Vendor Submission

The Vendor Submission tool is run by the Vendor to initiate a transfer of files to the Production. It creates a digital shipping record with all the information needed to execute the transfer. 

While Vendor Submission creates a record for the transfer, it doesn’t actually transfer the files. Upload Submission uses the info from Vendor Submission to execute the transfer.

Details

Vendor Submission creates records to track all of the data necessary for transfering a set of files from the Vendor to the Production. 

When you run Vendor Submission, you provide the paths to the files in the Submission along with additional metadata about the files.

The tool validates your files and gives you an opportunity to modify any metadata on your Submission. Once the data is confirmed to be good, it generates a Delivery record in ShotGrid, which will track the Submission as it makes its way to Production. It also creates a manifest, which is attached to the Delivery record and used internally to track the individual files in the Submission.

You can think of the Delivery record as a “shipping label” for the Submission. Subsequent tools in the vendor transfer workflow – Upload Submission and the Ingest Queue – will look to the Delivery record and manifest to complete the Submission.

Different studios have different requirements for receiving Submissions, and may use different transfer methods. Vendor Submission supports many common studio transfer methods.

You can use Vendor Submission to transfer all individual files the production requests, regardless of type. This can include everything from standard MOVs and JPGs to PDFs and ZIP files.

A note on Version terminology

The use of the word “version” can be a little confusing in this context. ShotGrid uses “Version” to refer to a piece of reviewable media that is stored and tracked within the ShotGrid webapp and database. But in regular usage, “version” refers to a number denoting a specific revision or iteration of a piece of media. We’ll be using both definitions in this workflow, so to disambiguate, we’ll use “Version” and “version number” in this documentation.

Submissions and Deliveries

[RE]DESIGN uses the term “Submission” to refer to a transfer of files from Vendor to Production, and “Delivery” to refer to a transfer from Production to Vendor. However, ShotGrid uses an entity called Delivery to track transfers in both directions. We’ll use Submission to refer to the transfer itself, and Delivery when referring to the entity in ShotGrid. For example, “This tool will generate a Delivery record in ShotGrid to track your Submission.”

Initial Setup

• Install ShotGrid Desktop and log into the appropriate ShotGrid site
• Identify the files you wish to submit to the Production. Make sure you have any submission notes you wish to pass on.

Production Prerequisites

Production must set some configurations in ShotGrid so that you have access to everything you need. 

• A Group record should be created for the Vendor 
• Every vendor user should have a ShotGrid account, assigned to the Vendor Group and given Vendor Permissions. 
• Ensure that the Vendor has been specified for every entity your submitted files will link to. For files that will link to a Shot, Sequence, or Asset, specify the Vendor in the VFX Vendor field. For files that will link to a Task, specify the Vendor in the Artist field. 
• The Version entity’s Type field is a list field, meaning it has a customizable, finite list of possible values. Production should ensure that the Type field on Version is populated with all valid Version types. 
• The Vendor Permission Group should have permission to see all entities that you will want to link files to, and to create Delivery entity records. 

User Interface and Workflow

Launch Vendor Submission

Open ShotGrid Desktop, select your project, and click on Vendor Submission.

Initial View

Filepath and Metadata Input

Vendor Submission needs two sets of data: the paths to the files being submitted and their metadata.  

There are three ways to input these:

1. Files + Manual Metadata Entry
2. Files + CSV
3. CSV Only

Files + Manual Metadata Entry

In the most basic input method, simply drag and drop the files you wish to submit into the main window. Vendor Submission will pull the filepaths from the files. As soon as you add at least one file, the UI will change to the Spreadsheet View. In the spreadsheet view, you can manually enter metadata for each file. 

Files + CSV

As with Files + Manual Metadata Entry, drag and drop the files you wish to submit into the main window. Once you’ve done so, you can upload a CSV file to edit metadata in bulk. The headers of your file must match the headers shown in the Spreadsheet View. Simply drag the CSV onto the spreadsheet window after you’ve dropped in your files, and the metadata will be updated accordingly.

INFO: Fields in the CSV that are not in the Spreadsheet View will be ignored and the user will not be notified.

TIP: Vendor Submission will handle any file encoded as “comma separated value” as additional metadata for the Submission files. If you want to include a CSV file as part of your Submission, send it as an Excel file (.xls) instead.

With this method, do not drop in a CSV until you have first dropped in your Submission’s files. Dropping in the CSV before the files will result in an error.

CSV Only

You can input both file paths and metadata with only a CSV file. Just add a column to your CSV called Files, which holds full paths to each file or file sequence associated with a given Version and drag and drop the CSV onto the main UI. 

Files field format and naming conventions: The Files field is a comma-separated list of absolute paths. For file sequences (such as EXR), list the parent folder of the sequence itself, not individual EXR files. For example, if you have folder BGN_0005_comp_v0006 and it contains EXR files (e.g. BGN_0005_comp_v0006.1000.exr, BGN_0005_comp_v0006.1001.exr, and so on) and if you specify L:\VFX\PROJ\shots\BGN_SEQ\BGN_0005\comps\renders\BGN_0005_comp_v0006\BGN_0005_comp_v0006 in the Files field, Vendor Submission will properly process it.

Since Files is a comma-separated field within a comma-separated file, be sure to wrap the field values in double-quotes to avoid a clash between the two levels of commas. Most spreadsheet software (Google Sheets, Excel, etc.) will handle this at export time, but be mindful if you are editing your CSV manually.

Spreadsheet View

As soon as you add at least one file, the UI will change to a spreadsheet view. This view will allow you to enter all metadata related to the individual files in the Submission. 

The following fields are required: 

• VERSION NAME: The name of the file that you dragged in. 

The names of the files you transfer must follow the naming conventions agreed upon by the Production. This allows the tool to parse the filenames and determine file metadata like version number, linked entity (asset, shot, etc.), submission type (Comp, etc.), etc. The Production will provide you with a file naming guide.

If your files don’t follow agreed-upon naming conventions, you will get an UnableToFindMatchingTemplate error.

• LINK: The entity in ShotGrid that the Version will be linked to. This can be an asset, a shot, etc. It may be automatically filled in based on filename, in accordance with the naming conventions set out by the Production. For example, if you submit a file named 186_MM_8200_v001, it will be automatically linked to an existing Shot called 186_MM_8200. The LINK field uses color coding to show its status:
  • White: No issues
  • Red: The required field is empty

If you are attempting to link a Version to a Shot, Asset, Sequence, or other entity and it does not appear in the Link pulldown, it’s likely your Vendor Group has not been linked to the entity in ShotGrid. Ask your Production to assign you to the entity. Once they do, it is not necessary to restart the app; just click the Reload ShotGrid button to pull in the latest ShotGrid data.

• TYPE: A description of the Version that may reflect task, department, or file type. The list of valid types is managed by the Production.
• SUBMISSION NOTE: An text field usually used to describe changes since the last submission.

The SUBMISSION NOTE column only accepts ASCII characters. The Delivery record does get created even with non ASCII-characters, but during ingest, the Submission will fail.

• SUBMITTED FOR: A field that describes the reason the Version was submitted, eg, revision, review, alternate.

The values for the following fields are generated by the tool based on the dragged in files, and provide information about the file. They are uneditable, and should not be included in the CSV: 

• VERSION NUMBER: The revision number for the specific iteration that the file represents.
• FORMATS: A list of all formats across files represented by this Version.
• EXTENSIONS: The file extension for the submitted file.

If you have multiple files that contain the same media, but in different formats, they will be represented by a single Version. For example, dragging in both an EXR file and a JPG for the same shot will create a single row with two values in the FORMATS and EXTENSIONS fields, as seen in the screenshot above. If you expect to see a single Version, but see two, it’s a good indication that there’s a discrepancy between your file names, or your files are not matching the naming convention.

• EXISTS: This field tells the user whether a Version already exists, and if so gives information about whether the current user can overwrite it. It can have a few different values
  • Blank: No Version with the submitted name exists.
  • White checkmark: A Version with the same name exists, but the file format differs, so there are not conflicts. The file can be submitted without issue.
  • Maroon warning: A Version with the same name and same file format exists. This is a conflict, and the tool will not permit you to submit the file. Hovering over the field will show more details.

If the same file already exists in ShotGrid, you will receive an erorr when you click the Create Delivery button, and the file will not be submitted.

Increment the version number or modify the file name to resolve the duplication before resubmitting your file.

In addition to the fields in the screenshot, the Production can add custom fields such as framerange or facility name.

Manual file and metadata management

You can add additional files to your submission by dragging them onto the Spreadsheet View.  You can remove files by right-clicking on a row and selecting “Remove Selected”. 

You can also edit the displayed metadata. To edit a field manually, just click on it and enter you desired value.

Select a sequence of rows by holding down the shift key while you click on the first, then the last, row in the sequence. You can select multiple individual rows by holding down the Control key (Windows) or the Command key (Mac) while clicking. Then right click on any selected row to remove all selected files or edit fields on a selected row to modify all selected rows.

Once you have entered all the metadata about the files in your submission, click the Create Delivery button. 

Create the Delivery record

Clicking the Create Delivery button in the Spreadsheet View will bring up the Delivery window. In this window, you can manage metadata related to the Submission as a whole, such as title, description, and transfer method. 

Delivery Window Fields

From	The field to the left of the arrow ("Tannaz Sassooni", in the image above) denotes who the submission will be sent from. It pulls from the current ShotGrid user.
To	The field to the right of the arrow ("VFX Production", in this example) denotes who will be receiving the Submission. This is configured for the show by the production.
Title	The title of the Submission will be stored as the name of the Delivery record in ShotGrid. Vendor Submission will generate the title, but you can modify it manually.
Description	You can add a description for the Submission in this field if the Production requests it.
Transfer	Use this field to select and configure your transfer method. The currently selected transfer method will be displayed on the button.

Members of the To and From groups will receive email notifications when a Submission gets created, with the Delivery name and Project name in the subject and Delivery details in the body of the email.

Once you’ve input all of the correct info for your Submission, click the Transfer Settings button to configure your transfer settings. 

Transfer Method Settings

Clicking the Transfer Settings button in the Delivery window will bring up the Transfer Settings window.

In the Method dropdown, select the transfer method according to the instructions given to you by the Production. The fields in the window will change according to your selection. 

To learn more about the different transfer methods that are supported by Artist Anywhere, click here. 

Completing the Submission

When you have completed configuring the settings for your transfer method, click OK to return to the Delivery window. 

In the Delivery window, click OK to create your Submission. Doing so will create a Delivery record in ShotGrid for your Submission, with its Status and Delivery Progress fields set to Ready to Upload. When you run Upload Submission, it will key off of this value when it searches for Submissions to upload.

For a table of all the Status and Delivery Progress values throughout the Submission process, see the Upload Submission documentation.

If you see the below window, then the Submission creation completed successfully.

Because Vendor Submission is creating a record of file paths on disk, don’t move files in your Submission after you‘ve run the tool. If you do, the Upload Submission tool will be unable to find them, and the Submission will fail.

Congratulations! You’ve now created a tracking record for your Submission. From here, use the Upload Submission tool to complete the transfer.

Troubleshooting

Error Logs

Sometimes [RE]DESIGN will ask you to view or send us the ShotGrid Desktop app's error logs. To access them, open ShotGrid Desktop. In the pulldown menu in the upper right corner, select "Open Log Folder". Please ZIP up the all the files in that folder and send them to us with your ticket, or email them to [e-mail].

Connection Issues

You may need to update your firewall rules if you have having trouble connecting to ShotGrid or uploading files. Please pass the following along to your IT department:

• ShotGrid: General Security Ecosystem Documentation
• If you are using Cyclone, there will be an AWS Bucket assigned solely to your facility. The bucket name will generally match the pattern of productionname-vendorname, which you can reach at s3.amazonaws.com/bucketname. If you’re unable to access your AWS Bucket, please contact us at [e-mail].
• If you are using Aspera on Cloud, you will need to open up studioname.ibmaspera.com. You can get more information from IBM’s Aspera on Cloud documentation. 
• If using other services including Aspera Enterprise, NightRaven, Content Hub, Signiant, Media Shuttle, or SFTP, please contact us at [e-mail].

Submission Creation Issues

Most of the issues we see when creating a new Submission are related to requirements from the Production, including:

• Matching template error: The Production has set up strict naming conventions and the file you are dropping in does not match those conventions. Please double-check the filename or reach out to the production to clarify.
• File exists error: Vendors are generally not allowed to re-upload the same file again. Please version up your submission so that it does not conflict with an existing file. For example, it is possible to send an MOV followed by an EXR sequence later for the same Version, but the MOV cannot be uploaded a second time.
• Task not found error: If the Production is using Tasks and you are not seeing expected Tasks in the Task menu, the production has not assigned you. Please reach out to the Production to let them know.
• Missing From and To error: If the From and To fields aren't populated when you click on the OK button, the Submission will fail. This can happen if the Production hasn’t fully configured ShotGrid for Vendor Submissions, or, in rare cases, if the app is working slowly. Be sure to wait for the fields to populate, and if they don’t, contact your Production.

Delivery Record Creation Issues

The Delivery window asks you to give details for the Delivery record that Vendor Submission will create in ShotGrid. These are a few issues we've seen:

• Duplicated Delivery error: If the Delivery name already exists in SG, the Production will receive an error when ingesting your Submission. Please ensure that every Submission has a unique name. If a submission must be recreated for some reason, please version up the name or add "a" or "_resubmit" on the end to differentiate it.
• Wrong Transfer method: Please confirm with your production which method you should use to transfer your files. The most common error we see is a Vendor using Offline rather than Cyclone or another transfer method. If you do create a Submission with the wrong transfer method, please recreate the Submission from scratch, setting the transfer method correctly in the Delivery window, and ensure that the delivery name is unique – do not repeat the name from the earlier, failed Submission.
• sg_vendor_name error: If you see sg_vendor_name anywhere in the Delivery window, then your ShotGrid account was not properly linked to a Vendor Group. Please check with your Production to address this issue.
• CRUD error: If you see this error, your ShotGrid account does not have permissions to create a Delivery record. Please confirm with your production that your account’s permissions are properly configured.

Upload Issues

Please see the Upload Submission application’s documentation to troubleshoot uploads.