Kitsu publisher¶

The kitsu publisher is a tool to send previews to Kitsu from your DCC.

For now, it is only available on Linux, and for the following softwares : Blender, Maya, and Houdini.

_images/kitsu_publisher.png

Installation¶

Disclaimer:

The following procedure intends to give easy steps to install the kitsu publisher following the context you’re targeting (Standalone, Blender, Maya, …).

However, depending on your own local architecture, you might want to take some liberties from this tutorial, which details a procedure to:

Create a virtual environment
Install the kitsu publisher inside this virtual environment
Setup the link file between the kitsu publisher and your software

Please note that these steps can (must) be adapted to your own local organisation regarding virtual environments, third-party packages, local scripts, etc…

You can now follow the tutorial corresponding to your targeted context (Standalone, Blender, Maya, …)

Requirement: Make sure you have a zou instance running.

Standalone¶

First, we recommend to install the code in a virtual environment. If you wish so, you can begin by installing a virtual environment manager (for example virtualenv):

pip install virtualenv

Then create a new virtual environment and activate it. Depending on the targeted software, you might want to specify a Python executable for the environment (even if it’s not necessary):

mkvirtualenv --python <your_python_executable> kitsu_publisher_venv
workon kitsu_publisher_venv

Then we must install one of the Python Qt bindings, either PyQt5 or PySide2:

pip install PyQt5

or

pip install PySide2

Once it’s done, we can install the kitsu publisher:

pip install kitsupublisher

And that’s it ! You can launch the publisher with:

kitsupublisher

_images/standalone_launch.gif

If everything works properly you should see the login window appear.

Blender¶

First, we recommend to install the code in a virtual environment. If you wish so, you can begin by installing a virtual environment manager (for example virtualenv):

pip install virtualenv

Then create a new virtual environment and activate it. To ensure version coherence, we must first find the Python used by Blender. To do that, open your Blender console, and type bpy.app.binary_path_python, like in the following gif :

_images/find_blender_exec.gif

Now with the executable you just found, create the virtual environment :

mkvirtualenv --python <your_python_executable> kitsu_publisher_venv
workon kitsu_publisher_venv

Once it’s done, we can install the kitsu publisher:

pip install kitsupublisher

Since Blender does not natively provide any Qt binding (PyQt or PySide), we also need to install either PyQt5 or PySide2 :

pip install PyQt5

or

pip install PySide2

Great, the code has been installed ! You can verify that everything is fine by launching:

kitsupublisher

Now we need to link the publisher and Blender.

In the project, and more precisely in the folder kitsupublisher/software_link/blender, we’ve provided an add-on launch_kitsu.py to link the publisher and Blender. This add-on does three things :

It adds the path of the kitsu publisher to the sys.path variable.
It makes work together the Qt and Blender event loops
It adds the adequate component to the Blender UI (Window > Launch Kitsu)

To complete the file, you must manually set the kitsupublisher_folder variable at the beginning: open it and fill the variable with the path of the folder containing the project. The path should look like path_to_virtual_env/lib/python3.X/site-packages You can get it with the command:

pip show kitsupublisher

Once the file is set up, the final step is to move the add-on in the start-up folder of Blender. Usually this start-up folder can be found at ~/.config/blender/<version>/scripts/startup Note that if the startup folder doesn’t exist, you may have to create it. For more info on this folder, please refer to the official Blender documentation.

Once it’s done, the installation is complete ! You can now launch the kitsu publisher from Blender:

_images/blender_launch.gif

Maya¶

First, we recommend to install the code in a virtual environment. If you wish so, you can begin by installing a virtual environment manager (for example virtualenv):

pip install virtualenv

Then create a new virtual environment and activate it. To ensure version coherence, we must first find the Python used by Maya. Usually it can be found at /usr/Autodesk/maya20xx/bin/mayapy For more info, please refer to the official Maya documentation.

Now with the executable you just found, create the virtual environment :

mkvirtualenv --python <your_python_executable> kitsu_publisher_venv
workon kitsu_publisher_venv

Once it’s done, we can install the kitsu publisher:

pip install kitsupublisher

Great, the code has been installed ! Now we need to link the publisher and Maya.

In the project, and more precisely in the folder kitsupublisher/software_link/maya, we’ve provided a start-up file userSetup.py to link the publisher and Maya. This file does two things :

It adds the path of the kitsu publisher to the sys.path variable.
It adds the adequate component to the Maya UI

To complete the file, you must manually set the kitsupublisher_folder variable at the beginning: open it and fill the variable with the path of the folder containing the project. You can get this path with the command:

pip show kitsupublisher

Once the file is set up, the final step is to move the file in the start-up folder of Maya. Usually this start-up folder is ~/maya/20xx/scripts/. You can also find its path with the MEL command internalVar -usd

_images/find_maya_startup_dir.gif

Once it’s done, the installation is complete ! You can now launch the kitsu publisher from Maya:

_images/maya_launch.gif

Houdini¶

First, we recommend to install the code in a virtual environment. If you wish so, you can begin by installing a virtual environment manager (for example virtualenv):

pip install virtualenv

Then create a new virtual environment and activate it. To ensure version coherence, we must first find the Python used by Houdini. You can go in your Houdini Python shell and type sys.executable :

_images/find_houdini_exec.gif

Now with the executable you just found, create the virtual environment :

mkvirtualenv --python <your_python_executable> kitsu_publisher_venv
workon kitsu_publisher_venv

Once it’s done, we can install the kitsu publisher:

pip install kitsupublisher

Great, the code has been installed ! Now we need to link the publisher and Houdini.

In the project, and more precisely in the folder kitsupublisher/software_link/houdini, we’ve provided a start-up file 123.py to link the publisher and Houdini. This file does two things :

It adds the path of the kitsu publisher to the sys.path variable.
It has a function launch_kitsu() that you can copy/paste in a new tool shelf, to give users an easy way to launch the publisher

To complete the file, you must manually set the kitsupublisher_folder variable at the beginning: open it and fill the variable with the path of the folder containing the project. You can get this path with the command:

pip show kitsupublisher

Once the file is set up, the next step is to move the file in the start-up folder of Houdini. Usually this start-up folder looks like ~/houdiniXX/scripts/. You can also find its path with the Python command hou.findDirectory("scripts")

_images/find_houdini_startup_dir.gif

Note that if you already have a 123.py file, you can merge the two files.

Once it’s done, the installation is almost complete ! The ultimate step is to add a UI component to launch the code from the Houdini interface. To do so, you can create a new tool shelf and add the launch_kitsu function (also available in the 123.py file) to it :

import os

def launch_kitsu():
    """
    Launch the publisher.
    You can copy paste this function in a Houdini shelf and call it, to easily
    launch the interface.
    """
    try:
        import kitsupublisher.__main__
        from kitsupublisher.utils.connection import configure_host

        kitsu_host = os.environ.get("CGWIRE_HOST", None)
        if kitsu_host:
            configure_host(kitsu_host)
        kitsupublisher.__main__.main()
    except Exception as exc:
        print("Failed to launch Kitsu : %s" % exc)
        pass

launch_kitsu()

And that’s it ! You can now launch the kitsu publisher from Houdini:

_images/houdini_launch.gif

If you want it, the path of our little fox icon is kitsupublisher/resources/images/logo_kitsu.png

Troubleshooting¶

If you’re on Ubuntu/Debian and you encounter any bug on Maya regarding a failed ssl import, this may be caused by Maya itself. If then you observe a problem (for example missing libssl and libcrypto librairies) when launching this command :

ldd /usr/autodesk/mayaXXXX/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload/_ssl.so

Then please check the folder /usr/autodesk/mayaXXXX/support/python/2.7.11 and follow the instructions given by Maya. If that last path leads to nowhere, you can try to find it with “locate ubuntu_ssl.so”