TOTM: Alternates/Variants – Similar in concept, different in practice

This Term of the Month actually offers two terms for the price of one. This is because it’s easier to explain the concept of one while also discussing the other. In short, alternates and variants are files that are associated with other files. Conventional wisdom says that alternates are files that are basically the same, [...]

TOTM: Categories – Smarter metadata tagging

This Term of the Month explains how Canto Cumulus categories offer the best of both worlds—and then some. Once you understand the potential of categories, you’ll wonder how you ever managed to tag and organize files without them!

TOTM: Metadata Write-Back – Embedding metadata into assets

By default, Cumulus stores metadata in catalogs, which are separate from assets. This offers a number of advantages over systems that force you to store metadata inside assets, but sometimes storing metadata inside assets is important. Fortunately, Cumulus enables you to do both! This Term of the Month explains what metadata write-back is, when it [...]

TOTM: Asset Cross Referencing (AXR) – Your Asset Collection’s Family Tree

Cumulus can keep track of the relationships between layouts and presentations and the external files they reference. The advantages of this technology include finding assets based on relationships, and even autocataloging referenced/linked assets when the master file is cataloged. This Term of the Month explains what AXR is, what it is not, and why—if you’re [...]

TOTM: Filters – The Metadata Masters of Cumulus

Canto often mentions the hundreds of popular file formats for which Cumulus offers “enhanced” metadata support. At the same time, we say Cumulus can catalog and manage any type of digital file. So what does this “enhanced” distinction mean? This Term of the Month explains what we mean by “enhanced” by explaining the purpose and [...]

TOTM: Catalogs and Asset Records – The Cumulus metadata database

“Database” is such an ugly term—don’t you think? When Canto engineers designed Cumulus, they imagined the creative users they foresaw using the application would prefer a term that suggested easy browsing, rather than hardcore database use. So, what we have today are Cumulus catalogs—not Cumulus databases. (Yes, it’s the same thing!) This Term of the [...]

TOTM: Metadata – The heart and soul of DAM

Metadata is certainly a more common term now than it was when Cumulus 1.0 first shipped, almost 20 years ago, but newcomers to digital asset management might not have a complete idea of what types of metadata exist, or what can be done with them. This Term of the Month explores metadata—where it comes from, [...]

TOTM: Triggers – A different kind of event planning

Cumulus can perform predefined actions based on events that occur in catalogs. Events are generated by user actions or the Cumulus Scheduler.  Events include changing a metadata value, creating a new category, deleting a record, and more. When an event is linked to an action, we call it a trigger. Triggers are the basis for [...]

TOTM: Collections – Your Windows to Working with Assets

When new users open a Cumulus catalog, they often think they are looking at a Cumulus catalog. More technically correct, what you see when you open any Cumulus catalog is a Cumulus collection window. Collections are handy temporary organizations of asset records that offer you lots of different options for working with asset records. You [...]

TOTM: Live Filtering – Dynamic, Rules-based Access Permissions

The conventional user permissions models used by Windows, the Mac OS, Linux and most DAM systems, offer only a few options with regard to file access. They enable an administrator to determine whether a user or group can read file, create or overwrite files, or both.

Once set, these permissions are typically left as is—until someone complains, that is. If a user needs access to a file she can’t open, she needs to contact a system administrator—a process that could take many days to rectify, not to mention the time she and administrator waste.
Though Cumulus supports static permissions models like these, it also offers a far more advanced way to determine who sees what. It’s called Live Filtering.