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Exporting from the Command Line

Flame includes a command line export utility, flame_export. It can be found in /opt/Autodesk/io/bin/.

This utility allows you to couple a Wiretap Node ID and an export preset to export material from the command line. Here is an example:

./flame_export -e /projects/projectOne/638010ac_540f1f4c_0000b4d4/638010ac_5421becf_0008e888/638010ac_5421beea_000cb50c -p /tmp/qt_review.xml -d /path/to/export/

Although this utility could be coupled with a small program that leverages the C or Python APIs for Wiretap, there are simple tools bundled with the application to browse Flame project structures, using command line tools:

./wiretap_get_children
./wiretap_print_tree

We can get parts of the hierarchy from a project by limiting the depth of the tree to show:

 /opt/Autodesk/wiretap/tools/current/wiretap_print_tree -h localhost:IFFFS -n /projects/projectOne/ -d 1

This will output:

projectOne <node> (PROJECT) Node ID: /projects/projectOne/
Workspace <node> (WORKSPACE) Node ID: /projects/projectOne/638010ac_540f1f5c_000a0265
Shared Libraries <node> (LIBRARY_LIST) Node ID: /projects/projectOne/638010ac_540f1f4c_0000b4d4

The clip we want to export is located in a Shared Library, so we can just look at this part of the project hierarchy:

 /opt/Autodesk/wiretap/tools/current/wiretap_print_tree -h localhost:IFFFS -n /projects/projectOne/638010ac_540f1f4c_0000b4d4 -d 2

This will output:

Shared Libraries <node> (LIBRARY_LIST) Node ID: /projects/projectOne/638010ac_540f1f4c_0000b4d4
LIB1 <node> (LIBRARY) Node ID: /projects/projectOne/638010ac_540f1f4c_0000b4d4/638010ac_5421becf_0008e888
sg050 <clip> (CLIP) Node ID: /projects/projectOne/638010ac_540f1f4c_0000b4d4/638010ac_5421becf_0008e888/638010ac_5421beea_000cb50c

The clip we want to export is sg050 and the preset we want to use is /tmp/qt_review.xml.

./flame_export -e /projects/projectOne/638010ac_540f1f4c_0000b4d4/638010ac_5421becf_0008e888/638010ac_5421beea_000cb50c -p /tmp/qt_review.xml -d /path/to/export/

This will export the clip using the defined preset.

For more detail about the available options of the command line, just type the following in a shell: /opt/Autodesk/io/bin/flame_export

You can use flame_export to export content from an opened project by using the -f switch (foreground export). This exports the contents in the foreground.

Exporting from a currently opened project does come with some limitations:

  • Do not delete the clip being exported by flame_export before the process finishes, or the export will fail.
  • flame_export with the foreground option does not create a Backburner-managed task, and so cannot be managed by the Backburner queue.
  • Effects and transitions must be rendered prior to being exported by flame_export. If not rendered, these effects and transitions appear as black frames in the exported media files.
  • The option Copy Exported Clip in Media Library used in a Sequence Publish export preset is not supported by flame_export. The export will succeed but without creating clips referencing the exported media.
Note: You can only use flame_export to export sequences from projects created in a Flame that is of the same release version. You cannot use flame_export to export sequences from projects created in a previous version. So flame_export installed with Flame 2017 can export from a project created in version 2017, but not 2016.

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