RV - studio wide customization
Tweak software, Shotgun software and Autodesk. Lot of things have happened, but RV is still one of my favourite softwares, and it have been for the past 10+ years. When it comes to customization you have a lot of possibilities with Python and RV's Mu language. The Mu API documentation is only available inside RV and unfortionatly we don't have a Python API documentation (yet)... but it is pretty similar to Mu's :) Below are some notes by our pipeline TD; Emil Gunnarsson that hopefully can be usefull and save some time for someone. At the bottom he lists some useful links.
Example of RV scripts
Studio wide configuration
Environment Variables:
At Dupp we use RV_PREFS_CLOBBER_PATH and RV_SUPPORT_PATH and they are pointing to the same network directory.
- RV_PREFS_CLOBBER_PATH
Overrides all user preferenses and only uses studio wide preferences. (RV.ini on Windows) - RV_PREFS_OVERRIDE_PATH
Used to set default preferences, but users can make local overrides. (RV.ini on Windows) - RV_SUPPORT_PATH
Sets RV's script path. This is where you place studio wide stuff. Typical folder structure is shown on the right.
Creating a simple package
- To import
rvin python you should set thePYTONPATH=C:\Program Files\Shotgun\RV-2021.0.0\plugins\Pythonenvironment variable on your machine. - Start by creating a python file, for example myMenu.py
- The following code will create a menu and 2 menuitems, and add some functionality to the buttons.
from rv.rvtypes import *
# These two are only available in the RV Runtime Environment
from rv.commands import *
from rv.extra_commands import *
class DuppMenuMode(MinorMode):
def __init__(self):
MinorMode.__init__(self)
# Edit the existing list menu, and add a new dropdown to it, with 2 items
self.init(
"py-duppmenu-mode",
None,
None,
[
# Menu name
# NOTE: If it already exists it will merge with existing, and add submenus / menuitems to the existing one
("-= DUPP =-",
[
# Menuitem name, actionHook (event), key, stateHook
("Print to console", self.printToConsole, None, None),
("Show console", self.showConsole, None, None)
]
)
]
)
# Open the console if it is not already open
if not isConsoleVisible():
showConsole()
def printToConsole(self, event):
print("Printing information to the console: ")
print(getCurrentAttributes())
def showConsole(self, event):
print("Showing console!")
if not isConsoleVisible():
showConsole()
def createMode():
# This function will automatically be called by RV
# to initialize the Class
return DuppMenuMode()- Next you have to create a PACKAGE file, this being a file named PACKAGE with no extension at all. Below is a basic template for a PACKAGE file. I specified 3.6 as the RV version because it's an older version and should work with most newer ones.
package: DuppMenu
author: Emil Gunnarsson
contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
version: 1.0
rv: 3.6
requires: ''
modes:
- file: myMenu
load: immediate
description: A DuppMenu that allows you to communincate with the Ingrid Python API- Create the package, to do so you have to select both of the files you've created and zip them, name it something like duppmenu-1.0.rvpkg. It's important to add the version number
-1.0and the extension.rvpkgin order for it to show up when you want to add it to RV. - Now you can open RV and go to RV > Preferences > Packages > Add Packages..
Open your .rvpkg file. - Restart RV and you should be able to see your menu.
