Mapping paths/Windows paths compatibility

[snieg]

Hello, I've tried to find information about it, unfortunatelly it does look like a big issue. Im working with different people and they are using windows to work. We all use dropbox to synchronize our files. To make sure our paths are the same in all softwares, I've found workaround on windows to share folder, where dropbox is installed, to myself (it creates //PC_NAME//... network path )and then map network as T:/ letter, so all absolute paths are the same, no matter where dropbox is installed. However, how to recreate it with linux, as there are no letters in paths, can I create some "fake" path? I would love to map my dropbox directory on linux to the same letter or tell somehow linux to always change "T:/somepath/somepatah' for /mydironlinux. Script that is changing paths or using only relative paths is not solution, as often in different sofwares you are choosing files in browser, changing those paths to relative might be huge pain if file is far away from current dir, and not every software support it

 

[CaffeineAddict]

hello and welcome to forums!

To make sure our paths are the same in all softwares

You mean the same path in the dropbox software? or some specific one or custom made?
Dropbox software if it's cross platform should be configurable per platfrom.

UNC path is windows only thing and no such thing exists on Linux, but you can mount UNC path to local directory of choice.
example tutorial, adapt it as needed:

Mounting Windows network shares in Linux

To mount a Windows network share in a Linux system you will usually use the CIFS protocol. On Debian and RHEL/CentOS, the necessary tools are provided in the cifs-utils package.

hoppenheit.info

I would love to map my dropbox directory on linux to the same letter or tell somehow linux to always change "T:/somepath/somepatah' for /mydironlinux.

You can't have drive letters on Linux but the above tutorial should help to mount UNC path to Linux directory of choice.

 

[snieg]

You mean the same path in the dropbox software? or some specific one or custom made?
Dropbox software if it's cross platform should be configurable per platfrom

Hey, thank you for answer. Dropbox is installed wherever I want but unfortunatelly its all about about absolute paths in sofwares (like paths to files for render farm, or referencing textures) Im 3d graphic and there is a lot file paths, most of the time relative paths are fine but not always possible, and I really want to switch to linux. So I would need mechanism to create "fake path" T:/ that is assigned to my folder with dropbox. When program tries to read texture T:/someproject/textures/mytexture.png I need redirect him to /mydropbox/someproject/textures/mytexture.png

 

[CaffeineAddict]

but unfortunatelly its all about about absolute paths in sofwares (like paths to files for render farm, or referencing textures) Im 3d graphic and there is a lot file paths, most of the time relative paths are fine but not always possible

I think you guys should consider git then, dropbox seems like not the right tool if it supports full path names only and it's not going to help specifying same path for Linux and Windows.

An alternative to git is probably SMB server, for which it is possible to connect Windows and Linux machines for shared directory.
And then setting dropbox to save files to network share.

Does dropbox support setting network shares?

 

[snieg]

Ou its not about dropbox at all. We are using a lot of different softwares in pipeline. There is for example Nuke where you have paths to rendered images. Using relative paths in nuke is really a pain so on windows, we all maped dropbox path to T: then all absolute paths are the same on every machine. Also even eith relative path what about / . I know that some softwares dont care if its / or \ but not all of them

 

[CaffeineAddict]

We are using a lot of different softwares in pipeline.

If only I had complete insights into your pipeline to help, solutions always exist.

But why don't you put all graphics assets into single git repository?
git handles cross platform sharing by design.

 

[snieg]

But why don't you put all graphics assets into single git repository?
git handles cross platform sharing by design.

Hmm I didnt think about it. Ive never had opprtunity to setup git. I will try that workflow, thank you. It would be usefull as its also version control? Im worried only about pracital aspect of this solution. Some of our artist are not very techical and process of uploading those assets must be quick. One of my friend in studio had bad experience with git when using it with unreal engine (we dont create games, but cinematics, its often overkill to have true version control creates more problems than benefits)

 

[CaffeineAddict]

It would be usefull as its also version control?

yes git is version control system, you can switch back to old versions of assets.

Im worried only about pracital aspect of this solution.

the only problem for graphics designers I can think of is the size of your assets, both individual and total, because services such as GitHub have monthly traffic limits for free projects.
Speed wise it depends on your internet speed and the size of assets and team's design iteration volume relative to necessity to sync changes.

Some of our artist are not very techical and process of uploading those assets must be quick.

git is fast and only limited by your internet speed and assets size, it has LFS (Large File Support)

One of my friend in studio had bad experience with git when using it with unreal engine (we dont create games, but cinematics, its often overkill to have true version control creates more problems than benefits)

Unreal Engine has git support built-in so, I have been using it personally for game projects and it worked fast for me.

Unless your team's project is extremely big I don't think you'll have any problems.
But it does require to know how to use git.