Subversion or Adobe Version CUE 3 for Photoshop/Illustrator Files

Question

This might seem like a stupid question I admit. But I'm in a small shop me plus two designers. Our backups are getting out of hand because they just copy/paste files if they need to make a change (version).

I was all set to try Subversion to handle all of our files my text (code) files and their photoshop/illustrator and asset files. That is until I noticed there was a new version of Adobe Version Cue v3. We've tried previously to use version cue but it got complicated and the designers quickly stopped using it.

Looking for anyone that has some experience with version 3 of Version Cue.

Thanks for the great feedback. Maybe I should have asked what's the best tool to use for Versioning Photoshop and related files. I did notice the binary file issue and was worried about trying to explain it and keep it "working". I signed up for the beta at Gridiron thanks for that!

Here is the other question related to this one.

Answer 1

Subversion is not an ideal solution for binary files, regardless of how little has changed it will save a new copy each time you check it in. Moreover, although Subversion has some locking capabilities, it doesn't lock by default, which means that if two persons modify the same binary file the one that checks in the last will overwrite the other one's changes.

Also, there's no tool out there that's as integrated with the Adobe design tools as Version Cue is.

Subversion is great for text-based content, but really really not suited to the kind of files you will be working with.

Answer 2

I have used Subversion for this exact thing, and Theo is right, you have to remember to lock your files. I am on CS2 and so have not used Version Cue, but I have not been able to find a whole lot online about other folks using it either, for some reason. The other problem I had using Subversion related to disk space. Subversion stores an alternate "shadow copy" of your files in your working directory. For Photoshop and Illustrator this is normally not that big of a deal, but I was using Premiere and After Effects as well, and the disk space required for the shadow copies doubled my disk usage. You might also check out Gridiron's new Gridiron Flow product, which John Nack raves about. I would love to use it - it's due out about now, and it will likely run in the several-hundred dollar range, I think...

Update 3/6/2009: Gridiron Flow is out, and it does versioning on a single machine, but it's not clear from their demos whether it does collaborative versioning. Also, I just stumbled across this very good comparison of subversion, git & mercurial for managing a home directory - including various versions of large Photoshop files.

Answer 3

I was going to suggest Gridiron Flow. But Brian beat me to it.

Answer 4

PixelNovel Timeline is a dedicated Subversion client for Photoshop - works as a plugin and shows all you versions in an additional Photoshop palette. It also comes with a web storage where you can view your files via a web browser. Give it a go - may be it's exactly what you are after....

Answer 5

There is a new tutorial around this and I would just like to mention it

The Ultimate Guide to Version Control for Designers

Answer 6

@Theo Subversion does not save a whole new copy of a photoshop file with each version. In fact it seems to be very efficient in saving typical updates while working on a design.

This experience is based on my personal experiences… but being reproduced by others: http://joshcarter.com/productivity/svn_hg_git_for_home_directory

Beware of Version Cue because it will create a adobe-software-only environment where everybody has to install the creative suite to get access to your files (at least you will have to use Adobe Bridge). On the other hand there are a multitude of opensource webbased subversion servers that will give everyone in your team access to your work using a simple browser (rss feed included).

And I highly recommend reading the link provided by @balexandre "The Ultimate Guide to Version Control for Designers"