Managing paths, disks and template Nuke scripts

[jussing]

Our setup is that everyone is off-site, sitting at home on their own operating system. And I want people to open Nuke scripts without worrying about input or output paths.

 

So... how does this work, exactly?

 

I know there's the "disks" option in Ftrack, where I can define Unix and Windows disks. Questions:

1. Do the Unix disks also apply to OSX?
2. When I change these settings as an admin, is it a user setting, project setting or server setting? (ie, do all users have to make the same changes...?)
3. In the "settings -> Advanced settings" there's a "convert asset paths to user OS" option. Is that in relation to the Disks setting as descrived above, or something else?
4. What about paths on these disks. I seem to recall a place to define project paths - ie, where on the disk is the shot, version and Nuke script stored, where's the input scan files, where's the output, etc. But I can't find it now...
5. I know there's an "ftrack locations" thing coming in 2.6. Should I just forget about the above and wait for the new release? There's a "locations" thing under "advanced settings" right now, but it doesn't look like it's the same as "ftrack locations".
6. I want to make a template Nuke script, that formats the output, adds a watermark, create a compressed quicktime for upload to Ftrack review and other custom project specific-things. Can I do that?

Thanks!

- Jonas

[Mattias Seebergs]

Hi Jonas,

 

Have a look at the following article in the Support Center http://support.ftrack.com/customer/portal/articles/1305788

 

1. Yes, they do.
2. It is both a server setting and a project setting. You define a disk in Settings and use it on a project (change it on the Info tab in the project's sidebar).
3. Yes it is, it determines where the files should be saved.
4. It follows this structure: [disk] / [project folder] / [asset path prefix] where disk and project folder can be set up in each project's sidebar.
5. Locations was released in 2.4v1 of ftrack in February and I would recommend to have a look at it. You can find the documentation at http://api.ftrack.com/using/locations/index.html
6. Yes, that would be possible. Not out of the box but by using our API.

[jussing]

Nice, thanks!

 

Is there a way to setup two different disks and paths for the project, so you can have one for project files and one for IO?

 

Some companies like to set it up that way, so it's easier to cleanup and backup the project afterwards (reproducable renders being more disk heavy and less project critical than project files)

 

- Jonas

[Mattias Seebergs]

Yes, it is by using Locations. It will however include the API to be able to set where to save your files. With Locations you can have one unmanaged location (which will default to the disks settings) and other additional locations you specify with the Locations framework. Have a look at the following documentation http://api.ftrack.com/developing/locations/tutorial.html

 

Let me know if you need any help.

[volkanduran]

I would like to set up locations to use ftrack with software integration. The problem is all those documentation are requiring knowledge of coding. We are a VFX company, and I don't have anyone on my team who is familiar with Python. Is there any tutorial explaining step by step to what to do?

Thanks

[Mattias Lagergren]

15 hours ago, volkanduran said:

I would like to set up locations to use ftrack with software integration. The problem is all those documentation are requiring knowledge of coding. We are a VFX company, and I don't have anyone on my team who is familiar with Python. Is there any tutorial explaining step by step to what to do?

Thanks

You can use ftrack to publish and import assets without having to do any coding with locations. If you have a NAS or disk mounted on your machines you can configure your Disks to point to them (System settings > Advanced > Disks). Out-of-the-box Nuke and Maya integrations will publish to the Connect location which uses the configured disks.

I hope this helps, otherwise please elaborate a little bit more on what you want to achieve and maybe I can point you in the right direction!

[volkanduran]

I've tried all these options but can't solve the problem. My render files are going to my computer's root disk in a temp folder.
I simply want to launch the AE from task actions, and publish the project from AE, render files into our NAS drive.
I also have an open ticket about it.

Thanks

[Mattias Lagergren]

18 hours ago, volkanduran said:

I simply want to launch the AE from task actions, and publish the project from AE, render files into our NAS drive.
I also have an open ticket about it.

Cool, I see 

So if you do the following does it work then:

1. Launch AE from a task in ftrack.
2. Do your composition.
3. Save the AE project file to somewhere.
4. Open ftrack panel in AE.
5. Click publish.
6. At this point AE should render your files to a temporary directory.
7. When render is completed the ftrack publisher should open automatically (does this happen for you?
8. Publish with the publisher, this will copy the files from your temporary directory to a location managed by ftrack.

[volkanduran]

Thank you for the steps.. It helped me to go a little further.

8 hours ago, Mattias Lagergren said:

1. Launch AE from a task in ftrack.

I can't open a task from ftrack actions. It is just launching the AE, that's all. I am expecting to open or create the project/comp file according to task. Am I wrong?

8 hours ago, Mattias Lagergren said:

1. Publish with the publisher, this will copy the files from your temporary directory to a location managed by ftrack.

I didn't know that I need to publish again with the publisher, after I pressed the publish button in ftrack panel in AE. It is copied the project and the render file in a certain folder in my NAS drive.

I'm working on to render them in a particular folder according to my folder structure.

 

Thank you

[Mattias Lagergren]

Quote

I can't open a task from ftrack actions. It is just launching the AE, that's all. I am expecting to open or create the project/comp file according to task. Am I wrong?

Sorry if I confused you; I meant open a task in the sidebar, then open the actions menu and launch AE from there.

Quote

I didn't know that I need to publish again with the publisher, after I pressed the publish button in ftrack panel in AE. It is copied the project and the render file in a certain folder in my NAS drive.

I'm working on to render them in a particular folder according to my folder structure.

When you click publish in AE it renders the files to a temporary folder and opens the Connect publisher. From that window you can publish the files and at that point the files will be copied from the temporary folder into your folder structure.  

[volkanduran]

when I publish from connect, it copies the files in a "ftrack" folder. Changing the name. I couldn't modify the path.  My settings are attached.

W:\Wanda\MASA\DIRILIS_SEZON_02\ftrack\assets\S_003\P_001.aep\comp\Compositing\v001\DRS_B043_S_003_P_001.aep_comp_Compositing_v001_main.mov

I'm not sure the DISKS option would answer to my expectation. LOCATIONS seems more customise.

[Mattias Lagergren]

The "ftrack\assets" part comes from the "Asset path prefix" that you configure from System settings > Advanced settings > Relative asset path prefix. If you change this you will need to move any files that has been published up until now into the new folder.

[volkanduran]

Thank you, that'll help to arrange my render files.

How can I open or create a particular AE project from ftrack task? I'm selecting AE from Actions icon. It is launching the AE only.

[Mattias Lagergren]

If you're starting on a new task you can create a new AE project and save it in your workspace. It will be copied to your project structure when you publish you files. 

You can open the latest published version from ftrack by clicking AE and "After Effect CC 2015 with latest version". We're considering other ways to open existing published versions, both a particular version and component.