Hello and welcome to the articy:draft X Basics tutorial series. In this lesson we will take a look at some of the differences between the Single user and Multi user versions.
We won’t go into detail about how to set up a multi-user environment, for that please refer to the documentation and this tutorial video. Let’s assume your system administrator set up the server and distributed the user licenses and you are launching the app for the first time. All in all you can use this series regardless of license type, with the multi-user there will be just a few things different in both UI and behavior and this is what we will focus on in the multi-user lessons.
Welcome Screen
First difference is the Welcome Screen. In the single user version, you are immediately greeted by your project list (1), for multi-user you have to connect to a server and log on as a user first, before you can select a project to work on.
If you have both a single and multi user license on your system and start articy, you might need to use the Back button (2) to switch from your single-user project list to the multi-user login dialog.
Server address and port is (1) something you should have received from the server administrator. If you frequently work on the same server, check “Login automatically” (2) to skip the server page in the future and automatically connect to the now selected server. Of course, even if this option is active, you can always go back to the server page via the “Back” button on the following page and select a different server.
A drop-down list of recent servers is a convenient way to connect to several frequently used servers.
On the user page you log on to the server with your user credentials. You need to have your user name and password at hand and fill them into the fields (1) . If you don’t know your user credentials ask your articy server administrator. If it is just you working at this machine, you can check “Login automatically” (2) to always use your default credentials for the selected server. Same as with the server, you can always go back to the users page via the “Back” button on the projects page.
Now you see all projects that are available to you. In the multi-user version users get assigned to certain projects. If you are missing a project you are supposed to work on in the list, talk to the project admin, maybe they forgot to add you to the staff list.
Password change
If this is the first time you log in with your user credentials it is a good idea to change the password you received initially. If you are logged in, go to the main menu (1) and select the first entry, Change profile / password (2).
Here you can adjust user name and email, and most importantly update your password. You need to enter your current password, then your new password, and once again to confirm.
Creating project
On the project screen you are able to create a new project, unless you only have a viewer license, in that case the button will be grayed out.
The first part of the project creation screen is similar to the single-user version (1), but there is an additional tab here: the source control (2).
Source control manages file versions and changes made to files by multiple users. It stores file versions for each change made in a repository. This allows rolling back in time and restoring older versions if the need arises. articy:draft supports SVN and Perforce as source control systems, including an internal articy SVN solution. For more info about setting up source control for your project, please check out the article in the Help Center.
Importing a SU project
It is possible to import single-user projects into a multi-user environment. Maybe you started a project as a single-user and now there is a team for development, resulting in multiple people needing access to the project simultaneously.
Click the “Import project” button below the project selector.
The “Import project” assistant is very similar to the “Create project” assistant, there are only a few things different. First you need to select the project path of the single-user project that is supposed to be converted to multi-user (1). Please note that single user source and target project folder (2) must be different. And second, compared to creating a new project, there are no options to set a primary project language or to carry over templates from another project, as this data is taken from the existing, soon to be imported, project. If you entered all necessary information for the General and Source control tabs (3), click Finish to start the import process. When this is finished, the project will open.
User roles
If you create or import a project, you are automatically set as a project admin. This provides you with certain special rights, among them the capability to assign users and user roles to the project.
Within the project open the main menu (1) and select “Edit users in project” (2).
On the left side all users with access to the current server are listed (1), on the right side are the users currently assigned to the project (2). Click a user name and add or remove them from the project (3), depending on their current position.
Users that are assigned to the project need to have one of three different roles. Guests (1) only have viewing access to the project and cannot make any changes. If a user has a viewer license, Guest is the only role they can have on a project. Team-members (2) have read and write access to the project. This will be the role for anyone who is supposed to create content. And finally we have the Admin (3) role. In addition to read and write access to the project an admin has some special rights, like the power to assign and remove users – what we are doing right now – and the right to claim the project exclusively, which is needed for example to update the project to a new software version, or for some troubleshooting procedures. As mentioned, as the project creator you automatically have an Admin role, but if you like you can add additional project admins here.
Useful links:
How to set up a Multi-User environment (video)
Help Center: How to set up a Multi-User environment
Help Center: Source control
Help Center: More info about the articy:server
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