Batching Multiple Projects

[dfroelicher]

How does the batch shortcut work?

I have a bunch of still content that I need to make into DCPs but I don't want to have to sit there and do each of them individually. Is there a way to select all the files and drop them into the system and get them to come out as different DCPs. All of them are already "mastered" and ready to go.

[carl]

The batch encoder is a way of letting you set up a set of projects using the main DCP-o-matic and then making them run one after the other unattended. The mode you mention of selecting multiple files and producing multiple DCPs is not possible at present, I'm afraid, at least from the UI. You could achieve that kind of thing with a script.

[phili2p]

Something like a batch-list / job-list / watch-folder would be very fine, indeed.

Nevertheless, it's possible to run parallel tasks:

1. Create your first project and let the conversion run until it's finished.*
2. Create another project one and begin to render. Set pause.
3. Create the next one, begin to render and pause the conversion.
4. Do as many as you think it's okay and then let them all run at the same time.
5. Don't look at the estimated time. Go get some sleep and have a look tomorrow.

* While the first job is running, I am not able to start the next job. With the next ones, this changes.

I for myself didn't have any problems doing 4 to 8 several at the same time on my early 2009 - MacPro 8-core with 16GB RAM / OSX. My machine was running almost 2 weeks night and day.

[Carsten]

@ phili2p: The Mac version lacks the batch converter utility that comes with the windows (and Linux?) versions. That one can already accomplish what you describe.

But I think dfroelicher want's something even more streamlined. He doesn't even want to setup all the individual projects.

Depends on how many still images he actually needs to convert. Setting up a batch converter on the source image level will take some time, but if the conversion parameters are all the same, it may still be the faster way to set them up as individual projects and render directly. You can actually start up the GUI version of DCP-o-matic in multiple instances and work in parallel.

Very often when I try to set up batch mechanisms for certain taks, I get to the point where I understand that getting the batch conversion to work could take more time than simply doing it manually. However, that applies for maybe 50 stills, not 500 or 5000... And It's a different story if I need to convert 20 stills every month.

One possible way could be to use an external script tool (like Automator on the Mac). Let it call the same App/CLI multiple times, but copy/exchange source footage before the conversion and store away the conversion result after the conversion.

One could also use a script utility to copy a single project directory multiple times while exchanging/renaming source footage. You could then use the DCP-o-matic batch converter to convert them all in one go.

But for any smaller number of files, or, as a single job, the full manual way through the GUI will probably be still faster.

- Carsten

[dfroelicher]

Basically, I'd LOVE a way to take multiple files and have DCPomatic take the file name of each file and use either a template or the defaults set in preferences to render all, say 30 files, into individual output folders.

This would be uber helpful for doing a bunch of different preshow ads that run before the feature. Or if you wanted to change the duration of those ads.

[carl]

From a Linux shell the way would be to use dcpomatic_create and dcpomatic_cli along the lines of
(entirely untested!)

Code: Select all

for f in files; do
  dcpomatic_create -n $f -c ADV --container-ratio 185 --content-ratio 185 -s 10 -o DCP/`basename $f`
  dcpomatic_cli DCP/`basename $f`
done

This should also be possible on OS X; on Windows, things are probably a little more difficult. What OS are you using?

[dfroelicher]

From a Linux shell the way would be to use dcpomatic_create and dcpomatic_cli along the lines of
(entirely untested!)

Code: Select all

for f in files; do
  dcpomatic_create -n $f -c ADV --container-ratio 185 --content-ratio 185 -s 10 -o DCP/`basename $f`
  dcpomatic_cli DCP/`basename $f`
done

This should also be possible on OS X; on Windows, things are probably a little more difficult. What OS are you using?

So in Windows 7 that would be....

P.S. not entirely handy with the old cli

[Carsten]

That's what I mean when I say above that setting up a full functioning batch system could take more time than doing all the files manually

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Windows_Batch_Scripting

It's worth the effort when you have to create so many files on a regular basis.

- Carsten