Sync projects and other files in Synced storage

The Asset Hub is a shared data storage service that automatically synchronizes content in between connected machines. It does so for files and folders in

• ...\Pixotope\Synced Storage

  • Projects for your project folders/files (levels, maps, .uproject)

  • Common for any other files you want to sync across machines

  • Internal for internal files - DO NOT EDIT OR DELETE!

• ...\Pixotope\[Version number]\Synced Config

  • Lens files stores the (default) lens files used in the Camera tracking panel

  • Pixotope XR Calibration stores calibrated LUTs generated in the Color matching panel

Learn more about the the synced folders in Pixotope Asset Hub

Synced storage panel overview

In SETUP or PRODUCTION views, you can find the Synced storage panel in the Show section. It shows

• a list of your changes which are ready to be pushed

• a list of all changes ready to be pulled

  • a list of the individual pulls

• a list of previously synced changes

These changes are listed

• per project

• per folder

  • Linked projects

  • Common files

  • Synced config

No changes to push or pull

If there are no local changes to push, and no pre-existing changes to pull, you will see this state:

Local changes to push

Once you make local changes, they will appear in the Your changes to push section, categorised by the type of change.

The project header indicates that you are out of sync and need to push changes.

Changes to pull

If another connected machine makes changes and pushes them, they will appear in the All changes to pull section, categorised by the type of change.

The project header indicates that you are out of sync and need to pull changes.

Individual pulls

In this section you can see the individually pushed changes with the option to pull only up to a specific change.

Changes to pull and push

If you have both local changes present and changes available to pull, you can choose the order of operations.

No overlaps between edited files

If there are no overlaps between file edits in the pull and push sections, then the order doesn’t matter.

Files ready to be pulled have been edited locally

If you have been editing a file and someone else pushed edits to the same file before you did, like in the image below, you have 2 options.

Pull first

• Your local files with overlapping changes are renamed adding a -pxconflict postfix

  • the original files are replaced by the pulled changes

• Your changes to push now only contains local files with no overlapping changes

Use this when you want to have the most up-to-date file version, and also keep your edits safe.

If you want to push/share -pxconflict files, you will have to rename them first as they are ignored by default.

Push first

• Your local files overwrite the files for all connected machines

• Available changes to pull are cleared

Use this when you want your edits to persist.

Don’t worry if you realise the previous version was better. To undo it, go to the Show Settings panel, and click Revert last change.

All available operations

Option		Description
Open Folder Location		Opens a file browser pointing to this folder
Push Changes		Sends any local changes to the Server machine’s cache
	Add comment +	Add a comment to clearly track the purpose of the change. The comments will show up in the change lists.
Pull Changes		Retrieves the latest changes from the Server machine’s cache
	press Ctrl to Force pull changes	While Pull changes only gets newly pushed changes, Force pull syncs your local machine to exactly match the Server machine’s cache. Conflicting local files get a pxconflict postfix and will NOT be deleted. Useful when changing servers.
	press Ctrl + Shift to Hard reset & pull	A destructive operation that syncs your local machine to exactly match the Server machine’s cache, deleting local data that does not match. Conflicting local files will be deleted!
Auto-Pull		Automatically pulls changes as they become available from the Server machine’s cache
Refresh List		Scans all relevant folders for new local changes or available pulls. For larger folders, this could take a while.
Individual Pulls > Pull up to this Version		Pulls only the changes up to a specific version, instead of all changes.
Previously Synced > Restore this Version (Local Only)		Reverts the project on this machine to the state it had at that specific point in time. To propagate this version to all machines, push changes and pull them on other machines To discard this state and revert to the last pushed changes, perform a Hard reset & pull

Learn more about the differences between Pull, Force pull and Hard reset & pull

Syncing other files

Set up synced projects

For a new show

Learn more about how to Create, open and manage shows

For an existing show

1. Manually move or copy the desired project folder into the Synced Storage/Projects path

   1. If the desired project is already linked, Go to SETUP > Show > Launch, and click "Open folder location" icon in the project’s header to find the folder faster

2. Go to SETUP > Show > Show Settings

3. Click "Add project link" or "Edit project path" in the Linked projects table

4. Select the desired project from the Synced Storage/Projects path

The folders DerivedDataCache, Intermediate, and Saved are ignored by default. Also any file with -pxconflict is also ignored by default.
Learn more about Ignored files/folders

Sync files

Example flow

1. User on machine A

   • makes changes and pushes them

2. Machine B and C which have Auto-pull on

   • automatically pull these changes

3. User on machine D

   • pulls these changes

Pushing changes	Pulling changes

Levels should be closed while syncing.

In the Launch panel each synced project has

• an Open folder location button

• a button to Push changes - this sends any local changes to the Server machine’s cache

• a button to Pull changes - this gets the latest changes from the Server machine’s cache

• a toggle to Auto-pull - this will automatically pull changes as they become available from the Server machine’s cache

Initial push of the project

1. Click the "Push changes" button in the Launch panel

   • The project is first optimized for syncing and then pushed to the server machine

Syncing (Push/Pull) is done per project.

Pull the project/changes

After the push is done and the syncing to the server has finished, connected machines can now pull the project into their Synced Storage/Projects folder. Until they do, they will be/show Out of sync.

1. Click the "Pull changes" button in the Launch panel

OR

1. Enable "Auto-pull" to automatically pull new changes

To avoid conflicts, Auto-pull is switched OFF, when launching a level in EDITOR.

Make changes to files

1. Edit your project files as needed

2. Don’t forget to save!

3. Click on "Push changes" when you're ready to share

4. Other machines can manually pull or automatically receive these changes after they have been pushed

Special cases

Reverting the last change

Have you accidentally pushed/pulled a change which contained issues? Using Revert last change let’s you undo the last change locally.

1. Go to SETUP > Show > Show settings > Linked projects

2. Click "Revert last change" in the overflow menu on the right

3. The local project state is reverted to the last one

4. If you are happy with this state, then push the changes

In case it says No changes to push, please make a small/dummy change and try again.

Sync adjustment files across machines

By default, adjustment files are ignored when syncing to allow individual adjustments per machine. In case you want to sync adjustments to all machines:

1. Create the following .pxignore file in your project folder before you make individual changes

DerivedDataCache/
Intermediate/
Saved/
!Saved/Adjustments/

This way adjustment files will be synced across machines.

Learn more about Making adjustments - PRODUCTION

Learn more about Ignored files/folders

Editing the same file(s) simultaneously

If different machines are editing the same file and then

• Push

  • the version from the one which pushes last will persist

• Pull

  • the local file will be renamed [File name]-pxconflict_[date]_[time].[File extension]

Changing servers

The Asset Hub cache lives on the server machine. It holds

• the cache of the files

• the changelog

In case the changelog of the Asset Hub cache does not correspond to the one of the connected machines, pushing or pulling changes will result in an error due to a mismatch of their "history".

To resolve this error:

1. Hold down Ctrl and click the "Force pull changes" button in the Launch panel

Start with a clean slate

In case one of the machines is out of sync and you want to ignore any conflicts and start with a clean slate

On the machine which has the most up-to-date version:

1. Click "Push changes"

On the machine which is out of sync:

1. Go to SETUP > Show > Show settings > Linked projects

2. Click on the overflow menu of the project you want to sync

3. Click "Hard reset and pull (Destructive)"

Learn more about the differences between Pull, Force pull and Hard reset & pull