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The Smedge Commandline Interface

The Command line ability allows you to integrate Smedge into your workflow and production pipelines by scripting it. For an example of integrating Smedge into Maya, see the smedgeRenderSession.mel script.

You can also access the job submission abilities of the commandline interface using the Submit.exe program file. This has the identical commandline syntax as the Smedge.exe program file, but has a few differences in behavior. First, when used to submit jobs, it will return the result job ID. You can save this for later use in your scripts. It also removes the possibility of opening multiple instances of Smedge. Note that multiple intances of Smedge should, in theory, be impossible. But, just to be sure, you may want to use Submit.exe.

The Smedge syntax is:

	Smedge

Launches Smedge or restores your Smedge window if it's already running.

	Smedge -h

Shows the command line options for Smedge.

	Smedge [-nosplash] [-hide] [-port port] [-server server[:port]] [-noQueueFile]

These are global options that control the initial appearance of the Smedge window and the Server settings. You can use these settings any time you use the Smedge command line, even for submitting jobs. If Smedge is already running, they will be ignored.

-nosplash	Disables the Smedge splash screen at startup.
-hide	Forces Smedge to start hidden. This implies the -nosplash flag.
-port port	Tells Smedge which UDP port to use for broadcast server location. The port number must be the same for every client you want to communicate with. Switch overrides any registry settings that control the Server UDP port.
-server server[:port]]	Tells Smedge the name or IP address (and optionally the TCP port) where of the machine that will act as server. If it is the local machine, it will become the server. Overrides the server.txt file in the Smedge directory. Note that the server still listens and responds on the UDP port (above) for clients not given explicit server info.
-noQueueFile	Tells Smedge not to use the queue file on disk. This is just in case this file causes problems. It has never actually caused any problems, but this switch exists just in case it ever does for anyone.

	Smedge -submit file [-gui] [-uid]

Tells Smedge to load job settings from the saved .SMR file. You can also double click a file and it will open the dialog box in Smedge automatically. The .SMR file can contain a single render, or it can contain a complete list of many renders.

-gui	Force smedge to open a Submit Job dialog box instead of dropping the job directly into the queue. Note that if Smedge has any problems with the command line options it will open the dialog box no matter what. (optional: default is to directly submit jobs)
-uid	Tells Smedge to load the saved ID instead of creating a new one. If the job already exists, it will change the existing job, which may cause problems if you change the frame range or packet size.

	Smedge -s scene -n start end packet [-gui]
		[-j job name] [-product product] [-proj proj] 
		[-single|multi] [-p priority] [-pool pool name] 
		[-note note] [-maxClients max] [-killOvertime percent]
		[-wait jobID] [-imageDir dir] [-imageFmt format] 
		[-extra extra parameters]

-s scene	The scene to render (Required)
-n start end packet	First Frame, Last Frame, Packet Size (Required)
-gui	Force smedge to open a Submit Job dialog box instead of dropping the job directly into the queue. Note that if Smedge has any problems with the command line options it will open the dialog box no matter what. (optional: default is to directly submit jobs)
-j job name	The name of the job (optional). If the name has spaces in it, it must be surrounded in quote marks.
-product product	The software prduct this job uses (optional: default=Maya)
-proj proj	The project or start directory for this job (optional: default depends on product)
-single|multi	Request to execute this job single- (one per processor) or multi- (one per client) threaded (default=single)
-p priority	The priority to submit this job at (0-100). 0 means paused, 1 is low, 100 is high. (optional: default=1)
-pool pool name	The Pool to submit this job to. If the name has a space in it, it must be surrounded by quote marks. (optional: default is "Whole System")
-note note	Attach a note to this job. If the note has a space in it, it must be surrounded by quote marks.
-maxClients max	Set the Maximum Clients for this job. (optional: default is the default in the Smedge Globals)
-killOvertime percent	Set the Kill After... value for this job. (optional: default is the default in the Smedge Globals)
-wait jobID	The ID of a job that this new job will wait for before execution. The ID is a string format of the unique identifier of an existing job. You can find this value in the interface by selecting a job and using the Show Job ID command in the Queue menu. This value is also returned from the output of the Submit.exe program when used to submit jobs via the commandline.
-imageDir directory	The folder where the rendered images will be saved for this job. If you leave this blank (the default), Smedge will try to autodetect this from the output of the renderer, if possible for the job type.
-imageFmt format	The format of the rendered image filenames for this job. If you leave this blank (the default), Smedge will try to autodetect this from the output of the renderer, if possible for the job type.
-extra extra parameters	Anything after the -extra flag will be places verbatim into the Extra Commandline Parameters of the job. This flag must be the last Smedge flag on the command line (optional: default=none)

	Smedge -JobCommand command jobID [parameter]

Allows Smedge to control jobs via the commandline.

command	The command you want to perform on the job. One of: decrease Decreases the job priority by 1 delete Delete the job (cancel any running packets) increase Increases the job priority by 1 pause Sets the job priority to 0 pool parameter Assign the job to a specific pool. The pool must be specified as the parameter priority parameter Set the job priority. The priority must be specified as the parameter requeue Requeues the job (if it can be found in the GUI) as a new job
jobID	The ID string of the job you want to control. This can come from the interface by selecting Show Job ID from the Queue menu, or as the result from using the Submit.exe program.
parameter	The optional parameter for certain commands. See commands above.

	Smedge -disable | -disable1 | -enable | -enable1 | -toggle | -toggle1 | -restrict | -restart | -kill

This allows commandline control of some basic client functionality. These commands have no effect if Smedge is not already running on the machine.

-disable	Disables the client
-disable1	Forces Smedge to leave 1 physical processor free.
-enable	Enables the client.
-enable1	Forces Smedge to use all physical processors on the client.
-toggle	Toggles the client availability.
-toggle1	Toggles the availability of 1 processor of the client.
-restrict	Toggles the time restrictions on the client.
-restart	Tells Smedge to try to restart itself.
-kill	Cuases Smedge to shut down on the client