The Snarling Gullet

Nuke: Launch command-line renders from the UI

tim — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 03:03:29 +0000

I hacked up this script because I was frustrated with rendering in the Nuke UI, tired of typing out command-line render commands, and our renderfarm wasn’t alive yet. I’m posting it because I bet there’s other people in the same situation and I hope it can ease your pain.

This script launches a number of command-line render instances in the background and captures their output in log files which are saved to the same directory as the Nuke script. You are now free to keep working in the UI and have your renders happen in the background. You are also free to to launch 8 command-line Nuke renderers and squeeze every last cycle out of your fancy 8-core überbox.

It works in Nuke5.0v2 on OS X. Maybe it works on other versions and platforms. If so, I’d love to hear about it.

Code:

# # launchNukes_inNuke.py # # v01 # # a script for launching single-core command-line nuke renderers # from inside the Nuke UI. # # also saves log files of each instance's output to the same folder # where the Nuke script lives. #


import re

import nuke

import os

import sys
def launch_nukes():

    a = nuke.knob("first_frame")

    b = nuke.knob("last_frame")

    start = int(a)

    end = int(b)

    incr = 1

    instances = 1

    _range = a+","+b

    p = nuke.Panel("Launch Nukes")

    p.addSingleLineInput("Frames to execute:", _range)

    p.addSingleLineInput("Number of background procs:", instances)

    p.addButton("Cancel")

    p.addButton("OK")

    result = p.show()
    r = p.value("Frames to execute:")

    s = p.value("Number of background procs:")

    if r is None:

        return

    if s is None:

        return

    # this is the requested frame range

    frames = r

    # this is the number of instances to launch

    inst = int(s)
    (scriptpath, scriptname) = os.path.split(nuke.value("root.name"))

    flags = "-ixfm 1"
    print ">>> launching %s nuke instances" % inst
    # create a frame range string for each renderer

    for i in range(inst):

        print ">>> generating range for instance %d" % i

        instRange = ""
        # separate ranges at spaces

        f = frames.split(" ")
        # separate individual start, end, and increment values

        for p in f:

            c = p.split(",")

            incr = 1

            if len(c) > 0:

                start = int(c[0])

                end = start

            if len(c) > 1: end = int(c[1])

            if len(c) > 2: incr = int(c[2])
            # re-jigger this range for this instance of the renderer

            st = start + ( i * incr )

            en = end

            inc = incr * inst

            new = "%d,%d,%d" % (st, en, inc)

            if inc == 1:

                new = "%d,%d" % (st, en)

            if en == st:

                new = "%d" % st

            if st > en:

                new = ""

            else:

                # add the re-jiggered range to the instances range string

                instRange = instRange + " " + new
        print ">>> range for instance %d is: %s" % (i, instRange)
        logFile = "%s/%s_log%02d.log" % (scriptpath, scriptname, i)

cmd = "%s %s %s/%s %s > %s &" % (nuke.EXE_PATH, flags, scriptpath, scriptname, instRange, logFile) print ">>> starting instance %d" % (i, ) print "command: " + cmd os.system(cmd)

For some reason, WordPress is mashing the formatting in my code block. I’ll have to figure that out. Meanwhile, enjoy fixing the indents yourself. Whee…

The signature of Henri Cartier-Bresson

tim — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:27:47 +0000

Last night I took an hour to watch Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye. It’s an interesting documentary about an amazing man.

The most amazing moment was a 15-second shot where Mr. Cartier-Bresson is beginning to sign a new edition of prints. He uncaps his pen, then decides where to make the signature. His hand shifts a little to the right, a little more to the right, now left. We can see that he’s as concerned about the composition of the signature as he is with the composition of his photographs. He shifts again, and then pauses. He starts to write in a confident, unhurried hand and we watch as that signature takes shape. I got goosebumps.

Such a simple thing, a masterwork.

Philly murder count

tim — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:15:59 +0000

Current murder and nonnegligent manslaughter stats for Philadelphia since 1 January 2008 is available here.

Pennsylvania has an interesting system for State Police stats reporting.

Duchamp

tim — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:29:08 +0000

Need to explore this Duchamp resource:

http://www.freshwidow.com/duchamp-aug96.html

LCD + Polaroid = Camera?!

tim — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:31:12 +0000

http://www.zazaziza.com/fornogoodreason/category/somethingscopes/

Wow.

First, Polaroid discontinues instant film and now this. It’s been an interesting month.

This is where I got my start in film.

tim — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 01:42:56 +0000

New Demo Reel Posted

tim — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 14:38:28 +0000

I’ve just finished a new version of my demo reel. This one focusses on compositing with a little dose of motion graphics. Also updated my resume and wrote out a new cut sheet to accompany the new reel.

Get ‘em here: the Reel, the Resume, and the breakdown.

radiance… high dynamic range imagery… tone mapping… AAAHHHHH!

tim — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:21:43 +0000

i’ve been spending way too much time on a recent project. i’m stuck at the point where i play floating point imagery back to the screen and the chroma is eating my nice clipped luminance values. most likely this is clear as mud to you. me too. i need to read this thing. maybe it’ll help me finger it out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_mapping

[edit 2007.12.19] Turns out that it is helpful to think of HSB colorspace as a sphere instead of a cylinder. As B approaches white or black, S should approach 0. Works like a charm.

[edit 2008.03.24] Here is the Wikipedia entry for HSL/HSV colorspace. Includes some useful math for RGB to HSL and back.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSV_color_space

[edit 2008.03.26] Scroll down on this page to get to their description of HSV2. This thinking may apply to my float lightness gain problem.
http://ilab.usc.edu/wiki/index.php/HSV_And_H2SV_Color_Space

And then there’s Charles Poynton, who has done a lot of thinking about color.

We also have couleur.org, by Philippe COLANTONI, with short explanations and 3D graphs of several color spaces.
http://www.couleur.org/index.php?page=transformations

http://polanoid.net/

tim — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 16:08:16 +0000

Awesome! There is a web community of people who like to shoot Polaroid film:http://polanoid.net/

In other news, Jessica and I visited the Andre Kertesz show at Silverstein Photograhy in NYC this weekend. Beautiful work. The tiny size and perfect detail really draw you in. So sad.

I feel lucky to have seen these photographs in person.

Arthur Ganson

tim — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 21:34:37 +0000

Machine with Wishbone by Arthur Ganson.

Is Arthur Ganson the turn-of-the-century Jean Tinguely? His work sure is fascinating.

More on him:
Machine with Wishbone
His MIT Museum Exhibition
from Sculpture.org