Submitter defaults per renderer


You can change all Submitter default values per renderer.

Everything that is in the Submitter Default Files can be used in the render configs of your renderer.



New Renderer Option


You can create new render options which are shown at the submitter as checkbox or value.

E.g. Enable/Disable Motion blur for one job.

See here


Local Maya Plugins


Description


If you have a lot of Maya plugins on your fileserver, then the maya startup can get very slow.

Also, if you have multiple mental ray shaders the fileserver load can quickly get very high.


So the solution is to copy the plugins/shaders to the local harddrive and tell Maya to use them form there.


Setup




  • Edit the file \render_apps\_setenv\win\maya.bat
  • There are some lines in the first part that set the location for all Maya plugins types:

      MAYA_PLUG_IN_PATH

      MAYA_SCRIPT_PATH

      MAYA_MODULE_PATH

      MI_CUSTOM_SHADER_PATH

      MAYA_RENDER_DESC_PATH

  • Edit these lines and replace %rrPlugins% with %rrLocalPlugins%.


      Note: %rrLocalPlugins% is not yet availble in v6.0 rc6.1.

      Please add another line at start of the setenv file:

      setenv rrLocalPlugins=%rrLocalRoot%renderer_prefs\maya\win_%rrExeBit%\

  • Add a new line to sync the local plugins with the network ones:

      rrCopy -sync %rrPlugins% %rrLocalPlugins%



The copy command is executed every time you start a maya job.

But if there is no change in the shared network plugin folder, then no file is read or copied from the network.

And during rendering, there will be no more a frequent access to the shared network folder.


Project Based Nuke Wrapper


Description of your pipeline


Your projects need different Nuke environments/locations and you have created wrapper batch files for Nuke.


The artists in your company start

\\Fileserver\Share\ProjectA\starter\NukeWrap.bat

\\Fileserver\Share\ProjectB\starter\NukeWrap.bat

\\Fileserver\Share\ProjectC\starter\NukeWrap.bat


If there is no local project wrapper, then artists start

\\Fileserver\Share\ProjectGlobal\starter\NukeWrap.bat



Setup for RR


  • Edit the file [RR]\render_apps\_config\C13__Nuke5.cfg

      Change the line

      CommandLine_Win= ""

      into

      CommandLine_Win= call "%NukeWrapExe%"

  • Edit the file [RR]\render_apps\_setenv\win\nuke.bat

      At the end, add the lines

      set "NukeWrapExe=\\Fileserver\Share\ProjectGlobal\starter\NukeWrap.bat"

      if exist " \\Fileserver\Share\%rrJobProject%\starter\NukeWrap.bat" (

      set " NukeWrapExe=\\Fileserver\Share\%rrJobProject%\starter\NukeWrap.bat"

      ) 





Drive to UNC replacement at render time

Problem

Nuke Artist use the drive letter S:

S: is not mapped to the same fileserver on all clients.


Example Paths:

Path to output image as drive letter: S:\projects\Cokespot\renderings\

Path to output image as UNC: \\fileserv\shareX\projects\Cokespot\renderings\




Solution

RR submit jobs with the UNC paths, so the output path in RR is \\fileserv\shareX\projects\Cokespot\renderings\.

As RR gets the project name "Cokespot" from the output image, it has the ProjectRootFolder as well: \\fileserv\shareX\projects\Cokespot

S: is the ProjectRootFolder with the last two folders removed.

Before Nuke opens the comp file, a new commandline is added which replaces S: with the UNC path.

Add this line before the line CommandLine=<Exe>:


CommandLine=<rrBin>rrFilereplace "<S>" "S:;;<PD/ <CompanyProjectRootFolder><ED><ED>>"


Note:  If Local Scene copy is NOT enabled, then the original file is replaced by each client. Each time a render starts.

Therefore you should have Local Scene Copy enabled. You can add this line to your Nuke config: AllowLocalSceneCopy= 0~1



Drive to UNC replacement at render time, different file servers



Description of your pipeline

You have different departments and they map drive S: to different fileservers or shares.

S: is used inside the Nuke files. 

S: is not the drive where the Nuke file or output path is located. Therefore you cannot get the right path from the scene or output path.


Example: 

Department A:

Nuke files are on \\WorkserverA\

Drive S: is mapped to \\CommonfilesA\

Department B:

Nuke files are on \\WorkserverB\

Drive S: is mapped to \\CommonfilesB\



Setup for RR


You use file replacements like in the solution above.

But the replacement uses a conditional expression that checks for the fileserver or share of the Nuke file.


CommandLine=<rrBin>rrFilereplace "<S>"  <Contains(<SceneOrg>, WorkserverA) "S:;;//CommonfilesA/share">  <Contains(<SceneOrg>, WorkserverB) "S:;;//CommonfilesB/share">