Exporting Data
Proprietary file types
Master Patch has several different proprietary file types. These are:
- Project (.mpp)
- Act (.mpb)
- Inventory (.mpi)
- Logs (.log)
Project (.mpp)
A Master Patch Project file can be identified by its file extension, .mpp
A Project file contains all information from the event.
This includes all file attachments and all stage plots, as such a Project files can become large.
Act (.mpb)
A Master Patch Act file can be identified by its file extension, .mpb
From the act page, the user is able to define the scope of the data export. In this way the user can customize their data export for optimized future import into Master Patch.
This allows a modular importing of act data info, Master Patch. For example, if an acts stage plot has changed, the user might want to only export their stage plot for importing into a different channel list configuration, the modular export function would allow the user to only export the stage plot for future import.
Inventory (.mpi)
A Master Patch inventory file can be identified by its file extension, .mpi
From the Inventory page the user is able to export the inventory of the Project, an export of the inventory includes all aspects of the inventory including quantities of items.
This can be useful if for example a rental company has standardized packages of sources they send to productions, as such, building the inventory from scratch every time would not be very time efficient. However the user would be able to simply import a pre-built inventory into new Master Patch Projects, speeding up this process considerably.
Logs (.log)
A Master Patch Logs file can be identified by its file extension, .log
From the advanced page of the preferences section the user is able to export logs from Master Patch
This log file can then be forwarded onto Vampire Squid in order to provide technical support.
Common file types
In addition to the above proprietary file types, the user is also able to export the following files:
- Act overview PDF
- Act overview CSV
- Day overview PDF
- Day overview CSV
- Query overview PDF
Act overview PDF
From within the Act page, the user can choose to export a number of different formats of the currently selected Act, one of these options is PDF.
The user has the ability to define the scope of the export from the export window that opens, this allows the user to define exactly the data that will be rendered to a PDF.
Once the user has selected their export scope and chosen .PDF, the export window will open showing a rendered version of what the PDF will look like once exported. This is useful to ensure that the data being exported is the data that is desired.
Upon choosing to export, the user will then be prompted to select the save location for the file.
This export can be very beneficial for advancing information to productions, or to paper copies of act information for distribution.
Act overview CSV
Similarly to the act PDF export, the user can choose to export act data in a CSV format.
Unlike the PDF export, no preview is available for the CSV export.
The CSV export can be useful when integrating data from Master Patch into other applications, for example, a user might choose to export input device data and then import it into a label making piece of software, allowing the user to automate the creation of labels for physical items such as stage input boxes.
Day overview PDF
From the Day Overview page in the Project section, the user can choose to export day data in two formats, one of these being PDF.
Like the Act export the Day export allows the user to define their export scope.
This can be a useful file export for creating day sheets for distribution, or creating paper versions of Master Patch Data.
Day overview CSV
The day overview data can also be exported as a CSV file.
This allows the user to export day data for incorporation into other applications if desired.
Query overview PDF
From the Query Overview page in the Project section, the user can choose to export query data from a day as a PDF.
This export will include all query data from an act on the selected day. This can be very useful when advancing a production as the query sheet can be forwarded onto a production manager or technical manager for clarification on the query points.
Compatibility
Master Patch Projects are forward compatible, meaning that for example an .mpp file created on version 1.10 of Master Patch can be opened on version 1.11 of Master Patch.
This however is not true of reverse compatibility - files created in a higher version of Master Patch cannot be opened by lower versions.