Smedge 3
version 2.4.0 b3
Mac support is here! To keep all platforms on the same version, this release is officially designated
as a "beta" release, because the Mac port has not yet been used in production. However, the vast majority
of the code in Smedge is shared, platform independent code that should prove robust and reliable on any
platform. For Windows and Linux users, the release is as solid as an official version release would be.
Downloads
Release Notes
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To use Smedge on a Mac, you must use the version 2.4.0b6 Master (though you can use the Windows,
Linux, or Mac version). You must have a valid support contract (as of May 19, 2008) to use this version.
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Path translations now include support for separate paths for Mac machines. Path translations can also
now be accessed via the Job parameter $(Name) substitution system with the new command "Local".
For example:
$(Scene.Local)
CheckFileSequence and the View Frame and View Sequence commands now use the
translation system automatically.
Note: In beta 3, for the translation system to work correctly, you must not leave any platform
field blank, even if you do not use that platform. Put something in the field you are not using, as
long as you can be sure that whatever you put there will never appear at the beginning of a path
that will be translated. This has been fixed in the next release.
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Jobs can now override the what the Master will do when the Job is finished. You can now force Jobs
to either be deleted immediately, or never to be deleted, no matter what the Master options have
been configured to do.
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There is a new Large File Transfer Job type. This type is queued separately from other Jobs,
and can be used to allow large files to be copied over your network in a way that will control the
network and file server usage for doing so. The Maxwell Product can now make use of this system for
transferring .MXI files.
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There is a new restriction: "My Jobs Only". When set, SmedgeGui will only allow users to manipulate jobs
that they created. You can temporarily override this restriction in Administrator Mode. SmedgeGui will use
the string set in the SmedgeGui options to check against the creator string for the Job. If the restriction
is set, you will only be able to change the SmedgeGui option in Administrator Mode.
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SmedgeGui. The Engine configuration window in SmedgeGui is now a modeless window (like the Submit Job window). This
means that you can open the window and still perform any command or operation using the main window, any
open Submit Job window, or other open Configure Engine windows. Both the Submit Job and Configure Engine
windows now also include separate Apply and Apply and Close operations. Apply allows you to submit
changes to the Job or Engine(s) being edited, and still leave the window open for further edits.
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SmedgeGui. The main window lists can now be filtered. Open the filter section at the top of each view
to reveal controls that allow you to specify part of the Name, the creator or the Pool to show in the view.
SmedgeGui now also includes a "My Jobs" View by default.
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SmedgeGui. You can add "Presets" to the Render Overrides (and any other parameter set type Job parameter) field.
You can also edit these fields as either a list of parameters or as the actual command line string. To add a
preset, click on the + button. To remove a preset, click on the - button. To clear the parameter
click on the X button. If you have any trouble seeing the buttons, please report your OS, and send a
screenshot, if possible.
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On Mac. The command-line shell tools are packaged inside the SmedgeMaster.app bundle. To access them
from a shell, use the path:
/Applications/Smedge3/SmedgeMaster.app/Contents/bin/Shell-Tool
The shell tools are compiled as BSD shell programs, and should find the required Frameworks automatically
Major Bug Fixes
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Any Smedge component could crash if it tried to get the size of an empty file path.
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SmedgeEngine. A memory access issue could crash the Engine if the captured output file became unavailable for
some reason (for example, extreme network load causing the file server to abort the connection).
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Combustion. Combustion would not update the -startframe switch automatically. This would lead
to overwriting the same frames instead of outputting the entire frame sequence.
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On Linux. The GUI components had unnecessary library requirements, and were statically linked to the
standard libraries, which could cause crashes on certain distributions. Now the GUI library is built very clean,
to reduce the required packages to what should be included in most basic distributions that include GTK 2.0,
and the libraries are dynamically linked, which should allow the correct version for your distribution to be
utilized, reducing distribution based issues.
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On Linux. Killing work would only terminate the actual process spawned. If that process spawned child
processes (for example, the way that the Maya based renderers work), the actual render process may not have
been terminated.
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Messages skipped due to version differences could lead to unnecessary connection loss, and possible incomplete
data being received beyond the just the version differences.
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Smedge component applications could display the wrong date and time under certain conditions.
Incomplete Functionality
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On all platforms. The documentation has not yet been updated to include the new functionality
of Smedge 3 version 2.4. If you have any questions or problems, please contact
Überware support.
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On all platforms. The installer has not yet been created/updated for the new version. You must
install Smedge manually by unarchiving the files. If you want to use Smedge as a Service/daemon
(Windows and Linux only), you can do so with the command-line interface described in the
Administrator Manual
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On all platforms. The Generic Script functionality does not always seem to operate correctly.
If you notice problems when distributing Generic Script Jobs, please send a sample Job and the Machine Logs
from your Master and Engines to Überware support.
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On Mac. The Master and Engine do not yet run as daemons.
To start SmedgeEngine or SmedgeMaster, you need to log in to your Mac
and either double click the icon or use a terminal program to launch the commands from a shell.
If you double-click the icon, you may notice that it bounces in the dock for a long time. Also, you cannot
switch to it to close it. You currently must use the "force quit" system from the Finder, or the
Smedge system-wide shutdown system to terminate the processes.
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On Mac. Herald does not always display correctly.
Please let us know if you have any questions or comments.
Thank you!
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