Session Setup
To get the most out of Capturebot it's important to set the session up to match your Capture One session. This involves setting folder locations and creating a file pattern for matching capture files and output files. There are also options for ignoring a test folder and scanning metadata.
All Session Settings can be changed from the Shotlist > Setting Settings menu.
Session Settings
The Capture & Output Folders
These two folders simply match the Capture and Output folders in your Capture One session and are where Capturebot will look for files.
Test Folder Name
While testing lighting and getting a set ready it's common to have a folder separate from the actual shotlist. Entering the name of that folder will tell Capturebot to ignore all files within. They won't be matched to any shots and won't be counted towards the file total.
Scan Metadata Automatically
When enabled this option will read metadata from the capture files at the after indexing the capture folder. This will ensure the metadata is up-to-date, but depending on the size of the session can be slow.
Metadata can always be read from Shotlist > Scan Metadata in the menu bar.
Matching Patterns
The file matching patterns are at the heart of how Capturebot works. Everyone has a different workflow, either from personal preference or client requirements. In order to be flexible Capturebot provides a token system for defining where it should expect to find files. It's important to understand the token system to get the most out of the app.
| Token | Description | Capture Pattern Regex |
|---|---|---|
| Shot Name | The name of the shot | |
| Shot Nickname | The nickname of the shot, if any | |
| Shot Set List | The set list of the shot, if any | |
| RAW Filename | In output patterns, the filename of the RAW file | |
| Counter | Matches digits in a filename | \d{4} |
| Any Word | Matches a-z, A-Z, & 0-9_ |
(?:\w+) |
| Optional Word | Matches, optionally, a-z, A-Z, & 0-9_ |
(?:\w+)? |
| Image Extension | Matches, and anchors to the end, a file extension | \.\w+$ |
| Token | Description |
|---|---|
| Shot Name | The name of the shot |
| Shot Nickname | The nickname of the shot, if any |
| Shot Set List | The set list of the shot, if any |
| Image Name | The filename of the RAW file |
| Parent Folder | The name parent folder of the file |
| Session Path | The path of the file, without filename |
| Output Pattern | The name of the pattern |
All token examples below can simply be copied and pasted into the text fields in Session Settings.
The Capture Pattern
Capturebot uses the capture pattern to both locate capture files and to match them to the shotlist.
Regular Expressions
Capturebot uses regular expressions for matching capture files. While not essential, understanding how regex matching works can help debug matching issues. You can enable regex token preview from the View menu.
A common session structure is to have a folder for each shot and then to name the files with the shot name and a counter. In order to match that format you'd use a pattern like this:
{Shot shotName}/{Shot shotName}_{RegexCount 4}{FileExtension}
In addition to the tokens you can take advantage of regular expressions to create more complex formats. For example, if background plates are tagged with a _Plate suffix you might define that like so:
{Shot shotName}/{Shot shotName}_{RegexCount 4}(_Plate)?{FileExtension}
A portrait shoot, with multiple shots per-person, organized by the subject might be set up in the following manner:
{Shot shotSetList}/{Shot shotName}/ClientPrefix_{Shot shotName}_{RegexCount 4}{FileExtension}
The Output Patterns
Outputs are defined in a similar way. From the Session Settings click the + button to add an output pattern and double click it to rename. Rather than search the Output Folder, Capturebot uses the output patterns to know where to look for a file and check then quickly check whether it exists or not.
There are several useful tokens for easily creating output patterns, namely the Output Pattern, the Shot Name, and RAW Filename tokens. For example, to add outputs for low resolution JPGs and high resolution TIFFs you could define two patterns, Hi_RES & LO_RES with nearly identical formats:
{OutputPattern}/{Shot shotName}/{Filename}.tif
{OutputPattern}/{Shot shotName}/{Filename}.jpg
If your output location matches exactly the capture location the Session Path token is useful, as it doesn't require specifying the path again:
{SessionPath}/{Filename}.jpg