Adding, editing or removing Media Storage folders in Smoke

Summary

This article shows you how to add, edit or remove a Media Storage folder in Smoke for Mac OS.

Warning: some of the procedures in this article will cause you to LOSE all your rendered intermediates. Perform these procedures only if you understand the risks and results and are comfortable editing configuration files. 

You can also watch a video tutorial on this topic in the Autodesk Smoke WikiHelp:
Changing Media Storage

Adding a Media Storage folder

Perform the following procedure to add a media storage folder to Smoke.

1. Open Finder and navigate to the disk drive where you want to store Smoke media.
   Note: Autodesk does not recommend using your system drive for Smoke media storage.
    
2. Create a new folder. We recommend naming it "Autodesk Media Storage".
    
3. Open the Smoke Setup app from the Applications > Autodesk > Smoke[version] > Utilities folder.
    
4. Go to the Media Storage tab.
    
5. Click Add.
    
6. Click Select and select the folder you have created in step 2.
   
    
7. (Optional): Change the default name of the media storage folder.
   This is the name that will appear in the Smoke project management menu.
    
8. Click OK to close this window.
   The new storage folder appears in the list of Smoke Media Storage locations:
   
    
9. Click Apply and exit the Smoke Setup app.
    
10. The new media storage folder is now ready to use.
    Note: Smoke projects are organized per Media Storage folder. By using Smoke with a new Storage folder, you will not have access to projects created on a previous Storage folder.

Removing or editing a Media Storage folder

There are cases when you may want to delete a media storage folder (for example, after you have added a new folder).
Perform the following tasks to remove a media storage partition.

Note: This procedure also covers editing certain parameters of a Media Storage folder. Autodesk recommends using this procedure only to edit minor details, such as the name. Do not use this procedure to change the path to another folder, as that may create issues with projects you have created prior to the change.

Warning! If you remove a media storage folder you will no longer be able to access any of the projects you had created in Smoke while using that folder. 

1. Open the Smoke Setup app.
    
2. Click the "Media Storage" tab.
    
3. Take note of the “id” value of the Media Storage you want to remove.
   For example 0.
   
   
    
4. Click “Manual Edit”.
   The storage configuration file opens in a text editor.
    
5. Scroll down until you find a section called [Partitionx], where x is the id you noted in step 3.
   For example:
   [Partition0]
   Name=Test123
   Path=/Volumes/Test123/ManagedFolder0
   
   
    
6. If you wish to remove the Media Storage folder, add a pound sign # before the "[Partition ]" line, as well as the “Name=” and “Path=” lines below it.
   For example:
   #[Partition0]
   #Name=Test123
   #Path=/Volumes/Test123/ManagedFolder0
    
7. If you only want to edit the name, change it as required.
   Warning: Do NOT change the [Partition] value or the Path.
    
8. Press Command+S to save the file, close the editor and click OK in the pop-up that opened when you clicked “Manual Edit”.
    
9. Click “Yes” in the confirmation message box that appears.
   
   
   
   This will reload the new settings in the Smoke Setup app.
   The partition you wanted to remove should no longer be listed.
   
   
    
10. Open the Service Monitor app from the Applications / Autodesk / Smoke Common Utilties folder, and restart the Stone+Wire service.

Note: The procedure above only configures Smoke to no longer use that media storage folder. It does not delete the actual folder on disk and the rendered intermediate files stored in it. Use Finder if you wish to remove the folder from the disk.