MetaRender Command Line
From IRIDAS Online Documentation
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Overview
MetaRender supports two basic modes: Immediate and Job Queue.
In Immediate Mode, MetaRender will process the conversion as soon as the command is entered and exit after the conversion has been performed.
In Job Queue Mode, MetaRender will look for jobs that are either submitted over the network or by writing job files (.ijob) into the 'Jobs' folder. It will then process the jobs in the order they were submitted and remains on standby for new jobs until it is manually shut down.
Job Queue Mode is typically used in network rendering configurations, whereas Immediate Mode is used for batch processing.
Job Queue Mode
Job Queue Mode is initiated by starting MetaRender with the parameter -jobqueue.
MetaRender -jobqueue
In this mode, MetaRender looks for new conversion jobs in the 'Jobs' folder. By default, the Jobs folder is inside the MetaRender installation directory.
To submit a job to MetaRender, run MetaRender in Standard Mode and append -createjob at the command line. This will create an .ijob file in the Jobs folder instead of running the conversion directly.
When in Job Queue Mode, MetaRender listens on a network port (default 8801) for jobs submitted by SpeedGrade, FrameCycler or MetaRender Commander. When it receives a job over the network port, it places an .ijob file in its Jobs folder and starts the conversion.
For more information, please see MetaRender Job Queue Mode.
Immediate Mode
In Immediate Mode, MetaRender accepts the standard Core Command Line of all IRIDAS products. Two parameters are inserted in front of the Core Command Line:
[Output Filename] [Encoding Profile] [Input Filename] [Core Command Line]
The Output Filename is the file (or image sequence) name that MetaRender will write to. The Encoding Profile is the path to the encoding profile saved with the Profile Editor.
MetaRender will process the command line, do the conversion and exit after its done.
Example:
MetaRender Output.mov H264.iepf Input.#.dpx -r50% 50%
This example converts the image sequence Input.#.dpx to a Quicktime at 50% the original frame size.
MetaRender can use meta data, such as the ReelID as part of the file name specification. For more information, please see Advanced Output File Name Specification for Rendering.
Example:
MetaRender {Src.ReelID}\{Src.PathElement.0}.mov H264.iepf Input.#.dpx
This example will render to a file with the same name as the input file into a subdirectory with the Reel ID of each source file:
A080822C\Input.mov
Additional Options
In addition to the two required parameters at the beginning, additional options can be appended at the end of the command line. These options are listed below.
Create Job (-createjob)
Append this flag to create an job file (.ijob) in the MetaRender job directory instead of starting the conversion directly. The job files will be processed asynchronously when MetaRender is running in Job Queue Mode
Burn In (-burn [filename])
Superimpose the specified burn-in template over the output frames:
MetaRender Output.mov H264.iepf Input.#.dpx -r50% 50% -burn MyBurnIn.burnin
Strip Alpha Channel (-rgb)
To strip the alpha channel from the input sequence during conversion, specify -rgb:
MetaRender Output.mov H264.iepf Input.#.dpx -r50% 50% -rgb
GPU Rendering (-gpu)
To use GPU rendering, specify -gpu. By default MetaRender renders everything on the CPU and bypasses the graphics card (GPU). If you have a compatible graphics card and graphics card driver, you can speed up the rendering of color operations considerably by using -gpu.
MetaRender Output.mov H264.iepf Input.#.dpx -r50% 50% -gpu
Number of Rendering Threads (-threads <number>)
To use more than one CPU during rendering, specify rendering threads, 1 to 8, default is 1. This command is ignored if -gpu has been specified.
MetaRender Output.mov H264.iepf Input.#.dpx -r50% 50% -threads 2
Draft Mode (-draft)
To speed up rendering for non critical color work, use draft rendering. This uses LUTs instead of the full color pipeline and uses fast mask processing if -gpu is specified as well (fast masks are unavailable for CPU rendering).
MetaRender Output.mov H264.iepf Input.#.dpx -r50% 50% -gpu -draft
High Quality Masks (-cpumasks)
Used in combination with Draft Mode. Uses high quality mask rendering instead of low quality GPU-based masks which are the default in Draft Mode. Has no effect if -gpu is not specified.
MetaRender Output.mov H264.iepf Input.#.dpx -r50% 50% -gpu -draft -cpumasks
Write Flex File (-flex)
Writes a flex file for the entire timeline.
MetaRender Output.mov H264.iepf Input.#.dpx -r50% 50% -flex
Dump Metadata Mode
You can use MetaRender to output the frame metadata instead of rendering. To do this, provide the -dumpmeta flag.
In Dump Metadata mode, instead of providing an output filename, you specifiy a metadata placeholder template string. Use the syntax specified in Metadata Placeholders. The metadata placeholders will be substituted with the actual metadata in the frames and the result printed to the command line window. Using the standard piping mechanisms of the operating system, you can send this output to a text file or another application.
This is a very powerful mechanism to send metadata to a database for example.
The syntax is the same as for regular MetaRender timelines, except the first argument is the template string and the output profile argument is omitted.
To create a comma separated CSV file of all the files used and timecodes in a sequence, you could use the following command line:
MetaRender "{Src.Filename},{Src.TimeCode},{Src.TimeCodeAlternate},{Src.TimeCodeExternal}" R:\Test#.dpx -dumpmeta > R:\test.csv
The
> R:\test.csv
argument instructs the operating system to pipe the output into the file test.csv, otherwise all the information would be dumped to your command line window.
To print the first timecode of a sequence to your command line window, you can use:
MetaRender "{Src.TimeCode}" R:\Test#.dpx -dumpmeta 1-1
The in/out argument 1-1 limits the output to one frame.