Submit to Deadline Dialog

  • The Submit to Deadline dialog is used by several tools to perform export of point and mesh data using network nodes controlled by Thinkbox’ DEADLINE Network Manager.
  • The majority of controls remain the same regardless of the tool invoked, except where mentioned explicitly - look for the [B] symbol.
../../_images/export_points_on_deadline_ok.png
  • The dialog exposes the following controls:

Document Read-Only Text Field

  • This field displays the name of the Document the Dialog was opened from.
  • The text will also be colored in the Document’s color.

Export Settings Rollout

  • This rollout shows the type of export to be performed, as well as defines the output file name for the export.

Type Drop-down list

[B] The list shows the current submission mode:

  • Export Points
  • Export Mesh
  • Export Hacksaw Mesh
  • The list is disabled and cannot be changed - it is set according to the menu option that was executed.
  • Depending on the state of this control, some other controls will modify their functionality - for example the Add... button will filter Points or Meshes depending on the current mode.

Output Path Filename Field

[B] Defines the output filename of the point file (when exporting Points), or mesh file (when exporting a Mesh).

  • You can enter the path manually or set the filename by pressing the [...] button and using the File Dialog.
  • If the path is not a network path, a Warning will be issued because in most cases you want your Network Machines to write to a network location.
[R] A possible exception is the case where you might want to run a Deadline Slave locally on your workstation and write to a local path.

Sources Rollout

  • This rollout is used to specify the Document’s objects to operate on, and the coordinate space (Object or World) to use when exporting.

Sources List

[B] The list will be populated automatically with any supported object that were selected at the time the dialog was opened.

  • More objects can be added by pressing the [Add...] button and selecting from a list - the list will be filtered according to the current Type setting of the dialog.

  • Sources can be removed by selecting them on the list and pressing the [Remove] button.

  • If no objects were selected when the dialog was opened, an error will be displayed in the Sanity Check field, and no submission will be permitted.

    ../../_images/export_points_on_deadline_error.png

Use World Space Checkbutton

  • When checked, the export will be performed in World Space, baking any object transforms into the output.
  • When unchecked, the export will be performed in Object Space.

Deadline Settings Rollout

  • This rollout contains the controls related to the DEADLINE Job Properties like Job Name, Pool, Group, Priority etc.

Job Name Text Field

  • The Job Name field is populated automatically by SEQUOIA with a description of the requested operation and the object it will operate on.
  • The Job Name is used to help the user find the job in the DEADLINE Monitor.
  • The field can be edited manually with different, more descriptive content.

Comment Text Field

  • Defaults to “Submitted from Thinkbox Sequoia v...”
  • Can be edited by the user with arbitrary content to communicate additional information about the Job.

Department Text Field

  • Not specified by default.
  • Can be used to specify the user’s Department within a company for sorting and filtering purposes within the Deadline Monitor.

Pool Drop-down list

  • Specifies the job’s Pool.
  • DEADLINE Pools are typically used to assign groups of machines to specific projects.
  • A single DEADLINE Render Node (Slave) can be assigned to multiple Pools, and will pick Jobs based on the order of the Pools list (higher Pools will have higher priority)
  • When set to “none” (default), any Slave assigned to any Pools will be eligible to process the Job.
  • This list is populated automatically from the DEADLINE Repository when the SEQUOIA session starts.
  • If the Pools have been modified in the DEADLINE Repository using the Deadline Monitor while SEQUOIA is running, the list can be refreshed by pressing the [Refresh] button in the dialog, or via the Deadline > REFRESH DEADLINE menu item.

Group Drop-down list

  • Specifies the Job’s Group.
  • Deadline Groups are typically used to group Render Nodes with similar characteristics (hardware, installed software etc.).
  • A single DEADLINE Render Node can be assigned to multiple Groups.
  • Other than Pools which can affect the Job Scheduling Priority, Groups are boolean filters - if a group was specified, only machines that are part of the Group can process the Job.
  • If the “none” group is specified (default), any Render Node can process the Job regardless of its Groups assignments.

Refresh Button

  • Pressing this button will reload the Pools and Groups information from the DEADLINE Repository.

Priority Value and Slider

  • Specifies the Job’s numeric Priority.
  • The Job Priority affects the Job’s Scheduling - the higher the value, the higher the priority.
  • Normally, Deadline Slaves will pick jobs based on the Pool, Priority, and Submission Date.
    • If multiple Jobs exist that would be eligible to be processed by a DEADLINE Slave, the one assigned to a Pool that is highest on the Slave’s Pools list will be selected.
    • If multiple Jobs are found in the same Pool, the numeric Priority value will be used to determine which one to process first.
    • If multiple Jobs have the same Pool and Priority, the one submitted the earliest will be processed first.

Sanity Check Report And Buttons

  • The Sanity Check will report any problems with the current settings in the colored field at the bottom of the dialog.
  • When all settings are valid, the field will report OK on green background.
  • When one or more settings are incorrect and would cause an error on DEADLINE, the Error (ERR) will be displayed on red background, and the [Submit] button will be disabled.
    • You will have to fix the reported problem to be able to submit.
  • If one or more objects have issues, for example, a Point Loader does not have any points, a Warning (WRN) will be displayed on yellow background, but the submission will be allowed.
    • Note that the offending Source objects will be highlighted in the same yellow color as the Warning background to identify them.
    • If you don’t fix a warning and submit anyway, the results might be unexpected.
  • If there are multiple errors and warnings, the [More...] button will be enabled and can be pressed to display the full list of failed sanity checks.
../../_images/sanitycheck_more.png
  • The [Refresh] button will rerun the Sanity Check and update the reports.

Save Submit Bat File Button

  • Pressing this button will create an OS batch file that, if executed manually, will perform the submission to DEADLINE.
  • This can be used as alternative to submitting directly from SEQUOIA - the submission files will be prepared and can be sent at a later point without SEQUOIA running.

Submit Button