Many DF Studio enterprise clients, including FOX, AETN, SONY, and WB, have upload requirements for their photographers in order to ensure that files are uploaded and archived correctly in the system. Here are the guidelines for naming files properly: 

• Filenames should not contain dots (.), commas (,), or other special characters. These characters may be acceptable in DF Studio, but they can create problems when photos are transferred to other platforms. For example, the filename below has a dot before the image number. This filename may cause confusion when imported to certain platforms because it has mistakenly been named with two file extensions, .001 and .jpg.

  SS102115EXAMPLE.001.jpg

• Enterprise clients usually require that daily episodic coverage be divided into subfolders—either by scene number, date, or other groupings. The correct naming convention to sort files automatically into these groups (called Setups) is the following: 

  show_scnX_001.jpg

  where “show” represents the show name (or abbreviation if necessary), and “scnX” is a scene number (e.g. scn13pt, or scn5, etc.; BTS is often used for behind the scenes).

• To ensure that files sort correctly, image numbers should be padded with extra zeroes so that all image numbers have the same number of total digits. In a project with 100-999 images, show_scnX_001.jpg should be used instead of show_scnX_01.jpg, for example.

• An underscore character (_) must be used to separate the sequential numbers in the filenames from what is considered a Setup name. DF Studio reads the part of the filename before the last underscore, and separates the images into Setups automatically. If files are named according to the above convention, there is no need for further organization into subfolders before uploading.

Additional naming convention variations may also be assigned based on client preferences. Sometimes, the preferred Setups are dates, and some clients prefer to have the initials of the photographer in the filename. So, the files can be named something like this: sp_20151021_AB001.jpg, where the label and date will be the Setup name (sp_20151021), and “AB” a photographer’s initials before the image number.

Those uploading with DFS Speed Link, Lightroom, or Photo Mechanic need not worry about using “Folders as Setups” if the files are named following the above guidelines. The “Folders as Setups” option supersedes filenames. It should be used only in cases where files have not been named properly (especially useful in uploading gallery photography).

This is example demonstrates how uploads will be received in DF Studio, including automatic Setup names, if proper naming guidelines are followed: