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Archiving from the Command Line

You can archive and restore material from the command line, using flame_archive, found in/opt/Autodesk/io/bin.

Note: In flame_archive, Wiretap paths are entered without a trailing "/".

A possible workflow you might try is to archive a project daily, and then restore a specific clip, as required.

Archive the project:

  1. cd /opt/Autodesk/io/bin

  2. Create and format the archive daily_archive with the default 1 GB segment. You can use -i to specify a segment capacity, in GB, where 1 GB = 1024 MB.

    ./flame_archive -f -F /usr/tmp/daily_archive

  3. List the project hosted on the workstation. This is useful to validate the name of the project to archive.

    ./flame_archive -l

  4. Append the ProjectOne project to daily_archive.

    ./flame_archive -a -P ProjectOne -F /usr/tmp/daily_archive

    Once the process completes, you have archived the whole project in the daily_archive.

Restore a single clip from the daily_archive:

  1. cd /opt/Autodesk/io/bin

  2. List the contents of daily_archive.

    ./flame_archive -l -F /usr/tmp/daily_archive

  3. Using the list from the above command, locate the clip to restore, and build its filepath. This filepath is used in the following command to restore the newNoise clip to the destination described using the Wiretap path.

    ./flame_archive -r -F /usr/tmp/daily_archive -S '/daily_archive/Archive Session - 2014/12/01 14:54:24/projectOne/Workspace (projectOne)/Libraries/Default Library/newNoise' -E /projects/projectOne/988110ac_547cc27f_0005859a/988110ac_547cc27f_0005859c/988110ac_547cc283_000312c0

    Note: Get the Wiretap path using /opt/Autodesk/wiretap/tools/current/wiretap_print_tree

You an also pass a text file containing the clips to restore to flame_archive. That text file lists one clip to restore on each line.

The above approach is fine for a manual restore, but for a programmatic approach, try using: ./flame_archive -l -x, where -x outputs the archive contents in XML.

Some additional notes:

  • Using the -N option forces the archiving of the media from clips, and of the renders. Leave out -N to minimize the size of the archive: only Timeline FX renders and already cached media are archived.
  • -p is similar to setting Archive Verification to Verify Source Media in the Flame UI (MediaHub Archive). When using -g (on pre-verify error resume), consider enabling -v to know what failed.
  • -y is similar to setting Archive Verification to Verify Archived Media in the Flame UI (MediaHub Archive).
  • The @UUID method to locate entries within an archive is now deprecated and should be avoided.

About flame_archive Options

For all the flame_archive options and their use, enter at the command line:

/opt/Autodesk/io/bin/flame_archive -h

Here is a summary of the possible options.

USAGE: flame_archive <operation> <modifiers> <options> 

Main operation mode: 
    -a, --archive [session_name]
                    archive clips to a file archive.  The selected entries
                    are grouped under an archive session.  The default
                    session name is "Archive Session - <date>".  This can
                    be overridden by specifying 'session_name'.
    -r, --restore   restore clips from a file archive.
    -l, --list      list dump of archive file or clips.
    -f, --format    format an archive file.
    -e, --estimate  estimate space of clips when archiving and restoring.
    -c, --convert   convert file archive to current format.

Operation modifiers: 

  To identify an archive (and a specific entry within that archive): 
    -F, --file      <ARCHIVE_FILE_PATH> 
    -S, --source    <PATH_TO_ENTRY_IN_ARCHIVE> 

  To identify a project (and a specific entry within that project): 
    -P, --project   <PROJECT_NAME> 
    -W, --workspace <WORKSPACE_NAME> 
    -L, --library   <LIBRARY_NAME> 
    -E, --entry     <ENTRY_PATH_IN_PROJECT> or <WIRETAP_PATH_IN_PROJET> 
    -B, --batch     <PATH_TO_FILE > 

    When using the -S or -E path option, you can separate the entry names 
    of a hierarchy with a '/' character.  If a name contains a '/', you can 
    escape the character by using a '\\' in front of the '/' so it does not 
    get confused with an entry separator.  Similarly, if the name contains a space, 
    the space can be escaped with a single '\' 

    You can also use the '@' symbol to specify a UID for any entry. 
    An entry with a matching UID will be searched recursively from  
    the current path location.  A UID may be used at the begining of 
    the path, for a global search, or after specifying a few entry levels 
    using the '/' separator, in order to refine the UID search. 

  Here are some examples of possibile modifiers used to locate an entry, 
  using a path within an archive or project: 
      -P pjr1                                                # project prj1 
      -P prj1 -W workspace -L mylib                          # clip library 
      -P prj1 -E /workspace/myLib                            # idem 
      -P prj1 -L mySharedlib                                 # Shared library 
      -P pro1 -E @H_-15183_U_771516                          # recursive search of UID in project 
      -P pro1 -E /workspace/Desktop/Reels@H_-15183_U_771516  # recursive search of UID in reels 
      -F /tmp/myArchive                                      # archive 
      -F /tmp/myArchive -S @H_-15183_U_771516                # recursive search of UID in archive 
      -P prj1 -E '/Date\ :\ 2015\\/21\\/12/Folder2'          # using the '\\' escape sequence 
                                                             # in front of the date '/' characters and 
                                                             # a single '\' in front of spaces, for a 

    When using -B, you must specify a file containing a list of UIDs starting by @. or a 
    Wiretap path. The entries must be provided one by line. 

Options: 
    -A,  --archiveLibrary <PATH>, use PATH as the directory path for the archive library where TOC files are stored 
    -u, --displayuid with -l, display the UID when listing 
    -n, --name <NAME> with -f, use NAME as the name of archive when formatting, default is 'Archive' 
    -t, --comment <TEXT> with -f, use TEXT as the comment when formatting, can be omitted 
    -i, --capacity <SIZE> with -f, use SIZE for the capacity when formatting an archive, default is 1GB 
    -N, --normal, active 'Normal' mode, default is 'Compact' 
    -k, --linked, do not copy uncached sources in archive, default is to copy 
    -O, --omit <LIST>
        <LIST> is a comma-separated list of at least one of the following:
            sources : do not include source caches in archive (only relevant with --linked)
            renders : do not include TimelineFX renders in archive
            maps : do not include maps and ML media cache in archive
            unused : like 'sources' but applied to unused versions only
    -p, --preVerify, verify source data before archiving, if illegal, stop archiving 
    -y, --postVerify, verify archive data after archiving 
    -g, --ignore, ignore preVerify failure and continue archiving 
    -m, --mode <MODE> with -e, one of 'All', 'MetaData', 'Video', 'Audio', for estimation 
    -x, --xml with -l, list archive file in xml format 
    -v, --verbose 
    -T, --toc with -f, -a and -l, the operation will generate the HTML TOC 
    -b, --background, with -T generate thumbnails in parallel 
    -V, --volume <VOLUME> use a specific volume 
    -G, --group <GROUP> with -f, use GROUP as the group of archive when formatting 
    -h, --help

Examples

Format archive file

flame_archive -f -F /usr/tmp/archive1

Add Wiretap path to archive arch1

flame_archive -a -E /projects/TestProject/a38310ac_53a82f6b_0006a1c1/a38310ac_53a82f6b_0006a1c3/a38310ac_53a82f77_000079d7/a38310ac_53a82ff6_000d6100 -F /tmp/arch1

Archive project prj1 in archive arch1

flame_archive -a -P pj1 -F /tmp/arch1

Restore project prj1 from archive arch1

flame_archive -r -F /tmp/arch1 -S '/Archive Session - 2014/03/12 23:43:40/prj1'

Lists the contents of the framestore of the local host

flame_archive -l

List the contents of archive arch1 ; output in XML

flame_archive -l -F /usr/tmp/arch1 -x

List the contents of folder MyFolder from project project1

flame_archive -l -P project1 -E /wksp/Libraries/MyLib/MyFolder

Provide a size estimate for the result of archiving project project1

flame_archive -e -P project1

Archive project prj1 in archive arch1 and create HTML TOC

flame_archive -a -P pj1 -F /tmp/arch1 -T -A /tmp/html_toc/

Naming an archiving session

Optional: Name the archive session by adding a name immediately after the -aswitch.

flame_archive -a "First archiving session" -P pj1 -F /tmp/arch1

If nothing is specified, Archive Session - <data> <time> is used.

ArchInfo

Get basic information regarding a Flame archive using the command line tool ArchInfo, found in/opt/Autodesk/io/bin.

Requires for input one of the following:

  • An OTOC file, from /opt/Autodesk/archive/<Folder of the archive>
  • The first segment of a Flame archive

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