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Maya Playblast to RV Tool

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A small tool for playblasting directly to RV from Maya.

How to Use

Download

ebLabs_playBlastRV.zip

Setup

This tool is pretty simple to customize. Make sure to save this to your scripts folder as, “ebLabs_playBlastRV.mel”. Heres the basic format: ebLabs_playBlastRV(imageWidth, imageHeight, aspectRatio, matteOpacity);

  • imageWidth – the width in pixels of your image sequence, eg, 1280, 1920, etc
  • imageHeight – the height in pixels of your image sequence, eg, 720, 1080, etc
  • aspectRatio – if you’d like a mask overlayed in RV, set your aspect here, eg, 1.777, 2.35, etc
  • matteOpacity – set the opacity for the overlay mask in RV. 0 for none, .5 for 50%, 1 for 100%, you get the idea.

Tips

  • Try making a popup list on a shelf button with different settings.

Sample Code

Standard HD with a 16/9 soft mask.

ebLabs_playBlastRV(1920, 1080, 1.777, .3);

Quick Preview with no mask.

ebLabs_playBlastRV(960, 540, 1.777, 0);

Code

//ebLabs_playBlastRV
//for playblasting with RV
//(c) Eric Bates 2012

global proc ebLabs_playBlastRV(int $width, int $height, float $aspect, float $opacity)
{
//make a playblast without launching fcheck
string $movie = `playblast -format iff -sequenceTime 0 -clearCache 1 -viewer 0 -showOrnaments 1 -offScreen -fp 4 -percent 100 -compression "png" -quality 70 -widthHeight $width $height`;

//spitout name of playblast for artist reference
print ("\nDude, wheres my last playblast?\n" + $movie + "\n");

//launch RV
system("rv " + $movie + " -eval 'use rvui; rvui.setMatteValue(" + $aspect + "); rvui.setMatteOpacityValue(" + $opacity + ");' &");

}

Code For Windows

*Make sure to put in the full path to your rv executable, as well as include escape characters. (You will need to put an extra \ before any single \ or spaces.)

//ebLabs_playBlastRV
//for playblasting with RV
//(c) Eric Bates 2015

global proc ebLabs_playBlastRV(int $width, int $height, float $aspect, float $opacity)
{
//make a playblast without launching fcheck
string $movie = `playblast -format iff -sequenceTime 0 -clearCache 1 -viewer 0 -showOrnaments 1 -offScreen -fp 4 -percent 100 -compression "png" -quality 70 -widthHeight $width $height`;
 
//spitout name of playblast for artist reference
print ("\nDude, wheres my last playblast?\n" + $movie + "\n");
 
//launch RV
system("start C:\\Program\ Files\\Tweak\\RV-4.0.11-64\\bin\\rv.exe " + $movie + " -eval 'use rvui; rvui.setMatteValue(" + $aspect + "); rvui.setMatteOpacityValue(" + $opacity + ");' ");
 
}
python snippets... December 2, 2012 Maya Viewport Dis... April 26, 2013

Comments (12)

  • Sree
    March 4, 2015
    3:10 am

    Hi , It's not working Sree

  • Eric
    March 7, 2015
    3:10 am

    Hi Sree, Sorry to hear its not working for you. Are you getting any error messages? Does it run through the playblast, but just not pop up in RV? Eric

    • Sree
      March 8, 2015
      3:10 am

      yes that's exactly what it's happening..please note that I'm using windows 7 64 bit and maya 2014 which does NOT have a qt option while taking the playblast...I'm taking out image sequence and playblasting..unfortunately RV does'nt pop up...I emailed you a printscreen which'll elaborate on that . Regards -Sree

    • Eric
      March 8, 2015
      3:10 am

      Hi Sree, I added some code for a windows version. You will just need to replace the contents of the MEL file with this new windows version, as well as update the rv path. Does it work you you as well? Eric

  • Michael
    November 5, 2015
    3:10 am

    Hi Eric, Thanks for making this script available to us! I have just tried it on maya 2014 (OSX), although it does create the png img sequence (wouldn't a single .mov be cleaner?) RV never pops up.. let me know if theres a way around it. Plus I would suggest you to get the playblast's options set by the user (like quality, ornaments, etc.. ), or at least get the image size and aspect ratio from render settings, idk.. Cheers! -Mike

    • Eric
      November 6, 2015
      3:10 am

      Hi Mike, Thanks for the feedback. Its been a while since I've tried this on a mac. I'll have to look into it a bit more and get back to you on that. This was a pretty barebones tool. I actually have a more robust playblast manager that Ill be rolling out soon. The logic behind using an image sequence rather than a video file, was that it lets you playblast smaller ranges and overwrite existing images. So basically you wouldnt need to completely playblast the whole shot again if you're just changing a small part. The new playblast manager Ill be rolling out soon, includes a simple option for exporting your image sequences as movie files. As for ornaments, did you have a preference? All the best!

    • Michael
      November 9, 2015
      3:10 am

      Hi Eric, Now it makes more sense :) thanks for your attention. I usually playblast without ornaments, its cleaner and if you need a frame counter or text there are many scripts that generate those with polys, like zurbrigg's ShotMask. Have a great week! Cheers -M

    • Eric
      November 9, 2015
      3:10 am

      Hi Michael, I don't have my mac here, but heres something to try. Ill confirm this later as well. On a mac, you will have to look inside the package contents folder to find the actual RV executable. Here's where I found mine. /Applications/RV64.app/Contents/MacOS/RV64 

      //launch RV
system("/Applications/RV64.app/Contents/MacOS/RV64 " + $movie + " -eval 'use rvui; rvui.setMatteValue(" + $aspect + "); rvui.setMatteOpacityValue(" + $opacity + ");' &");
      Try changing the shotOrnaments to 0, this will switch them off. 
      string $movie = `playblast -format iff -sequenceTime 0 -clearCache 1 -viewer 0 -showOrnaments 0 -offScreen -fp 4 -percent 100 -compression "png" -quality 70 -widthHeight $width $height`;

  • Grant
    January 4, 2016
    3:10 am

    I have no idea about this, but is it possible to get it to playblast on 2's? or 4s if you want? For example.. if I typed (1-47:2, 48-72:4) It would record every second frame from 1-47 and every 4th from 48 to 72? but hold them the appropriate amount? Would be helpful for us old character animators I think.

  • Gabriele Ranfagni
    March 26, 2017
    3:10 am

    Hi man i'm a huge fan of eb_labs tools. I wonder why doesn't work give me // Error: ebLabs_playBlastRV; // // Error: Line 1.19: Wrong number of arguments on call to ebLabs_playBlastRV. // i'm on linux here my code //ebLabs_playBlastRV //for playblasting with RV //(c) Eric Bates 2015 global proc ebLabs_playBlastRV(int $width, int $height, float $aspect, float $opacity) { //make a playblast without launching fcheck string $movie = `playblast -format iff -sequenceTime 0 -clearCache 1 -viewer 0 -showOrnaments 1 -offScreen -fp 4 -percent 100 -compression "png" -quality 70 -widthHeight $width $height`; //spitout name of playblast for artist reference print ("\nDude, wheres my last playblast?\n" + $movie + "\n"); //launch RV system("/home/gabriele/rv/rv-Linux-x86-64-6.2.3/bin/ " + $movie + " -eval 'use rvui; rvui.setMatteValue(" + $aspect + "); rvui.setMatteOpacityValue(" + $opacity + ");' "); } sounds good? thanks

  • Eric
    March 27, 2017
    3:10 am

    Hi Gabriele , Ah, it looks like you might be missing the full command. Are you writing in the resolution, aspect and mask opacity? Like this; ebLabs_playBlastRV(960, 540, 1.777, 0);

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