direcory paths are utilized in the same way.

Of course, having project sharing features for Avid workgroups is nothing without performance. We guarantee our stream counts and can provide truely collaborative 4:4:4 HD and 2K access from a single server. Facilis was the first to offer Avid systems shared uncompressed HD playback, and we continue the performance tradition into the next generation. See the full document.

Switchable Sharing Methods

Most shared storage systems force their users to make a choice: file level or volume level; fibre channel or Ethernet. Not TerraBlock. With the Facilis Shared File System, you can re-define your workflow as needed, on the fly. Facilis offers the flexibility to make major changes without impacting deadlines.

With fibre channel installations, every virtual volume has the option of Multi-user Write and Single-user Write workflow, and can be switched on the fly. From ultra-high performance on fibre to total collaboration across any connection method, with no loss of data or reformatting required.

Workflows can be created around the speed of single-user write and the collaborative access of mulit-user write, each of which may be required at different stages of the production. This is a truly unique feature set that showcases the ability of TerraBlock to adjust to any workflow.

FCP/Premiere Pro Project Sharing

Collaboration without the risk, sharing without moving and versioning, accessing projects without checking in and checking out. Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro are editors' tools, but both lack some ability for the editors to actively participate in each other's projects. Facilis Project Manager is the solution.

Very simply, the Facilis Project Manager eliminates accidental overwrites and subsequent loss of data. Using the Project Manager, an editor can open multiple projects and exchange elements between them, similar to Avid bin locking. When it's time to hand off the project, remove the ownership and the project is automatically locked to the next user. See the full document.

Avid Pro Tools Support

Audio is sometimes left out of the post production workgroup due to differences in workflow, specialized skill sets and the inability of many SAN solutions to support digital audio workstations. Facilis helps bring audio into the workgroup with complete qualification of Pro Tools on OSX and Windows.

Up to 192 tracks can be played or recorded concurrently through a single 1Gb Ethernet connection. Both session files and audio source files are supported on Facilis Mutli-user Write volumes. Pro Tools session and audio file folders can live on the same volume as Avid media files, Quicktime for FCP and all shared project files. Facilis does not require that multiple volumes are created for different types of files. One project, one volume. See the Data Sheet.

No Per-seat Software Cost

Facilis is the only shared storage system in the industry to offer multiple connectivity methods over fibre channel and Ethernet through a custom shared file system for no per-seat licensing or 3rd-party software cost of any kind. Scale the user count when the need arises, without requesting license updates or opening your checkbook.

The Facilis Shared File System is a custom-built package that controls the input and output from every attached client. It supports up to 100 concurrent OSX, Windows and Linux users and includes optimizations for video and audio reading and writing. This software is required for any workstation that wishes to access TerraBlock volumes, so the IT department knows that without TerraBlock manager and a valid user name, critical data on the shared storage network is not accessible.

Many of our customers start out with a modest environment, and grow the workgroup as jobs are booked. The last thing they think about is whether the SAN can accomodate a few additional workstations. A fibre HBA or on-board NIC port is all that's required to become part of the Facilis network, and start working.