PluralEyes says "file name or directory path is too long"?

[Zhong Cheung]

I'm trying to sync my first project with PluralEyes in Sony Vegas Pro 10.0D.

PluralEyes version 2.0.2 for Vegas. I've dragged all my video and audio clips to the timeline. Then I go to press sync, but it says:

"The specified path, file name, or both are too long. The fully qualified file name must be less than 260 characters, and the directory name must be less than 248 characters."

Okay, so I figured my directory path is too long because I have many, many subfolders.

But it got to the point where I am saving directly onto the root drive like so:

D:/ Dan Rachel Ceremony/DR Ceremony.veg
and PluralEyes STILL says things are too long...so wth? How can I proceed? Clearly, that is not even close to 248 characters. Thanks guys!

P.S. My video clips themselves have long names though and are located deep within many subfolders which might go over 248 characters. When the error message says specified path or file name, what path and file name are they referring to? My actual video/audio files or my Vegas file?

[Peter Riding]

Yep, thats the problem. Path too long to the media.

If you don't want to rename your media files you could do a Save As and select "Copy Media With Project" followed by "Copy Source Media". This will consolidate all the media nad the project file into one chosen folder and therefore the paths will be much shorter.

This will also help when you want to eventually archive projects from your hard drive because otherwise when you come to reopen them Vegas may have a hard time finding the media files - you may have to re-specify the locations at that point to answer missing media alerts.

Pete

[Zhong Cheung]

Thanks. I tried save as with copy media files. Then I get this error:

An error occurred while saving the project file DR Ceremony.veg

An invalid argument was specified.

Here are the details:
Media file D:\PETER'~1\BUSINE~1\STUDIO~1\WEDDIN~1\DANAND~2\CAPTUR~1\2-32GB~2\MVI_0195 Ceremony Processional, Giving Away Rachel - Right Angle CU.MOV was renamed to D:\Dan and Rachel Full Ceremony\MVI_0195 Ceremony Processional, Giving Away Rachel - Right Angle CU - 1.MOV to avoid destroying existing file.
Media file D:\PETER'~1\BUSINE~1\STUDIO~1\WEDDIN~1\DANAND~2\CAPTUR~1\2-32GB~2\MVI_0201 Ceremony Kiss, Prayer, Recessional Right Angle CU.MOV was renamed to D:\Dan and Rachel Full Ceremony\MVI_0201 Ceremony Kiss, Prayer, Recessional Right Angle CU - 1.MOV to avoid destroying existing file.
Media file D:\PETER'~1\BUSINE~1\STUDIO~1\WEDDIN~1\DANAND~2\CAPTUR~1\3-32GB~1\MVI_1569 Ceremony Processional Opening Behind Altar Medium.MOV was renamed to D:\Dan and Rachel Full Ceremony\MVI_1569 Ceremony Processional Opening Behind Altar Medium - 1.MOV to avoid destroying existing file.
Media file D:\PETER'~1\BUSINE~1\STUDIO~1\WEDDIN~1\DANAND~2\CAPTUR~1\4-32GB~1\MVI_1383 - Ceremony Dan Vows Left Angle CU.MOV was renamed to D:\Dan and Rachel Full Ceremony\MVI_1383 - Ceremony Dan Vows Left Angle CU - 1.MOV to avoid destroying existing file.
Media file D:\PETER'~1\BUSINE~1\STUDIO~1\WEDDIN~1\DANAND~2\CAPTUR~1\GBS-16~1\MVI_1374 Ceremony Processional Whitley Song Left Angle Medium.MOV was renamed to D:\Dan and Rachel Full Ceremony\MVI_1374 Ceremony Processional Whitley Song Left Angle Medium - 1.MOV to avoid destroying existing file.
Media file D:\PETER'~1\BUSINE~1\STUDIO~1\WEDDIN~1\DANAND~2\CAPTUR~1\GBS-16~1\MVI_1375 Ceremony Open Whitley Dan Seating Parents and Waiting Left Angle.MOV was renamed to D:\Dan and Rachel Full Ceremony\MVI_1375 Ceremony Open Whitley Dan Seating Parents and Waiting Left Angle - 1.MOV to avoid destroying existing file.
Media file D:\PETER'~1\BUSINE~1\STUDIO~1\WEDDIN~1\DANAND~2\CAPTUR~1\GBS-16~1\MVI_1376 Ceremony Opening Whitley Give Away Bride Left Angle.MOV was renamed to D:\Dan and Rachel Full Ceremony\MVI_1376 Ceremony Opening Whitley Give Away Bride Left Angle - 1.MOV to avoid destroying existing file.
Media file D:\PETER'~1\BUSINE~1\STUDIO~1\WEDDIN~1\DANAND~2\CAPTUR~1\GBS-16~1\MVI_1377 Ceremony Open Worship Dan Rachel Raise Hands Left Angle.MOV was renamed to D:\Dan and Rachel Full Ceremony\MVI_1377 Ceremony Open Worship Dan Rachel Raise Hands Left Angle - 1.MOV to avoid destroying existing file.
Media file D:\PETER'~1\BUSINE~1\STUDIO~1\WEDDIN~1\DANAND~2\CAPTUR~1\GBS-16~1\MVI_1378 Ceremony Open Worship Left Angle Wide.MOV was renamed to D:\Dan and Rachel Full Ceremony\MVI_1378 Ceremony Open Worship Left Angle Wide - 1.MOV to avoid destroying existing file.
Media file D:\PETER'~1\BUSINE~1\STUDIO~1\WEDDIN~1\DANAND~2\CAPTUR~1\GBS-16~1\MVI_1379 Ceremony Open Worship Dad Umbrella Left Angle.MOV was renamed to D:\Dan and Rachel Full Ceremony\MVI_1379 Ceremony Open Worship Dad Umbrella Left Angle - 1.MOV to avoid destroying existing file.
Media file D:\PETER'~1\BUSINE~1\STUDIO~1\WEDDIN~1\DANAND~2\CAPTUR~1\GBS-16~1\MVI_1380 Ceremony Opening Worship Concluded Left Angle.MOV was renamed to D:\Dan and Rachel Full Ceremony\MVI_1380 Ceremony Opening Worship Concluded Left Angle - 1.MOV to avoid destroying existing file.
Media file D:\Peter's Data Files\Business Files\Studio Dreamscape\Wedding Projects\Dan and Rachel Mark Wedding - September 18, 2011\Captured and Media Files\1 - 32GB Transcend CF Card - Ceremony Balcony Angle & Reception\MVI_1285 - Start of Ceremony Balcony Angle.MOV was renamed to D:\Dan and Rachel Full Ceremony\MVI_1285 - Start of Ceremony Balcony Angle - 1.MOV to avoid destroying existing file.

[Peter Riding]

I haven't seen that before but it looks like Vegas is also chocking on the long filenames and paths.

Until recently I also used descriptive filenames and folders similar to yours but not as long. Now I batch rename all the media files and bring them together in fewer folders that are also not as deep. I use Adobe Bridge CS4 (part of Photoshop) but there are other choices. Bridge and others can display the video clip thumbnail and even play the clip so there is no chance of mistaking the content. You can drag and drop directly into Vegas from Bridge. My filename convention is camera identifier + clip number (in ascending 3 digits) + clients initials. Renaming templates can be saved in Bridge.

Pete

[Edward Troxel]

When you do the "Save As" with COPY, make sure you point it to a NEW EMPTY folder. Sounds like you saved it in the same folder where the media was located so it had to create new copies of the file in that folder (and rename them) so that the original files would be kept safe.

[Peter Riding]

Edward is of course spot on. I've just experienced that where I've been saving several projects into a consolidated file and several of the projects use the same background music. Vegas renames that music track each time with an ascending suffix of hyphen 1 hyphen 2 etc

Pete