Quicktime Generation Network Rendering Guide

1 Quicktime Generation Network Rendering Guide
- 1.1 Submitting Quicktime Generation jobs to Deadline

Note that in order to use this Quicktime plugin, you MUST have Quicktime version 7.04 or later installed on your slaves, as well as any workstations that Quicktime jobs will be submitted from. As an alternative, you can have Digital Fusion 4 or Fusion 5 installed instead.

The Quicktime Generation network rendering guide for Deadline consists of the following sections:

Submitting Quicktime Generation jobs to Deadline

How to submit Quicktime Generation jobs to the Deadline render farm management system.

Step 1: Open the Submission Dialog (2 Methods)

In the Deadline Monitor, open the Quicktime Submission dialog from the submit menu.

Use this submission dialog to submit a general Quicktime Generation job.

In the Deadline Monitor, right-click on a job and select Scripts -> Submit Quicktime Job To Deadline

Use this submission dialog to submit a Quicktime Generation job for the job clicked on.
The Name, Input Images, Frame Range, and Output File fields will be automatically filled in. Note that these values are only filled in for jobs that support the viewing of rendered images from the Task list in the Deadline Monitor. To see if the job's plugin supports this feature, select the job, right-click on one of its tasks, and look for the option to view the rendered image.

Step 2: Set Your Submission Options

The general Deadline options are:

Job Name: The name of your job (if left blank, it will default to "Untitled").
Comment: A simple description of your job (can be left blank).
Department: Your department (can be left blank).
Category: The category the job belongs to (default is "None").
Pool: The pool that your job is submitted to.
Use Machines In Pool Only: Only the machines in the specified pool will render your job.
Priority: Your job's priority (0 = lowest, 100 = highest).
Task Timeout: The number of minutes a slave has to render a task for this job before it requeues it (specify 0 for no limit).
Limit Groups: The limit groups that your job requires.
Dependencies: Jobs that your job is dependent on.
Submit As Suspended: Submit your job in the suspended state.
Delete When Complete: You job is automatically deleted after it completes.

The general Quicktime options are:

Input Images: The frames you would like to generate the Quicktime from. If a sequence of frames exist in the same folder, Deadline will automatically collect the range of the frames and will set the Frame Range field accordingly.
Output File: The name of the Quicktime to be generated.
Frames: The frame range used to generate the Quicktime.
Quicktime Renderer: Select whether to use Apple Quicktime or Fusion to generate the Quicktime.
Frame Rate: The frame rate of the Quicktime.
Load/Save Quicktime Template: Allows you to save your Quicktime options to a preset file, so that you can load them again later.

The Apple Quicktime specific options are:

Audio File: Specify an audio file to be added to the Quicktime movie. Leave blank to disable this feature.

The Fusion Quicktime specific options are:

Codec: The codec format to use for the Quicktime.
On Missing Frames: What the generator will do when a frame is missing or is unable to load. There are 4 options:
- Fail: Nothing will be generated until the missing frame becomes available.
- Hold Previous: The last valid frame will be included instead of the missing frame.
- Output Black: A black frame will be included instead of the missing frame.
- Wait: The generator will wait until the missing frame becomes available.
Artist Name: if you have a text tool with "artist" in its name in the selected template flow/comp, its text will be set to the name that is specified.
Quality %: The quality of the Quicktime.
Proxy: The ratio of pixels to render (for example, if set to 4, one out of every four pixels will be rendered).
Gamma: The gamma level of the Quicktime.
Exposure Compensation: The "stops" value used to calculate the gain parameter of the Brightness/Contrast tool. The gain parameter is calculated by using the value pow(2,stops).
Overide Start Frame: Allows the starting frame in the quicktime to be overridden. For example, if you are making a quicktime from images with a range 101-150, you can override the start frame to be 1, and the range in the quicktime will appear as 1-50.
Use Template: Select to specify a flow/comp template.
- Use the Preset menu or browse button to select a template flow/comp. The drop down list keeps track of the last five templates selected.
- More information on Quicktime templates can be found here.
Curve Correct: Select to turn on the color curves tool (available when using templates only).
Use Background Plate: Select to specify a background plate.
- Use the browse button to select a background plate file.
- The Quicktime will render using the selected file as the background.

Step 3: Submit Your Job

Click the OK button to submit the job to Deadline.

Note that if you selected the Apple Quicktime renderer, you will now be prompted to set additional Quicktime Movie Settings. You can set options like the Compression Type, Compressor Quality, Size, etc, then click the OK button in the Movie Settings dialog to submit the job to Deadline.