Category: Announcements

Sets are a powerful and commonly used tool in production pipelines, but they are not without their dangers. In this post we look at the details of how they work, and share some tips for avoiding their pitfalls.

Execute the following via the PythonEditor :

import GafferScene
n = GafferScene.ShaderAssignment()
n["in"]["childNames"].setValue( IECore.InternedStringVectorData( [ 
    "turtles", "all", "the", "way", "down"
] ) )
root.addChild( n )

Then look at the innocent looking ShaderAssignment node in the HierarchyView, and marvel at its recursive uselessness.

How does this work? Answers on the back of a postcard please…

Let’s face it, there’s only so much you can learn about Gaffer from a ball of cows. Wouldn’t it be great if there were some more comprehensive examples that resembled how you might work in a studio environment? Something with real assets and light rigs, that showed how to build a multi-shot workflow using a single template script? Well, now there is!

A common pattern that arises in production is the “shot-specific branch switcher”, typically using a Switch or NameSwitch node to choose the right branch for the current shot. In the fictitious example below, this pattern is employed to select the right render settings per shot, with an ArnoldOptions and StandardOptions node on each branch.