Apple Qmaster 3 User Manual Page 1

Apple Qmaster 3User Manual

The Apple Qmaster InterfaceThe Apple Qmaster application described in this document is one part of the largerdistributed processing system described i

• Distributed Compressor service: servicecontroller:com.apple.stomp.transcoderx• Distributed Apple Qmaster service: servicecontroller:com.apple.qmaste

• Maya: For more information, see Submitting Maya Batches.• Shake: For more information, see Submitting Shake Batches.• Shell: For more information, s

• Delay: Use these text fields to set a delay in hours or minutes for any job in the batch.Click in either text field (left field = hours, right field

Remote Computer Address DialogThis dialog is displayed when you click the Add/Remove button in the main Preferencesdialog. Use this dialog to enter IP

To use Apple Qmaster with Shake, or other frame-based rendering applications, you mustfollow these installation and licensing guidelines.• To submit b

Shared Volume Media Management with ShakeIt may be necessary to relink your assets once you move your project to the shared volume.This varies dependi

• To submit batches for any application that can be executed from the UNIX commandline: See Using Apple Qmaster to Submit UNIX Commands.Submitting Sha

Each setting corresponds to a commonly used Shake command, with the exception ofthe Minimum setting. See the Shake documentation for further informati

5 To add more jobs to this batch, repeat steps 3 and 4.6 As needed, make any final changes to the batch, such as either of the following.• To edit a c

Copyright © 2009 Apple Inc. All rights reserved.Your rights to the software are governed by theaccompanying software license agreement. The owner orau

About the Shake Plug-in DialogThe Shake Plug-In dialog contains the following settings.With the exception ofthe Minimum setting,each setting in thedia

• Minimum field: You can change the value in the Minimum field to change the minimumnumber of frames in each Apple Qmaster segment. For example, with

Additional Shake Plug-in Dialog Details• Monitor pop-up menu: Though the Monitor pop-up menu corresponds to a Shakecommand option, it requires some ex

• In the Frames section, enter a Start and End frame for the job.The available settings correspond to commonly used Maya command options. You canalso

Another option is -rt. This specifies the number of rendering threads. By default, thenumber of rendering threads is 2. You might want to change this

2 In the dialog that appears, enter the relevant information in the required and optionalfields.The full commandis displayed here.Some fields and sett

5 Verify the full command in the Command text box and click OK.You can furthercustomize the batch instructions by adding command-lineoptions here. The

[START FRAME] = 0[END FRAME] = 544[STEPS] = Not Used[ITEM] = /SHARED_VOLUME/Projects/AEProjs/Wine_Country/outputIn the example above, “Comp 1” is the

Note: Apple Qmaster does not currently support SMTP servers that require authentication.Using Apple Qmaster to Submit UNIX CommandsYou can use Apple Q

Note: If you need to delete a job from this batch (before you submit the batch), selectthe job you want to delete and click the Remove (–) button.5 As

Welcome to Apple Qmaster5PrefaceAbout Apple Qmaster5About the Apple Qmaster Documentation5Additional Resources6Using Apple Qmaster 37Chapter 1The Appl

To configure an intermediary service node to run Apple Qmaster commands onextended nodes1 Open the Apple Qmaster pane in System Preferences.2 If this

b Edit the Host name, Username, and (if applicable) Password columns so that theydescribe each computer you want to use as an extended node, then clic

About Environment Variables and Preflight ScriptsYou can streamline your workflow with environment variables and preflight scripts.What’s an Environme

4 Click OK.Your environment variables take effect immediately, and are retained only for the selectedcommand.Using the Command Line in Apple QmasterIf

SynopsisBelow is a synopsis of the command for enabling and disabling Apple Qmaster serviceson a computer. The qmasterprefs command is located in /usr

Note: For a complete list of shell command options, enter qmasterprefs -help.Example of the qmasterprefs CommandIn the following example, the computer

To configure a service-only nodeµEnter the following:qmasterprefs -stopSharing -sharingType servicesOnly -startSharingTo create a QuickClusterµEnter t

DescriptionSubmission command optionSpecifies the kind of command you are entering: Shell, Shake,Maya, or other command, depending on the application

Compressor [-clustername <name>][-clusterid <username:password@ipaddress:portNumber>] [-batchfilepath <path>] [-batchname <batchn

DescriptionSubmission command optionSpecifies the location of the source file.-jobpath <url>Specifies the location of the settings for the job.-

Batch Monitor [-clustername <name>] [-clusterid <user name:password@IP address:port number>] [-jobid <identifier> -batchid <ident

Using Scripts to Run Apple Qmaster, Compressor, and Batch MonitorTo simplify your use of the command line, you can add command-line-friendly scripts t

Batch Monitor Script Example#!/bin/csh -f # # set env var, BATCHMONITOR_LOCATION if not set # if ${?BATCHMONITOR_LOCATION} == 0 then pushd `dirname

The Apple Qmaster system provides automated work distribution and processing forhigh-volume projects created with digital visual effects software pack

• Batch Monitor User Manual: This brief document describes how to use Batch Monitorto monitor the transcoding progress of batches and jobs.Additional

The Apple Qmaster application is the client software you use to submit jobs and batches(for Shake and related software) to the larger Apple Qmaster sy

The Apple Qmaster Distributed Processing SystemComputers that submit batches to Apple Qmaster are called clients. An Apple Qmasterjob is a processing

ClustersWhen a client sends batches to the Apple Qmaster system, all the processing andsubsequent moving of any output files is performed by a group o