Using the Media Panel

Displaying and Hiding the Media Panel

The Media Panel is available for display at all times, except while viewing a clip in the Full Screen Player. The panel can be displayed on the left or right of the monitor using a setting in the Media Panel Preferences.

To toggle the visibility of the Media Panel, either use the Media Panel Show/Hide keyboard shortcut (assigned by default to Shift+Esc in the Flame profile and Ctrl+L in the Smoke Classic profile) or hold the Ctrl key and hit the side of the monitor to redisplay it.

Tiles and List View

The Media Panel can be set to display clips in one of two modes using the View Mode option:

List View

The List view provides detailed information about each clip in the Media panel, including file location and creation date. Widen the Media panel to show more information or extend to full-width using the Media Panel Full width keyboard shortcut (assigned by default to Shift+~ in the Flame profile and Shift+L in the Smoke Classic profile).

By default, a thumbnail is displayed for each clip. Its size can be set to Small, Medium, or Large or it can be hidden by selecting the None option.

Tiles View

The Tiles view makes it easier to visually identify clips. The size of the thumbnails can be set using the Size field. Less information about the clips are displayed, but extended clip information can be displayed in the Information window by using Alt+Click on a thumbnail.

The top of the Media panel displays a number of tabs. Click a tab to focus on a specific area of interest in the Media Panel.

All

Displays all areas of the Media panel: Desktop, Libraries, and Batch.

Desktop

Displays only the content of the Desktop.

Note: While Flame Assist does not have an explicit Reels view on the Desktop, it nonetheless maintains the Reels structure from material imported from Flame, in the Media Panel.

Libraries

Displays only the Libraries and Shared Libraries folders.

Batch

Displays only the currently-active Batch Group, along with its Schematic Reels, Shelves, and Iterations.

Conform

Only available while working in the Conform environement, replacing the Batch tab described above. Displays only media available for the conform, filtered by match criteria.

BFX

Only available while working in Batch FX, replacing the Batch tab described above. Displays only media used in the current Batch FX.

Dual Panel View

Use the Dual Panel View to manage clips, folders, reels, and libraries. The Dual Panel View allows the display of different areas of the same Workspace, making it easy to move material around.

To display the Media Panel in dual view:

Set the Media Panel to Full Width.
Click Dual Panel View to display two instances of the Media Panel.

Dragging Clips into the Media Panel

Drag and drop clips from libraries into different areas of the Media panel to perform operations on working copies while leaving the originals intact:

Drag clips to reels and edit directly in the Viewing panel. For more information, see Gestural Editing on the Desktop.
Drag clips to the schematic reels in Batch groups to apply procedural effects. For more information, see Procedural Compositing with Batch and Batch FX.
Drag clips to shared libraries to make them available to other applications and workstations on the network.

Sorting Clips and Sequences in the Media Panel

Whether in Tiles or List view, use the Tree: (name and creation date) and Clip: (many clip sorting criteria) sorting options at the top of the Media panel to sort the complete hierarchy. Right-click either option to select sorting criteria.

You can also apply a localised sort to any object of the Media Panel using the Localised Sort option in a Desktop, Reel, or Library context menu.

The Media Panel sorting options available at the top of the Media Panel apply to all entries that are not under a localised sort.
In the Media Panel, an icon appears next to the container to indicate that a localised sort is being applied. You can click on the icon to cycle through Ascending, Descending, or Not Sorted. Alt+Click the icon to clear the localised sort.

Assigning Colours

Assign custom colours to any object of the Media Panel to further organize material or set a status. A colour can be selected from the Colour submenu of the object's context menu.

The list of colour presets, and their associated labels, can be set using the Colour Coding Preferences.

Note: The label associated with a colour is persisted in the Media Panel objects metadata. When a Desktop, Batch Group, Reel, Clip, and so on, is loaded on a workstation using a different colour coding legend, the colour of the object is adjusted to reflect the colour - label association of the new workstation.

Assigning Tags

Assign tags to any object of the Media Panel to further identify them and make it easier to find them using the search function. A tag can be added from the Tags submenu of the object's context menu to all selected objects at once.

Tags set in the Tags Preferences appear in the Shared submenu. Existing tags set on other items of a particular project appear in the Project submenu.

Tags can be visualized at the bottom of an object's Information window and in the Tags column of the Media Panel's List view.

Adding Tags

The Add Tags option opens the Add Tags window in which tags can be added. Multiple tags can be added at once by separating words with commas in the text field.

Use the Add Existing Tags submenu to add tags already set in one of your Workspace's objects to another object.

Managing Tags

Tags can be renamed or deleted using the Manage Tags window.

If you have multiple objects selected, modifications made in the Manage Tags window apply only to the main selection, not to all selected objects.

As of 2025.2 Update, modifications made in the Manage Tags window are applied to all selected objects, in an absolute manner. The number of affected objects is displayed in the Manage Tags window title to help you understand the scope of the changes you are about to make.

Use the Clear All Tags option to remove all tags from an object at once.

Pasting Tags

Tags can be pasted from one object to another using the Paste Tags entry available in the Tags submenu of the context menu. Tags from all objects currently present in the clipboard are pasted on all selected objects at once.

Searching in the Media Panel

To perform a simple name search, enter text in the field at the bottom of the Media Panel and press Enter. A Name Search Results area appears near the bottom of the Media Panel to display the search results.

If you need a more advanced Media Panel search, click the magnifying glass icon to open the Search in Media Panel window.

Here are some tips for advanced searches:

Many options are available, such as Name, Resolution, Tape, and Comment. Other criteria are displayed to further refine your search, depending on the selected criteria.
Click Get Information From Selected Clip to fill the current search field with the information from the currently selected clip.
Click Search Closed Libraries to also search the contents of closed Libraries and Batch Groups.
- A Library or Batch Group remains closed if the Advanced Search cannot find any match.
- A Library or Batch Group is opened if the Advanced Search finds a match.
The contents of a Batch Group's Iterations folders are searched even if they are hidden in the Media Panel.
It is possible to search for multiple tags at once by separating multiple criteria by a comma. An And / Or option is available for the Is, Is Not, Contains, and Does Not Contain operators. The Is Less Than, Is Greater Than, and Matches Pattern operators do not support searching for multiple tags at once.
Enable Include Segments to find sequences that contain segments with the specified tag.

Objects With the Same Name

If you add a clip or container to a location where another identically named item already exists, you are presented with options to either cancel, add, rename, or replace. You can also choose to apply your selection to all the selected items at once.

Select:	To:
Cancel	Cancel the operation (not available for clips).
Add	Add the entry without changing its name. You end up with more than one entry with the same name.
Rename	Rename the newly added item.
Replace	Overwrite the existing item in the destination.

Use the Duplicate Name Check option in the Media Panel Preferences to decide if you want to get this message for clips, containers, both, or neither. By default, it is set to both.

Tips for Working with the Media Panel

Dragging a clip from a library to Batch Group entry within the Media panel creates a new reel with the clip name.
Drag a library or a library folder to a reel to copy all of its contents onto the reel.
Drag a reel from the Desktop area to a library to make a copy.
After deleting an element from the Media Panel, the current Source clip is no longer selected. Instead, a sibling of the deleted element is selected. In the case where there is no sibling left, the parent container is selected.

Reels and Folders in Libraries

Reels and folders can be created directly in a library to help organize materials. They can contain only clips. Reels and folders can be opened, closed, moved or deleted.

A Reel group is identical to a Batch group on the Desktop, and can contain only reels.

To restore a reel from a library, do one of the following:

Drag and drop the reel on the Reels header to add it to the list of reels.
Drag and drop the reel on top of another reel to add the contents of the dropped reel.
Drag and drop the reel from the library on top of the reels displayed in the Desktop Reels view.

Note: In all cases, the reel remains in the library.