Build a free source library beside your cloud DAM

What you gain

Give the production team a useful camera archive while the institution keeps its approved deliverables and distribution controls.

You can start with the free base app and your existing storage. Use the first shoot to build a palette, identify known subjects and hand useful ranges to the editor. There is no universal DAM importer. Choose the exact vendor, preserve its export, and map the production fields you need.

1. Bring the files and keep the old log

Inventory the specific DAM, not a generic category. Obtain originals, approved versions, metadata, rights records, permissions, and export documentation. Determine which records have to remain in the DAM for the organization to keep operating.

Use a copy of one shoot for the first rename or metadata-writing attempt. Include repeated camera filenames from different cards, and retain the full source paths so you can tell them apart.

2. Reuse the work you already did

Download the mapping worksheet. It is a checklist for your records, not a file to import into the app.

If your existing filenames already describe the shoot, open that directory and choose Learn from these files… from the palette picker. With at least three visible files, ClipLogger can infer a palette you can edit. Supported XMP fields can also be read from media; that does not convert every vendor’s custom field or AI index.

3. Give the next editor a better log

Import a roster, menu or code-replacement table for the names and terms you know. Set fields such as action, shot size and rating, then choose a small batch for suggestions. Use a supported local model for no per-clip service fee, or choose Rush for hosted processing. Review the suggested values against the footage.

Use Drill-down to see nested camera folders together. Search by meaning, transcript or the reviewed fields, then narrow the results with the values available in the directory. Mark the useful ranges and promote the ones you want to log separately into virtual clips. Search and filter guide.

4. Write something you can keep

Enable .logger.json output and confirm the sidecars have been written beside your pilot media. Preview a filename built from your reviewed fields, then apply it to the copy. Keep names stable once the editor links the footage, or plan to relink after a rename.

Open a supported export in a test NLE project. Check the actual names, metadata and source timing there. If you need a separate media file, choose subclip export; a virtual clip by itself still depends on the original. Naming · Sidecars · NLE handoff.

5. Decide what you still need to pay for

Keep camera footage and its log in the production workflow. Send approved cuts and chosen supporting assets to the DAM, together with the fields that system can receive. Rights restrictions and approval records should remain in the system that enforces them.

Export support varies by DAM. Obtain a real sample of original media and metadata before deciding what survives cancellation. ClipLogger’s free base and written sidecars give the production team a local record; they do not replace institutional permission or rights enforcement.

Keep a way back

Retain the DAM and source archive while trialing the logging stage. Because the pilot does not remove the existing delivery system, the team can return to its established handoff.

Retain the original media and old exports until an editor has used the new handoff. Back up the ClipLogger project/catalog as well as sidecars, especially when some work has not been written beside the files.

Return to the Cloud DAMs comparison for capability and cost details.