2011

Table Of Contents
Archiving or Restoring
An archive can contain an arbitrary selection of folders, compositions and
project files. When archiving linked compositions, all versions of the linked
composition are included. If you archive a link, Composite archives the object
to which the link points, not the link itself.
When archiving a composition, you should save all versions. Otherwise, when
you restore the composition, you may be missing some versions. Also, if you
are archiving any dependencies, such as linked compositions, media, paint
strokes, and LUTs all compositions are opened to locate them.
NOTE You cannot append to an archive.
You can archive and restore elements, such as projects, compositions, and
folders. However, to enable you to selectively archive and restore certain
elements of the archive (such as linked compositions, media LUTS, and paint
strokes), Composite generates not just an .xml file, but also an archive folder
containing the .txarchive file, as well as .zip files which store external
dependencies.
NOTE Archives created with earlier versions of Composite have the .dlarchive
extension and are supported for backward compatibility.
When you create an archive, you can produce compressed or non-compressed
.zip files. The maximum size of a .zip file cannot exceed 2 GB. However, if it
does, then the file is skipped and the archiving process continues.
The name of each .zip file is generated by the archive name, the type of external
dependency it contains, and an index. For example, MyArchive.MEDIA.0001.zip,
MyArchive.MEDIA.0002.zip, MyArchive.PAINT_STROKES.0001.zip.
The archive output folder uses the archive name you specify. This folder is
created by default in the archive folder specified in the Project Preferences
window (Archive tab)see
Setting Project Preferences on page 97.
You can configure the archive operation as either a local or remote background
task. By default it is a background task on the local machine.
As for most tasks, you can use scripting to improve efficiency. Consult the
online Composite Python API documentation for help with scripts (in the
Windows Start menu, choose Programs > Autodesk > Composite > Composite
Documentation > Scripting API).
104 | Chapter 6 Projects