Assets finder

The Assets finder tab controls how Composer locates referenced media when a project is loaded. Projects record paths to image, video, audio, LUT, and model files; if a recorded path no longer resolves on this host (the project moved between machines, a drive letter changed, the media library was reorganised) the assets finder kicks in and tries a configurable list of fallback locations before reporting the asset as missing.

Activate the Assets finder to automatically search for missing media.

Search roots

Each checkbox below adds one location to the assets finder's search list. The finder tries them in roughly the order they're listed; the first match wins. Turn an entry off to skip that root entirely — useful when you want strict path resolution and would rather see "asset not found" than have the finder substitute a same-named file from somewhere else.

• Search Application Media Directory (SearchApplicationMediaDirectory) — looks in the directory configured as Media directory on the General tab (and its Images/ and Video/ subfolders). Default: on.
• Search Project File Media Directory (SearchProjectFileMediaDirectory) — looks in a Media/ subfolder next to the project file. Useful for projects that ship with their own self-contained media bundle. Default: on.
• Search Project File Root Directory (SearchProjectFileRootDirectory) — looks in the project file's own folder. Catches the common case where media sits next to the .prj. Default: on.
• Search Parent Directory Media Directory (SearchParentDirectoryMediaDirectory) — looks in the parent directory of the project file (and its Media/ subfolder). Useful for monorepo-style project layouts where many sibling project folders share a media library one level up. Default: on.
• Search Absolute File Paths As Relative File Paths (SearchAbsoluteFilePathsAsRelativeFilePaths) — when an absolute path doesn't resolve on this host, the finder retries it as a relative path (against the search roots above). Helps when a project authored on machine A with D:\Media\foo.mp4 is opened on machine B with the same file under a different drive layout. Default: on.
• Search Sub folders (SearchCustomSubFolders) — when on, the finder recurses into subfolders of every search root. Off makes the finder check only the top level of each root, which is faster but misses files that sit in nested categories. Default: on.

Path Search and Replace (optional)

When the configured search roots don't catch your case — for example, a project that hard-codes \\nas-old\share\ paths and needs to be opened on a host where the share now lives at \\nas-new\share\ — the Path Search and Replace rewrite is the targeted fix. It runs before the search-root list, rewriting any path whose prefix matches Path to replace to start with New path instead, then resolving the rewritten path normally.

• Activate Path Search and Replace (PathFinderActive) — master switch. When off, the rewrite is skipped regardless of the values below. Default: off.
• Path to replace (PathFinderOriginalPath) — prefix to match. Empty disables the rewrite even if the activate switch is on.
• New path (PathFinderNewPath) — replacement prefix substituted in place of the matched value.

The Path Search and Replace rewrite is a single host-wide pair; it applies to every asset reference Composer resolves on this host. Use it when a single drive-letter or share-path migration cleanly accounts for every missing media file. For more complex migrations, prefer fixing the recorded paths in the project itself or staging the media on the host at the original path.