File Naming Conventions
Understanding the Importance of File Naming
In this video, I walk you through the File Naming Convention structure I use for my Animation projects.
Having a format in place for your file names creates a consistent language across your projects, so you can spend less time thinking about how to name your files and more time concentrating on the creative work.
Transcript
I know how it is, you’re in the zone of making something, and it’s all too easy to save the file quickly and name it something that may make sense to you in the moment so you can crack on with the work. Only for later on when you or a team member is struggling make sense of it all and to find the right file.
We’ve all been there.
To create an organised workflow, it’s important to give your files a sensible name that describes what’s inside without it being too long and complicated.
Bonus points for sensibly naming your layers within the files!
I’m going to show you what I use, so when it comes to naming your files, you can have a format to follow.
As an overall naming convention for a project I like to use the format of:
Clientname-Projectname-Description-Suffix
So, let me break this down.
It’s probably overkill to have all this detail for every file in your project, but first I want you to understand the format so you can decide what parts are necessary.
Ideally, you want to have a shorthand version of your client and project name, keeping it to as few characters as possible. It could just be the first few letters.
The description tells you what is in the file. If it’s a graphic file for instance, it could be a branding asset like a logo or it could be character concept art.
For a delivery file, the description could be something like the aspect ratio or the language, whatever is deemed important for the deliverable.
Then round it off with a suffix like a version number, just avoid using Final, as chances are you or the client may continue to make changes and it’ll be a new Final file.
So consider versioning so you can see what the latest version is to work from
Here’s how I version my files.
For files that need reviewing, I tend to use a suffix to denote whether it’s being reviewed by the team or the client.
So, if your file is being reviewed by the internal creative team or just for yourself to test, then add -TR for Team Review and a version number
Then, when the file is ready for the client to review it, I would add -CR for Client Review with a version number
For Delivery files, which are files that are completed I sometimes like to add a date in the format of Year Month and Day.
What’s great about this format, especially when you use a Date is how organised the files are right away. Here I can see the same file, but the different versions of it are grouped together and organised by date.
Similarly, if you were using the versioning format I use, it’ll be organised by version number.
It’s worth noting that depending on the client you’re working with, they may have guidelines in place for how to name files. That mainly comes to the delivery file in my experience, so up until that point, it’s making sure you have something in place that’s going to work well for you and any collaborators.