When studios complete post-production with Creative Force, they have the option to connect to their preferred external vendor using an FTP location as the middle ground. In this article, we will examine how the process works, specifically in a context helpful for those external vendors.
Guide Overview
This article will show you, as the external vendor, what it looks like when receiving and sending files to/from Creative Force when your client is utilizing an FTP or Box.com connection type for external post-production.
Folder Definitions
On the FTP or Box.com server, there will be a number of folders that are used to download and upload assets to and from Creative Force. The studio has the ability to set a custom name and folder structure for the Download and Upload folders.
Folder Type | Function |
Upload | This folder is where Creative Force will upload assets for you, the external vendor, to work on. |
Download | This folder is where you, the vendor, will upload the completed assets to be transferred back to Creative Force. |
Rejection | After initial completion of a task, if a Creative Force user rejects an asset back to you for further retouching, the system will move assets (including their original folder structure) to this folder on the server. |
CF_Archive 🔓 | A clean-up folder. Once Creative Force has attempted to transfer assets back to Creative Force, the system will move the assets and the original folder structure to this location. |
_CF-Invalid-Files 🔓 | A subfolder within the clean-up folder. This folder contains any files that have been scanned by Creative Force, but cannot be successfully received back due to not meeting requirements. |
🔓 Dependent: These folders will only appear if the studio has selected specific clean-up settings within Creative Force.
Receiving Files
Once the task has been initiated by the studio, Creative Force will gather a number of files related to the task and deposit them into the Upload folder.
Upload Folder
Where the upload folder is set within the file path will match the file path as configured in the connection setup process.
Relevant Files
Within the specific Upload folder set by the studio, you will receive a number of files related to the task that has been sent to you for processing.
File | Function |
Source Images | All of the assets that are related to the specific task sent from Creative Force for processing. |
Transfer_completed.log | The log file contains a list of all sent files, including their directories on the server. |
Expect_returned_files.txt | This file contains all of the requirements for each file you need to return to Creative Force. |
-Instructions.html 🔓 | A file containing text notes and visual markup to explain the required edits.
One .html file will be sent for each specific asset with related instructions. |
_color-reference.ext🔓 | An image file that the studio has provided to serve as a color reference during editing. |
🔓 Dependent: These files will only appear if the studio has configured them to be sent and there are associated files of that type to be provided.
Returning Files
File Requirements
The expected-return-files.txt contains all of the requirements that you, as a vendor, must meet in order to send the files back to Creative Force and complete the task.
Within this file, you should be able to identify the following information:
Requirement | Location |
Total Files to Return |  |
Source File |  |
Expected File Name |  |
Expected Return File Extension |  |
→ If N/A, return any file type |  |
File Path to Return File |  |
Preset Variants
If your client requires you to provide different versions (variants) of the source image with varying specifications, you will see them in the Expected-return-files.txt file.
From the above screenshot, the same source image file is listed for two expected return files:
Any variations between the two will be listed in the spec information listed below each version of the asset to be returned.
No Preset
If your client did not set a preset with specific requirements, you can also see this in the Expected-return-files.txt file.
As the file extension is set to 'N/A,' you can send back any file type.
With this setup, you only need to be sure that the file returned has the exact filename as stated. In this case:
PCvid03_Mannequin_2
Rejections
Occasionally, a client may receive an asset back that requires an additional round of editing. In this scenario, the customer will reject the image back to you, re-triggering the process once more.
How this appears for you may differ slightly based on how the studio has configured their preffered clean up settings.
Archive Clean-Up
Creative Force will pull all assets from the task out of the CF_Archive folder (including any subfolder/folder structure they were uploaded into the download folder initially), then the system will move the path and files directly into the Rejected folder.
Delete Clean-Up
Creative Force, upon rejection, will send a Rejection.html and Transfer-reject-completed.log files into the Rejected Folder.
The associated images will not be transferred by Creative Force, and are your responsibility to re-source.
Rejected Folder
The Rejected folder is a sub-folder created automatically under the folder where you received the files from CF originally.
To know which assets require additional editing, Creative Force will upload a .html file to the rejected folder for every rejected asset:
From here, the system only requires that you make the necessary adjustments for the rejected assets and move only those back into the specified Download path. You do not need to upload and return the entire batch.
Notes & Callouts
Duplicate File Name
If your client has set up the same file naming tokens for all of the positions in the Style Guide, and the files are of the same file type, the expected file name you need to return will include the preset variant code as a post-fix at the end.
If your client has set up the same file naming tokens for all of the positions in the Style Guide, and the files are also of the same file type and with the same preset, the expected file name you need to return will include an internal asset ID as a post-fix.