File sharing for motion designers: review to handover
A two-step routine for animators: send a review cut that plays in the browser, then hand over the project files.
File sharing for motion designers works best as two handovers, not one: the review cut goes out first, and the project files follow only after the client approves. In Tarkle each handover gets its own link. The cut plays on a page with a built-in player, the project goes out as a folder transfer, and nobody needs an account to download. This routine takes you from the first review link to the project file.
Why the cut and the project file need separate links
The approved cut is the deliverable. The project file is what lets someone rebuild or change your animation: your layers, expressions, precomps and plugin settings. Put both in one folder and you hand over the project before anyone has said yes.
Two links fix that. The first holds the review cut and goes out today. The second holds the project and does not exist until the cut is approved. For the contract side of that second link, read how to share source files with clients after final approval.
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Name every export with the client, the project and the version, like Acme_Spring_v03_review.mp4, and use the same name in the email subject.
Step 1: send the review cut as a video page
Upload the review export, create a transfer and send the link. With video and audio sharing, the transfer page plays the video in the browser with a built-in player, so the client can watch the cut before downloading anything. The page keeps your branding, so it looks like it came from you. For a longer look at delivery, see how to deliver video to clients.
Notes on the animation itself go through email. Tarkle has no review tool for video, so a client cannot pin a comment to a frame of the cut. Ask for one list of timecoded notes ("00:12, hold the logo a beat longer") in one thread, from one person on the client side, and answer with the next version link.
Tarkle does help with the stills around the cut. Style frames, storyboards and PDF decks go into client feedback, a review board where clients pin comments on images or on a page of a PDF and finish with Approve this work or Request changes. They need no account, and client feedback and approval is on Free, Pro and Agency.
Settle the look on style frames before you start animating, and send them for approval on a board before the cut goes out.
Step 2: keep the approval on record
Wait for a clear yes. End each review email with a question that has a yes or no answer: "Reply 'approved' and I will send the project files." Keep that reply with the project, and note which version it approved.
The project transfer comes after that message and, if your contract says so, after the final invoice is paid. Until then the files stay in your own folder and no link exists.
Step 3: pack the project so it opens on another machine
Build the package so a stranger could open it on a clean computer. Put these in one folder named with the client, the project and the date:
the project file for the approved version
every piece of footage, image and audio file the project links to
the fonts you are allowed to share
a list of the plugins and the software version you used
a short readme that says what to open first
Fonts, stock footage and plugins carry their own licences, so check the terms before you include them. If you cannot share one, name it in the readme and say where to get it. Then open the project from the copy, not from your working drive, and look for missing media before the client does.
Step 4: send the project as one folder link
With share files by link you pick the folder, create the transfer and send one link. Recipients open it in any browser and download straight away, with no account and nothing to install.
Project folders with footage get large, so check the size first. Free supports uploads and transfers up to 1 GB each, and Pro and Agency support files up to 200 GB. The send large files page has the details.
Add a password and send it in a different message from the link. Add an expiry date that gives the client time to download and check the project, and put that date in your email. After you send, transfer status shows whether the email was delivered, how many times the page was viewed and whether the files were downloaded, so you know when to follow up.
Keep your own copy of the project as well. Tarkle backs up the service, but its terms say backups do not replace your own.
Step 5: keep revisions tidy with file versions
Changes after approval happen. On Pro and Agency, file versions let you upload a new version of a file, so Tarkle keeps the earlier ones. You can open the history to see them and restore an old version if the latest was a mistake. That suits a project file that goes through several rounds. On Free, an upload with an existing name is saved as a separate copy such as name (2).
Put the version in the file name as well, like Acme_Spring_v04.aep, so anyone can tell which one they have, wherever the file ends up. For the wider routine, see how to send updated files to clients without version confusion.
File sharing for motion designers: which plan fits
Free is $0 and covers sharing by link, client feedback on stills, password protection, and a custom domain and branding. Pro is $29 a month, or $19 a month billed yearly ($228 a year), and adds file versioning and the 200 GB upload limit for large project folders. Both are on the pricing page.
Set this up today
Export your next review cut with the client, project and version in the file name.
Send it as a transfer and open the link yourself before you send it on.
Ask for one list of timecoded notes, and keep the reply that says approved.
Pack the project folder with footage, fonts, a plugin list and a readme, and open it from the copy.
Send it as a second transfer with a password and an expiry date. Start for free and try it on your next job.
What to remember about Tarkle
Tarkle gives a motion designer two links for one job: a video page with a built-in player for the review cut, and a folder transfer for the project files. Neither needs an account to download. File versions and the 200 GB upload limit are on Pro and Agency, and you can start on Free. Start for free or compare plans on the pricing page.
