Andrew Alzner

Here is how I use Python in combination with Muster. Basically I use it as a wrapper to pre-process information before sending it off to render. There are a few things you need to do first to set it up.

1. set up Job Submission Templates
2. Set up render blades to receive muster commands
3. Set up Python file to receive muster command

1. Set up the Job Submission Templates.

I’ll use one example I have here where I send a file plus the output directory to my Python script. The Job Submission Template will have the custom GUI input boxes.

ECLARE TEMPLATE
{

SET TEMPLATE_NAME “Houdini”
SET TEMPLATE_DESC “Houdini rendering”
SET TEMPLATE_UID 51
SET TEMPLATE_LOGIC MULTIFRAME
SET DEFAULT_PRIORITY 1
SET DEFAULT_POOL “Houdini”
SET MAXIMUM_LICENSES 15
SET DELAY_GROUP “Global”
SET DELAY_TIME 0
}

DECLARE MULTIFRAME
{
SET ENABLE_FRAME_CHECK 1
}

DECLARE SUBMISSION
{
SET ENABLE_ADDITIONAL_FLAGS 1

ADD HOUFILENAME FILE_SELECTOR “” “Houdini scene file” “Specify a houdini file.” NOTACTIVABLE MANDATORY SUBST *.*
ADD HOUPROJECTPATH FOLDER_SELECTOR “” “Department Directory” “Specify the department path” NOTACTIVABLE MANDATORY SUBST
ADD HOURENDERPATH FOLDER_SELECTOR “” “Image destination” “Specify image output folder” ACTIVABLE MANDATORY NOSUBST
ADD HOUSTARTFRAME INTEGER_INPUT “1” “Start frame” “Specify the starting frame for the rendering job” NOTACTIVABLE MANDATORY NOSUBST
ADD HOUENDFRAME INTEGER_INPUT “1” “End frame” “Specify the ending frame for the rendering job” NOTACTIVABLE MANDATORY NOSUBST
ADD HOUBYFRAME INTEGER_INPUT “1” “By frame” “Specify the frame step for the rendering job” NOTACTIVABLE MANDATORY NOSUBST

SET BUILDHOUFILE FILE_BUILDER HOUFILENAME HOUFILENAME 1 “#”
SET GUESSPROJECTPATH PATH_BUILDER HOUPROJECTPATH HOUFILENAME “\scenes” “”
SET GUESSPROJECTPATH2 PATH_BUILDER HOURENDERPATH HOUFILENAME “\scenes” “\renders”

# Map fields to Muster internal start/end/by frame values
MAP start_frame HOUSTARTFRAME
MAP end_frame HOUENDFRAME
MAP by_frame HOUBYFRAME
MAP job_file HOUFILENAME
MAP job_project HOUPROJECTPATH
MAP output_folder HOURENDERPATH

}

With the mapping set you can then use it with the command line output in Muster. Here is a partial code:

DECLARE ENGINE_LINUX
{

SET PLATFORM_ENABLED 1
SET ENABLE_ERROR_CHECK 1
SET ENABLED_BY_DEFAULT 1
SET FRAMESFLOATS 0
SET COMMAND_LINE “%ATTR(output_folder) %ATTR(job_file)”

This part will send the output path and file name gathered from the user input in the Muster Console and send it to the python file. In my case I have all the rendr blades on a Linux environment.

2. Set up render blades to receive muster commands

In the Muster Console, looking at the Instances view, pick a machine to test on. Right-click on this machine and select Configuration->Configure. This will pop up another window showing some option configurations. Select Templates. You will see all the Job Submission Templates. Select the one you were just editing. When you click on the arrow button beside the Template name you will see three options, Executable,Executable Home, and Executable starting folder. For the executable put a directory all the render blades can access. In my case I have a /p/script/muster directory with all my scripts. In there I have created a Python script, so the three lines will look like:

executable: /p/scripts/muster/python_script_name.py
executable home: /p/scripts/muster
executable starting folder: /p/scripts/muster

3. Set up Python file to receive muster command

Now I have a Python file that will receive the command from Muster with all the options as arguments. It will look like this:

---

start

---

#!/usr/bin/python

from optparse import OptionParser
import os

parser = OptionParser()
(options, args) = parser.parse_args()

print ‘Receiving commands from muster. Submitting now…’
output_dir = args[0]
sceneFile = args[1]
print ‘Received all the arguements as:nScene File:%snOutput Folder: %s’ % (sceneFile,output_dir)

---

end

---

This is a bare bones script for testing. When you submit a render from within the Muster console, it will be re-directed to your python script. You can see the output of this transaction by going to the Muster Console and right-clicking on the render blade you submitted to ( just specify the Include Pool option to the specific instance machine ) and select the Workstation Logs option (CTRL-J). This will pop up all the transactions with Muster and that machine. You can then read all the outputs from your Python file. Double click on the log with the latest time stamp.

Hope this helps,
Andrew