Houdini Submission ROP Node

[anon45338468]

Hi, I am new here so this may be a stupid question.
I am trying to write a tool in Houdini to submit multiple jobs using Python. I know I need Deadline.Scripting but this module is not present by default. I need to point paths to it, but I can’t find it anywhere. I must be missing something because this should not be an issue. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[dwallbridge]

Hello,

So first things first, Deadline.Scripting is not available to be used for scripting outside of the specific Deadline uses. The second thing I was advised when talking to the dev team is that what you are trying to do may not even be needed when 6.2 comes out in the very near future, as our functionality in this regard is built in.

[anon45144636]

Any infos about the date for the release of 6.2 and new features that will be there for houdini submission plugin ?

[dwallbridge]

Hello,

While we do not have a planned release date, as we just tend to release it when it’s done, we do hope to have 6.2 out very soon. As for the Houdini features coming in 6.2, I am pasting the Houdini portion of the release notes below.

Houdini Improvements

• Created a properly integrated submitter for Houdini.
• The integrated submitter has options to submit one ROP, a list of selected ROPs, or all ROPs in the scene.
• When submitting IFD export jobs, the dependent mantra jobs are now frame dependent.
• When overriding the output in the Monitor submission script, the $F04 syntax now works properly.
• Added additional job properties to the integrated and Monitor submitters that can be set for the dependent Mantra job.
• The option to export IFDs in the Monitor submission script is now sticky.
• Added “Ignore Inputs” render option to the Houdini submitters. If enabled, only the specified ROP will be rendered (does not render any of its dependencies).

[anon45144636]

Thanks a lot dwallbridge,

Look really promising!

@dwallbridge

Hello,

While we do not have a planned release date, as we just tend to release it when it’s done, we do hope to have 6.2 out very soon. As for the Houdini features coming in 6.2, I am pasting the Houdini portion of the release notes below.

Houdini Improvements

• Created a properly integrated submitter for Houdini.
• The integrated submitter has options to submit one ROP, a list of selected ROPs, or all ROPs in the scene.
• When submitting IFD export jobs, the dependent mantra jobs are now frame dependent.
• When overriding the output in the Monitor submission script, the $F04 syntax now works properly.

• Will it support other variable like $FEND, $FSTART or $HIP which can be useful for submitting sim job with all the frame range in one task ID and $HIP for ifd procedural path?

• Added additional job properties to the integrated and Monitor submitters that can be set for the dependent Mantra job.
• The option to export IFDs in the Monitor submission script is now sticky.
• Added “Ignore Inputs” render option to the Houdini submitters. If enabled, only the specified ROP will be rendered (does not render any of its dependencies).

• At the moment with 6.1, I think the ROP dependencies doesn’t update progress until it came to the last node in the chain, any possibilities to get this to work ?
• Another thing would be to have presets parameters setup depending of the type of job submitted to the farm. ie Sim or render job, with different pool, number of machine, frame range, frame per task?

Thanks again for your time.

[dwallbridge]

Hello,

So I got some information here for you. Regarding other variables like $FEND, $FSTART or $HIP, I am told it should, as we just let Houdini evaluate it, so anything it recognizes should work. As for ROP dependencies, I was told progress printing comes from Houdini directly, so not sure if we can do anything about this. To your feature request, this is probably is something that would be nice for all of our submitters to have. They’re all just scripts though, so it is possible to customize them to suit their needs. I hope that helps.

[anon45144636]

Thanks a lot for the information, good news for the variables.
About the progress printing, I don’t think it’s a big deal since we will be able to send multiple ROP at the same time.

About the presets part, I will check on my side for custom scripts

Waiting for 6.2 release patiently!

Regards,

Doum

[dwallbridge]

6.2 is actually out now, it was released late last week. Just contact sales to get a new license file and the download links.

[anon45144636]

@dwallbridge

6.2 is actually out now, it was released late last week. Just contact sales to get a new license file and the download links.

Woohoo!

Thanks !

[anon45144636]

I’ve a question about plugins documentation. Is there any update on this side on the website or anywhere else?

I’m wondering what this check box is for ?
Is this to ignore the frame per task param and take the one from the Houdini ROP node ?

[jgaudet]

I had a quick look at the code, and the “Ignore Inputs” checkbox actually isn’t related to the Frames Per Task option, as its positioning might imply.

This setting forces Houdini to only render the specified ROP nodes, as opposed to also rendering any inputs they are dependent on.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,
Jon

[anon45144636]

Thanks for the answer to my last question,

I have another one about the submit plugin.

Is it possible to submit from houdini plugin already written on disk IFD’s sequence.

instead of going in deadline monitor to submit mantra job, can we send it from houdini deadline plugin ?

Thanks

[jgaudet]

Unfortunately, you cannot do this through the Houdini submitter – the only way to submit a Mantra job for already-exported IFD’s is through the Monitor, as you mentioned.