Hi guys,
We have just used a spreadsheet in the past. Has anyone used something more effective?
We use an awesome set of project based XMLs that are hosted on our web based pipeline utility “Insight”. From there we can grab asset locations, versions, publish history, etc. That utility points to another set of XMLs that handle information like cache, rig, control information, etc.
i wrote the one we used (MLB:the Show for PS3 for 4 years). it ran on a linux webserver with mysql to store the info. it kept track of names, versions, status, and calculated sizes and out-of-date stuff, helped take care of backups, and allowed the users to run jobs on the assets. all of the software was free (linux, apache, perl, mysql, imagemagick).
the job clients’ jobs were in the commandline (running our own renderer on a windows box no less), maya jobs written in MEL and photoshop jobs written in Javascript, and a lot of the web based pages wear using advanced Javascipt. it also stored status and errors and timing info in a web-accesible page. some machines on the farm ran render jobs all day long, and if there was a crunch, everybody would run the client when they went home, normally the artists run the client at lunch or at night.
it took less than 2 days to write the basics of it from scratch. alien brain starts at $12,000 USD i think…
i’m available for employment to write something like this, btw
chris rogers