How to Version, Collaborate, and Get Studio Ready with P4 One
In the fast-paced world of creative production, managing files and versions can quickly spiral into chaos. Shared drives and manual versioning often lead to confusion, lost work, and inefficiencies that slow down your team.
This challenge is especially pronounced in industries like Media & Entertainment and Education, sectors with the lowest adoption of version control—just 26% and 27%, respectively—according to the 2025 State of Game Technology Report. Additionally, 37% of Media & Entertainment professionals respondents cite slow and difficult file transfers as a top concern.
That’s where P4 One comes in, designed to simplify workflows for artists, designers, or anyone working with highly visual assets. This guide will introduce you to P4 One, and the turnkey upgrade path available with P4 Cloud when you’re ready to collaborate on a large project.
Whether you’re working solo or collaborating with a team, this guide will provide you with the technical details, including strategies for versioning and collaboration, you’ll need to confidently incorporate P4 One into your workflow.
What is P4 One?
P4 One is a free version control client tailored for art teams—or really, anyone new to version control.
P4 One lets you version files locally, and like any tool in our P4 platform, it can handle large binaries and project sizes that can break other version control systems.
If you’re already using Perforce P4 (formerly Helix Core), P4 One provides an intuitive interface for your collaborators who don’t need all the controls of P4V—while still giving them a simple way to connect to an existing P4 environment.
Back to top"I've been using P4V for a while... [P4 One looks] way more user friendly."
3D Artist | ROOMTONE Games
How P4 One Works
P4 One can work standalone without a P4 server connection. Thumbnail support and file format recognition are built into the app, so you can version locally and work offline.
P4 One optionally connects to any P4 environment (including P4 Cloud), giving your team the ability to submit their work, while still iterating freely and versioning locally. P4 One supports Streams and classic depots, and even your pre-existing P4 workspaces, so you can easily plug it right into your team’s workflows.
In the following sections of this guide, we’ll walk you through a few common scenarios at both an individual contributor and team collaborator lens.
Back to topPart 1: P4 One for Solo Creators
Example Workflow in P4 One
Meet Alex, a solo game developer preparing to debut a playable demo of his indie game at GDC.
He wants to showcase his demo to investors and publishers who could help fund the full development of his dream project. The stakes are high—Alex is juggling everything from designing characters to building levels and coding gameplay mechanics, all while racing against the clock to polish a demo that will impress potential backers.
Before P4 One, Alex’s workflow looked like this:
- Manually copying the entire project folder to an external drive or cloud storage to create backups—just in case.
- Manually saving files with names like “CharacterDesign_v1,” “CharacterDesign_v2_final,” and “CharacterDesign_v2_final_final_final.”
- Digging through cluttered folders to find the right version of an asset.
- Constantly worrying about losing progress if their computer crashes.
After trying (and feeling intimidated) by some of the more commonly used source control tools out there, Alex found P4 One— version control built for creators, not just programmers.
The single download and easy setup provided a way for him to finally stop juggling endless “final_final” files.
Download P4 One and Get Started in Minutes
Check out this quick demo with Jase Lindgren, Senior P4 User Advocate. In just a few minutes, you’ll learn how to:
- 00:15 Download and install P4 One (Mac & Windows)
- 1:55 Create your first workspace
- 2:55 Add files with automatic thumbnail previews
- 03:52 Create versions with helpful comments
- 05:21 Roll back to previous versions with a single click
As a solo game developer, this isn’t the first time Alex has used version control, but it is the first time he’s used one versatile enough to satisfy his high priority needs. Right away Alex notices:
- No more copying entire projects as backups—saving computer space.
- Initial sketches saved directly into P4 One, automatically versioned.
- Each iteration tracked with timestamps and visual previews—no more messy file names or folders.
- Easy version comparison, quick rollbacks, or branching for new ideas without losing progress.
Versions stored locally in an organized structure, keeping everything recoverable—even if Alex’s machine crashes.
When You’re Ready to Grow: Collaborating with Others
P4 One immediately solves several problems for individual contributors by eliminating manual versioning, preventing file loss, and creating a clean history of creative iterations. However, the full power of P4 One emerges when connected to a P4 Server or P4 Cloud.
With P4 One handling his solo workflow, Alex could finally stop worrying about file management and start creating with confidence. That confidence paid off on the big stage.
Alex’s indie game demo came together beautifully. The characters are designed, the levels are taking shape, and the gameplay mechanics are solid. He showcased it at GDC, wowed investors, and secured funding to take the project to the next level.
Now, Alex needs to bring on a sound designer and an animator to help finish the game. That means sharing files, collaborating on assets, and ensuring everyone is working on the latest version of the project.
But here’s the problem: Alex’s local P4 One setup is perfect for solo workflows, but he’s unsure how to leverage it for team collaboration.
It seems simple enough, and Alex is very familiar with using cloud file-sharing platform like Google Drive or Dropbox, but with a new version control perspective he can already start to see many of the limitations those tools will bring:
- The animator could accidentally overwrite Alex’s character designs while working on a new animation.
- The sound designer and Alex might both edit the same file at the same time, leading to lost progress.
- Files would be spread across different accounts, making it hard to track the latest versions.
What began as a simple file-sharing solution has now created versioning chaos that slows production and risks costly mistakes. Alex sat down with his team and drafted a pros and cons list of consumer cloud storage platforms:
Pros and Cons of Cloud File Sharing Platforms
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Minimal setup required to start sharing files | Files are often shared too widely for convenience and security |
| Most team members already understand how to use these platforms | Game engines, 3D models, and other specialized file types don't render in list view |
| Works across various operating systems and devices | File context and instructions are exchanged manually through channels like Slack and email |
| Commenting and basic permission settings | Duplicated files and manual versioning create significant storage waste |
| Quick link generation for external stakeholders | Slow download/upload speeds with large assets |
| Multiple people can edit the same file simultaneously, causing overwrite conflicts | |
| Difficult to locate specific versions or track revision history | |
| Performance and organization deteriorate as project size increases | |
| No reliable way to ensure all versions are properly preserved |
After reviewing the list and discussing wtih his team, Alex realized that while consumer platforms are convenient, they fall dramatically short for the needs of any game engine project.
They conclude that the manual workarounds required to compensate for these limitations woudl result in lost time, confusion, and errors that could risk the success of his project.
After seeing the limitations of consumer cloud storage firsthand, Alex knew he needed a solution designed for creative collaboration. While P4 One’s local versioning had served him well as a solo developer, his growing team required secure, organized, and efficient workflows that could scale.
That’s when Alex learned more about P4 Cloud — a fully managed and hosted deployment of P4 that P4 One can easily connect into. With P4 Cloud, he could maintain the simplicity of P4 One while unlocking the full power of the industry standard in version control. You can learn more about P4 Cloud here.
Back to topPart 2: P4 One for Teams
The Upgrade Path: Moving from P4 One to P4 Cloud
While P4 One's local versioning provides powerful benefits for individual creators, connecting to P4 Cloud unlocks the full potential of collaborative versioning. As your projects grow and team needs expand, P4 Cloud offers a frictionless upgrade path.
If you need a fully managed and hosted P4 server without any IT overhead, P4 Cloud is the fastest and easiest way to get started for teams of up to 50.
How the Upgrade Works
Get started with P4 Cloud
To subscribe to, deploy, and configure P4 Cloud for your team, reference documentation here.
Add a P4 Server
To work with files stored on a P4 Server, you need to add a connection to the server in P4 One.
Set up your project structure
When deployment of your P4 Cloud instance is complete, follow the steps here to create a user, depot, stream, and optional typemap to configure P4 for your team.
Workflows evolve
Submitting, reverting, branching, and comparing versions works the same way it did in P4 One.
The difference? Every version is now available to your whole team, securely stored and organized in the cloud.
Get started with Perforce Streams and speed up your branching process in our Streams Adoption Guide.
- Keep admin optional
If you need help managing P4, P4 Remote Admin (P4RA) lets you offload setup and server management to Perforce—no in-house admin needed.
Revisiting Alex’s Workflow After the Upgrade
At first, Alex thought tools like Google Drive or Dropbox might be enough for his growing team. But once they connected P4 One to P4 Cloud, the difference was clear—it worked and performed above their expectations. Collaboration wasn’t just possible; it became a strength:
- The animator and sound designer all worked from the same Cloud depot. File locking prevented accidental overwrites, so no one lost hours of progress.
- The team kept using the P4 One client they already knew—only now it connected to P4 Cloud. No steep learning curve, just a seamless extension of their workflow.
- The animator branched off to experiment with new character designs, while Alex iterated on gameplay. Versions stayed organized and recoverable, no matter how many directions the project explored.
- With P4 Cloud hosting and maintaining the server, every commit was automatically backed up—giving Alex peace of mind that the project was safe from crashes or lost hardware.
For Alex, upgrading wasn’t about adding complexity—it was about unlocking collaboration while keeping the simplicity that made P4 One so approachable in the first place.
Back to topThe Right Tool for the Right Stage
Start simple with P4 One—local-first, no-admin-needed versioning that keeps your work safe. As your team grows and collaboration expands, P4 One plus P4 Cloud scales with you, providing secure, frictionless workflows for everyone.
As your needs continue to grow beyond P4 Cloud—larger teams, complex branching strategies, advanced integrations, or enterprise compliance requirements—Perforce P4 provides the ultimate upgrade from your P4 One journey.
Our Free plan gives you instant access with no strings attached —perfect for teams with up to 5 users who want to experience our industry-standard version control.
Working on multiple projects at once, or planning to grow in 1-2 years? Our Scale and Platform plans remove all limits and give full control to support your advanced workflows. These plans also provide exclusive access to our best-in-class DAM solution.
P4 One gives you the foundation. Perforce P4 gives you unlimited power. See all the P4 Plans here.
Back to topResources
Want to introduce your whole team to version control? Here are some essential resources to help you succeed from day one.
Get Access to P4 One
Try P4 One and transform the way your artists and designers work.
Download P4 One Guide
Watch a quick demo with Jase Lindgren, Senior P4 User Advocate, to get started with P4 One.
Streams Adoption Guide
See how studios streamline teamwork, avoid merge headaches, and build smarter workflows from day one.
P4 One Documentation
Walk through setup with clear, step-by-step docs — and start creating right away.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, P4 One is completely free. You can access and use all its features without any cost or hidden fees. No catches—just a free and easy-to-use version control client you can start developing with today.
Nope! P4 One works with your existing server configuration — no special setup required. Just connect and go. We recommend using P4D version 2024.2 or later for the best experience.
P4 One is a version control client that can be used standalone. P4 One runs on your local workstation, so it's the perfect client to help you get acquainted with version control.
Just starting out? Our Free plan gives you instant access with no strings attached. Great for teams with up to 5 users who want to experience our industry-standard version control.
Need a fully managed and hosted P4 server without any IT overhead? P4 Cloud is the fastest and easiest way to get started for teams up to 50. If you need help managing P4, P4 Remote Admin (P4RA) lets you offload setup and server management to Perforce—no in-house admin needed.
Working on multiple projects at once, or planning to grow in 1-2 years? Our Scale and Platform plans remove all limits and give full control to support your advanced workflows. These plans also provide exclusive access to our best-in-class DAM solution.
Not sure which plan is right for you? Contact us and we can help guide you.
Unlike Git, which can struggle with binary assets, P4 One is built to handle large files (over 100 MiB) and operates up to 10x faster. P4 One also has a built-in image viewer that shows a visual history of progress. With P4 One, art teams get thumbnails and renderings, so they don’t have to search through text-based files to find what they need.
The 2024 State of Game Technology Report revealed that 38% of respondents face significant barriers to collaboration due to challenges in moving large files, while 72% of collaboration issues arise from disorganized workflows, lack of shared resources, and inefficient communication. P4 One’s intuitive interface makes it easy for artists and designers to track changes, avoid rework, and get into the version control fold.
Yes! P4 One works with your existing P4V workspace. When you open it in P4 One, it’ll add a .p4one directory to track local changes — but everything else stays the same. You can even switch between clients if needed.
Start with P4 One
Try P4 One and transform the way your artists and designers work.
Scale with P4
Get started with P4 for free for up to 5 users and 20 workspaces.
Try P4 Cloud
Our managed and hosted solution for $39/user/month.