Projects, shot numbers and video file names

Once you have a few hundred videos, the file name decides whether you find the scene you need in ten seconds or ten minutes. Spider Hub names files with one simple rule: the project name plus the shot number, nothing else. This article explains where shot numbers come from, how second takes are named, and where videos are saved.

Shot numbers: given once, kept forever

Every card in Studio gets a number when it's created: #01, #02, #03… That number:

• never changes, even when you drag the card somewhere else;
• a sent shot's number is never reused: delete card #05 and it leaves a gap; the next card is #07, not #05;
• shows everywhere: Studio, Task Queue, Library, Dashboard.

Each project numbers its shots separately, starting at #01.

Takes: more runs of the same shot

Click Create similar on a finished shot and the app makes another take with the same prompt, images and settings. The new take keeps the shot number and adds a take number: #04 · 2, #04 · 3.

Duplicate shot, on the other hand, creates a new shot with a new number, so you can change the prompt before running it.

For a failed shot, use Edit and run: the card opens in place, you change the prompt or images, and the shot keeps its number. No new number, no duplicate card.

The file name

<Project name>_<shot number>[-<take>].mp4

A few details:

• The project name is kept exactly as you typed it, accents included. The app only drops characters macOS and Windows don't allow in file names (<>:"/\|?*).
• The default project carries the name you see in the Project box: "Default Project" when the app is in English, "Dự án mặc định" in Vietnamese. Rename the default project and files use the new name.
• If the name is taken in the folder, the app adds (2), (3)… It never overwrites an existing file.
• Saved videos are never renamed. Videos from older versions keep their old names.

Creating and switching projects

The Project box is in the top-left corner of Studio. Click the + next to it to create a New project. The Studio board only shows the selected project's shots, and shot numbers count within that project.

When you click Show in Studio or Edit and run for a shot from another project, the app switches the Project box to that shot's project.

Where videos are saved

By default: the app's video folder (library/videos inside the data folder).

Your own folder: in Studio, on the SAVE VIDEOS TO line, click Change… and pick a folder. The app writes and deletes a small test file to make sure it can save there. When you pick your own folder, One subfolder per project turns on by itself: videos go to <folder>/<Project name>/ (the default project always sits in the Default Project subfolder). Use default switches back to the app's folder.

Folders inside iCloud, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox or Box still work, but the app reminds you that sync apps can lock a file while it's being written.

Each shot remembers the folder from the moment you generate it. Changing the folder afterwards doesn't redirect shots already running.

When your chosen folder can't be written to

If, when saving, your chosen folder can't be written to (external drive unplugged, folder deleted, no permission):

• the video is saved to the app's video folder;
• the card says: Could not write to X — saved to Y.

The app never recreates a folder you chose. An external drive that isn't plugged in won't be replaced by an empty folder of the same name on your computer.

Finding a video again

In the Video Library, type #04, 04 or #04 · 2 in the search box to jump to that shot or take. Searching for words from the prompt works too.

Example

You make New Year ads for two shops and pick the folder ~/Movies/Spider Hub:

• Project "Shop A": shots #01–#10. Shot 3 isn't quite right, so you click Create similar twice.
• Project "Shop B": shots #01–#08.

The folder looks like this:

Spider Hub/
  Shop A/
    Shop A_01.mp4 … Shop A_10.mp4
    Shop A_03-2.mp4
    Shop A_03-3.mp4
  Shop B/
    Shop B_01.mp4 … Shop B_08.mp4

Summary

• Shot numbers #NN are given once, never change and are never reused.
• Create similar adds a take (#04 · 2); Duplicate shot gets a new number; Edit and run keeps the number.
• File name = <Project name>_<NN>[-<take>].mp4, accents kept, never overwritten.
• SAVE VIDEOS TO picks the folder; One subfolder per project keeps projects apart.
• If the folder can't be written, the video goes to the app's folder and the card says so.