AWS Thinkbox Discussion Forums

Deadline, Massive, and Air

Hi guys,Tim from The Syndicate… first post.

I am currently looking into the possibility of using deadline to manage rib files generated from new massive windows and rendered through air, I have reached a bit of a wall however. Currently massive has few options for setting display calls as it generates rib files in air. To render exrs and make other changes to the output file type and location I typically run a display.rib file that loads before the rib and overrides the display calls made by massive. I am having some trouble integrating this feature into deadline however. Deadline does have the ability to redirect the output file, but I cannot change the file extension to exr or I will get an error as the original display call is still defaulted at 8 bit and this still doesn’t allow for making other display changes as well. If I want to load up my displays.rib to use in deadline the render will execute fine but I need to get a frame # variable back from somewhere so that the new output has the correct numbering to go along with the rib it was rendered from and so that the same displays.rib file can be loaded for all frames. Below I am posting the script I would previously run in linux to render in air, and the display.rib file to override display calls and redirect output. Is there any way to do this with deadline? Thanks.



#!/bin/csh -f



set f = 1

while ($f <= 100)

echo $f

airmt -threads 4 display.rib “{” printf "FrameBegin %d" $f “}” printf "filename%04d.rib" $f “{FrameEnd}”

@ f++

end

echo “Render complete”





#dispalys.rib

Display “filename_#4f.exr” “file” “rgba” “quantize” [0 0 0 0]

Option “render” “commands” “-Display”

Hi Tim,



I’m wondering if it might be easier to just write a custom plugin for

Deadline that essential does what your linux script does. The current

RIB plugin is a pretty generic plugin that supports many different RIB

renderers, and might not provide enough flexibility to do what you’re

looking for. We could definitely help you write it, and the general

process of creating Deadline plugins can be found here:

http://www.franticfilms.com/software/support/deadline/scriptpluginsdk.php



You could call the plugin MassiveAir or something to that effect. The

documentation describes how to configure which render executable and

command line arguments Deadline uses for the render, and it should be

possible to setup a command line similar to the one in the linux script

file.



You could then write a submission script for use from the Monitor, which

would probably look similar to our current RIB submission dialog:

http://www.franticfilms.com/software/support/deadline/scripting.php



It sounds like this display.rib file is always the same. If that’s the

case, the file could be stored in the plugin directory so that Deadline

can always find it during rendering. If that’s not the case, there could

be a submission option to select a specific display.rib file and submit

it with the job. Let us know which is the case and we can move on from

there.



If you have any questions or run into any problems along the way, please

don’t hesitate to let us know!



Cheers,

I think you are probably right about the plugin. I will have a look at this and see what I can do with it myself and perhaps get in touch with Scott at Air and maybe he can give me a touch of guidance into getting something similar in options to his aircontrol program. Thanks a lot.



Tim

Looking at this a little more, I think as a simpler work around. The only feature that would really need to be added to the current submission script is the ability for the output file name to be changed not only in the submitted rib, but in all ribs loaded from commandline as well. So in the generic displays.rib that is loaded before the rib, Deadline will search for an output path to redirect as well. This sound possible? This would allow for any number of changes to be made to the rib but still allow for an output that matches up with the rib it was rendered from. Thanks



Tim

This sounds possible, but I might need some more information (I don’t

work with rib’s myself too often). First, do you know if the

functionality of running another rib file (like display.rib) to override

the output settings in another rib file is a general rib renderer

feature, or is it specific to Air? Also, if you could provide an example

command line you would run in a windows command prompt to run this

display.rib file, that would help as well.



Thanks!

I believe most renderman renderers support the loading of multiple ribs from a single command line. You might load one rib with the camera, one with the lights…one with a display call. I also believe that display calls also typically share a format between renders like-

Display “./image.tif” “file” “rgba”

The file output path should immediately follow Display and then various options.



To execute a render from terminal in air I could type, air display.rib render.rib.

The Renderman Academy has some simple info on rib structure. I am new to renderman myself so I have been picking it up here and there.

http://www.rendermanacademy.com/docs/MainHall.html



The air manual also contains a lot more useful info then I have seen in others

http://www.sitexgraphics.com/air.pdf

Thanks

Hi Tim,



Thanks for the info. I’ve logged this as a feature request, and we will

investigate this further when we start preparing our plugins for

Deadline 3.0 (out plugins are moving to python, so we will be

essentially rewriting them). This would be a great opportunity to

incorporate new features like this.



Cheers,

I think that would be very cool. There are a lot of useful options when submitting ribs that could be incorporated with minimal effort by someone other than me who knew what they were doing. I have managed to get the output I am looking for through deadline by editing ribs before submission, would be nice to see that step eliminated. Thanks for taking an interest.



Tim

Privacy | Site terms | Cookie preferences