BSVP On-Site: Tech – Imagine Products ShotPut Pro 6
Many people just drag and drop their video files from the camera card to their hard drive. Michelle Maddox at Imagine Products explained that reason to use ShotPut Pro 6 instead is mainly because of the Checksum feature which verifies that everything has been moved over. Especially with HD and 4K video, where there are so many files it is not uncommon where a “drag and drop” method to miss or transpose files. A missed file could cause the entire clip to fail.
Safe, Easy & Fast
What ShotPut Pro does is make sure that every file stays where it’s suppose to be in the exact order and that everything has been copied. A lot of insurance companies, feature film studios and corporations require using checksum software and specifically ShotPut Pro. Imagine Products understands what is required and makes it easy and fast.
ShotPut Pro has been around about 10 years. The latest update is incredible. Some of the features in this application are absolutely amazing. Users have been asking for these updates and Imagine Products aims to deliver. Just like Transcoder (see video), you’ve go expand the menu options and drag and drop files. You can also drag and drop into the queue. There are different options for presets. One of the features added was a basic folder naming scheme, but there is also an advanced folder naming scheme. You also have the ability to nest folders inside other folders. For example, you can a have Project > Day > then multiple Camera folders. Then add presents to each of the folders.
ShotPut Pro Demo
The screen will show previews, and you can set the offload destinations. You can add as many offload destinations as you want for multiple copies. Another cool feature is the color coding option. This gives you the ability not only to name each folder, but also color code each folder to quick recognition.
The gear icon in the upper left corner of the screen opens up an options menu to set Offload and Verification Options. Imagine recommends using XXHash-64 Checksum because it is the fastest for data transfer. Other options include MD5, SHA-2, SHA-2, 256 and SHA-2 512 Checksum. You may have a client or insurance company request a specific Checksum verification method.
Summary & Detailed Reports
Sometime you need to take a break. ShotPut Pro 6 has added desktop, email and text notifications so that ShotPut will let you know when it is done so that you can come back to it. Previous versions had Text and CVS reports, in version 6 PDF reports was added. It also will display 4 thumbnail images from the video in the PDF report or you can create a custom image.
Pause and Resume
One of the most popular features in ShotPut Pro 6 is Pause and Resume. With the Pause & Resume feature you can be in the middle of an offload, you can also be near the beginning or near the end. When you pause the offload, it will finish transferring the current file. You can then disconnect the hard drive or the camera card and close your laptop. As long as you keep ShotPut Pro running you can walk away from the computer. Then come back and plug the hard drive or camera card back into the computer, hit Resume, and it will continue where it left off. This gives you the ability to start an offload even if you know you don’t have time to transfer the entire card. Then move on to the next location or go back to the hotel or studio. Imagine Products also added color coding to the transfer process so that you can quickly see whether it is in the process of copying, verifying or completed.
When the process has completed, by double clicking on the notification bar, it opens up the PDF report with a summary page and basic details. You can also customize the default ShotPut logo and report title with your own logo and title. You can choose to create a detailed report or for larger projects, a summary report.
Because ShotPut Pro 6 delivers so much more that version 5, the upgrade is only $49 or $129 full price. In additions to all the new features, ShotPut Pro 6 runs faster than version 5.
For more information visit ImagineProducts.com
Producer: Bruce Himmelblau
Host: Sue Lawson
Guest: Michelle Maddox, Imagine Products