Multiple IFD rendering (Windows)

[Tom]

Hi, I would like to know, how I can render multiple IFD's at one time using houdini's command line tools on Windows7.

Lets say I have a list like this:

render_001
render_002
render_003
render_004
render_005

how I can render them, without doing

mantra -f render_001.ifd

for every file?

Thanks in advance,

Tom

Edited February 15, 2012 by Tom

[br1]

I usually do that with a python script like that one :

# import dos commands
import os

# variables
startFrame = 1
endFrame =6
ifdName = "renderme."
ext = ".ifd"

for i in range (startFrame, endFrame):
    renderFile = '%s%04d%s'%(ifdName,i,ext)

    renderCmd = "mantra -f "+ renderFile

    print "----------------------------------------------------------------"
    print "Mantra is rendering file: " + renderFile
    print "----------------------------------------------------------------"
    print renderCmd
    os.system(renderCmd)

[petz]

go to the folder where your ifds are saved and then put

for %i in (*.*) do mantra -f %i

into the command prompt(cmd).

hth.

petz

Edited February 18, 2012 by petz

[Tom]

Thanks for helping guys!

@petz worked nicely

@br1 interesting, it seems I need to start learning python

[eetu]

Ok, now someone make a pretty otl out of that and put it on exchange

[Guest mantragora]

PowerShell way:

$mantra = "C:\Houdini\bin\mantra"
$flags = "-f "
$ifdpath = "C:\ifd"

$childs = Get-ChildItem $ifdpath

foreach($child in $childs) {Start-Process $mantra ($flags + $child.FullName)}

[Guest mantragora]

Or with custom dialog box for ifd folder:

function Select-Folder($message='Select a folder') 
{ 
    $object = New-Object -comObject Shell.Application  

    $folder = $object.BrowseForFolder(0, $message, 0) 
    if ($folder -ne $null) { $folder.self.Path } 
} 

$mantra = "C:\Houdini\bin\mantra"
$flags = "-f "

$ifd = (Select-Folder "Select IFD folder:")

if($ifd -ne $null)
{
    Get-ChildItem -path $ifd | Where-Object {!$_.PSIsContainer} | Where-Object {$_.Extension -eq ".ifd"} | ForEach-Object {Start-Process $mantra ($flags + $_.FullName)}
}

To run them you need to have PowerShell "ExcutionPolicy" set to at least "RemoteSigned". Without it Windows will not allow to execute the script. To do that Run CommandLine as Administrator and write:

powershell Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

To check you policy type:

powershell Get-ExecutionPolicy

than you can run this script (save it before as "ifd.ps1") and type

powershell ifd.ps1

PS.

Don't forget to specify path to your mantra. I got this solved by creating environment variable that always points to actually used by me houdini build and then, instead of baking by hand mantra folder, I extract environment variable. To do this just change this line:

$mantra = "C:\Houdini\bin\mantra"

to

$mantra = $env:YOUR_ENVIROMENT_VARIABLE_NAME + "\bin\mantra.exe"

I use this setup to also manage paths in Visual Studio so I don't have to change anything when I install new build. I just change my custom enviroment variable houdini path and thats it.

PS 2:

Above script filters directory for ".ifd" files only. It will bypass all catalogs and other file formats that selected directory contains so you can keep your ".ifd" files with other files in the same directory and it will work without errors. It will not try to render your Porn flics .

PS 3:

Of course you can also switch CommandLine into Powershell mode by typing "powershell" or launching Powershell instead of CommandLine from Windows Accessories menu. Than you don't have to write every time "powershell" on begin of every command.

Edited February 22, 2012 by mantragora

[Tom]

Thanks mantragora, I will check it test it later!

[eetu]

Actually, it would be nice if Mantra ROP had in addition of the 'write to ifd' a matching 'read from ifd'.