Yes, Anima is compatible with shared network folders. Therefore, you can use with Anima the same workflow you are already comfortable with when working with your DCC applications, sharing resources with your team over your local network.
For example, you can place the Anima project folder in a network location that can be accessed from all the devices that will be working on the project or participating on the renders. Then, when that project is imported into your 3D scene from that location, everybody will be able to load that Anima content.
Keep in mind that you need to provide the proper user privileges to access those shared folders, like you do when rendering in 3ds Max or Cinema 4D.
Also, it is recommended to store the library resources in a network folder. This way, those resources are stored in a shared Purchases folder and can be reused by multiple devices without needing to download them multiple times from each machine.
You can set up Anima to use a centralized library folder on a network path by following these steps:
- Go to Menu > Edit > Preferences
- Change the Purchases path to a shared folder location of your choice and click SAVE.
When clicking SAVE, the following dialog appears:
By default, the OK option is selected. When using that OK option, all the content present in the original Purchases folder is automatically moved to the new location.
If you want to change your Purchases folder to a location that already has content inside, use the Change path button from the left instead. That will leave the content from the original folder untouched, and load into Anima the resources already available in the new folder path.
Keep in mind that devices used only to render don't need to have access to the Purchases. Anima automatically stores an optimized copy of the resources used in a project inside a "resource_cache" subfolder to simplify the workflow and avoid further dependencies.
You can learn more about these topics in the following documentation: