How to set up your own folder in Elements, Recommended Workflow & Working with Elements in Digital Space..
What is Elements?
You can think of Elements as an enhanced shared storage system.
It is designed to store project files safely, transfer files between machines, act as a central repository (A folder or cloud space for files), store completed renders and assets. It also serves as a render destination for the render farm.
Elements work best as shared storage, a render target and a backup system, not as a primary workspace for active production projects.
Why Does this Matter?
Elements uses a high speed cache to improve performance. When too many users work directly from Elements, the cache can fill up; the system falls back to slower storage, and performance decreases for everyone. This explains why you might suddenly experience a dip in performance.
How to set up your own Folder in Elements
- Log onto Elements with your credentials
- Go into your course
- Go into your year group i.e. “Year 1 Students”
- Create a Folder in “Users” , putting your name and student number i.e.. “a.tone_0123456”
Recommended Workflow
- Copy your project from Elements to your local workstation drive.
- Work locally while creating and editing
- Use Elements as a render target and store your versions
- Save regularly to local storage while working
- Copy finished work, project backups
Best Practice Summary
- Work locally
- Store, backup and transfer using Elements
- Do not use Elements as a live production drive
- Do not actively work on projects directly from Elements
Do
- Work locally on workstation storage i.e. D drive
- Use Elements for storage, backup and transfer and render target
- Render to Elements and save completed renders and assets to Elements
Avoid
- Working directly from project files stored on Elements
- Using Elements as your primary working drive
- Multiple users editing large projects directly from Elements
- Continuous heavy read/write activity across the network
Simple Rule
Work Local → Store on Elements
Local Drive = Workspace
Elements = Render Target, Storage, Backup and Transfer
Rendering Guidelines
Keep active project files on local workstation storage where possible. Upload finished work onto Elements and send your scenes to the render farm. Save rendered image sequences and final outputs to Elements.
Why Working from Local Storage Is Faster
Local SSD storage provides significantly faster access than working across the network, improving loading, saving, simulation, caching performance.
Working with Elements in Digital Space
When working with elements in Digital Space, make sure that you are trying to connect to “ lcc-render.arts.local “.
As Digital Space is a college wide area, Elements you are trying to log on to might have a different server address or no address.
If you notice that you cannot login, make sure to check that Elements is trying to connect to ” lcc-render.arts.local “.
If it is not the correct server click change server and type ” lcc-render.arts.local “. Once connected you should see a green banner saying “Connected“.