Previous Topic (CommandScriptJobOptions) Up (CommandScript) Next Topic (CommandScriptFAQ)

Command Script Manual Submission

Three files are required for submission:

  • the Job Info File
  • the Plugin Info File
  • the Command file

To submit the job to Deadline, run the following command: 

   > DeadlineCommand.exe JobInfoFile PluginInfoFile CommandFile

The Plugin info file contains one line: 

   StartupDirectory=...

This is the directory where each command will startup.

The Command file contains the list of commands to run. There should be one command per line, and no lines should be left blank. If you're executable path has a space in it, make sure to put quotes around the path. The idea is that one frame in the job represents one command in the Command file. For example, let's say that your Command file contains the following: 

   "C:\Program Files\Executable1.exe"
   "C:\Program Files\Executable1.exe" -param1
   "C:\Program Files\Executable1.exe"
   "C:\Program Files\Executable1.exe" -param1 -param2
   "C:\Program Files\Executable1.exe"

Because there are five commands, the Frames specified in the Job Info File should be set to 1-5. If the Chunksize is set to 1, then a separate task will be created for each command. When a slave dequeues a task, it will run the command that is on the corresponding line number in the Command file. Note that the frame range specified must start at 1.

If you wish to run the commands in the order that they appear in the Command file, you can do so by setting the MachineLimit in the Job Info File to 1. Only one machine will render the job at a given time, thus dequeuing each task in order. However, if a task throws an error, the slave will move on to dequeue next task.

Example Submission Scripts

Render one frame with different settings.

This example demonstrates how you can render a single frame from a Maya scene with different options, and direct the output to a specific location. The submission script is written in Perl.

The script can be downloaded from here (just change the extension from ".txt" to ".pl"). To run the script, run the following command (you must have Perl installed): 

   > Perl SubmitMayaCommandScript.pl "SceneFile.mb" FrameNumber "OutputPath"