Versions vs Masters/Archive
In my time working at different studios I’ve seen this age old question of how we should save our files. Versioning (v001,v002,v003, etc) vs Masters (MyProject_Master, MyProject_archive). At the end of the day Version is the best way to go as I will decribe below
Versions |
Masters/Archive |
Each file is a new version |
One file that can be referenced |
References need to be updated |
References do not need to be updated |
A lot of files in the parent folder |
Only one file in the parent folder |
Prevents accidental overwritten | Master is always overwritten |
I/O issue only effect that file | I/O issue will effect Master |
Easy to track back to different versions | Unable to track a render version |
Most production software supports versions | Most software doesn’t support master/archive |
Easy to support with programming | A lot harder to program |