Running Viewline

Viewline is a standalone Python application that can be launched directly from the command line or through a platform-specific launcher script.

Requirements

Before running Viewline, ensure the following are installed:

  • Python 3.10 or newer
  • PySide6
  • PyAV
  • NumPy
  • OpenImageIO
  • OpenColorIO
  • PyOpenGL
  • OpenUSD
  • All additional Python dependencies listed in the development kit

OpenUSD

Viewline requires OpenUSD 26.05.

Since prebuilt binaries may not be available for every platform, it is recommended to build OpenUSD 26.05 from source.

Build OpenUSD 26.05

Follow the official OpenUSD build instructions to compile the library for your platform.

https://github.com/PixarAnimationStudios/OpenUSD/releases/tag/v26.05

After building OpenUSD, ensure that:

  • The OpenUSD Python bindings are available.
  • The required OpenUSD libraries are accessible through your system environment.
  • Viewline can locate the OpenUSD installation.

OpenColorIO

The OpenColorIO configuration file (config.ocio) must be available before launching Viewline.

Set the OCIO environment variable to point to your configuration file if it is not configured automatically.

Download latest version

📥 Viewline

Windows

Create a launcher batch file (viewline.bat) similar to the following.


:: Viewline source directory

set "VIEWLINE_SOURCE=D:/developments"

:: Python installation
set "PYTHON=C:/Program Files/Python310/python.exe"

:: Third-party libraries
set "LIB_DIR=D:/developments/devkit/site-packages"

:: OpenUsd directory
set "USD_PLUGIN_PATH=D:/developments/devkit/plug-ins/OpenUSD-26.05"

:: Append the PATH to usd plugin path
set "PATH=%PATH%;%USD_PLUGIN_PATH%/bin;%USD_PLUGIN_PATH%/lib"

:: Python search path
set "PYTHONPATH=%VIEWLINE_SOURCE%LIB_DIR%/charset-normalizer/3.3.2;%LIB_DIR%/certifi/2024.2.2;%LIB_DIR%/idna/3.7;%LIB_DIR%/urllib3/2.2.1;%LIB_DIR%/requests/2.32.2;%LIB_DIR%/darkdetect/0.7.1;%LIB_DIR%/pyqtdarktheme/2.1.0;%LIB_DIR%/OpenImageIO/3.0.4.0;%LIB_DIR%/PySide6/6.9.0;%LIB_DIR%/shiboken6/6.9.0;%LIB_DIR%/PySide6-Essentials/6.9.0;%LIB_DIR%/PySide6-Addons/6.9.0;%LIB_DIR%/PyOpenGL/3.1.9;%LIB_DIR%/opencolorio/2.5.0;%LIB_DIR%/av/17.0.0;%LIB_DIR%/numpy/1.26.4;%USD_PLUGIN_PATH%/lib/python;"

:: OpenColorIO configuration
set "OCIO=D:/developments/devkit/ocio/studio-config-v4.0.0_aces-v2.0_ocio-v2.5.ocio"

:: User profile
set "VIEW_LINE_PROFILE_ROOT=%USERPROFILE%/Documents"

:: Launch Viewline
"%PYTHON%" "%VIEWLINE_SOURCE%/viewline/main.py" %*

Run the application by double-clicking the batch file or from a command prompt.

Linux

Create a launcher shell script (viewline.sh).

#!/bin/bash

# Viewline source directory
export VIEWLINE_SOURCE=D:/developments/

# Python installation
export PYTHON=/usr/bin/python3.10

# Third-party libraries
export LIB_DIR=/developments/devkit/site-packages

# OpenUsd directory
export USD_PLUGIN_PATH=/developments/devkit/plug-ins/OpenUSD-26.05

# Append the PATH to usd plugin path
export PATH=$PATH;$USD_PLUGIN_PATH/bin;$USD_PLUGIN_PATH/lib"

# Python search path
export PYTHONPATH=\
$VIEWLINE_SOURCE:\
$LIB_DIR/charset-normalizer/3.3.2:\
$LIB_DIR/certifi/2024.2.2:\
$LIB_DIR/idna/3.7:\
$LIB_DIR/urllib3/2.2.1:\
$LIB_DIR/requests/2.32.2:\
$LIB_DIR/darkdetect/0.7.1:\
$LIB_DIR/pyqtdarktheme/2.1.0:\
$LIB_DIR/OpenImageIO/3.0.4.0:\
$LIB_DIR/PySide6/6.9.0:\
$LIB_DIR/shiboken6/6.9.0:\
$LIB_DIR/PySide6-Essentials/6.9.0:\
$LIB_DIR/PySide6-Addons/6.9.0:\
$LIB_DIR/PyOpenGL/3.1.9:\
$LIB_DIR/opencolorio/2.5.0:\
$LIB_DIR/av/17.0.0:\
$LIB_DIR/numpy/1.26.4:\
$USD_PLUGIN_PATH//lib/python:\

# OpenColorIO configuration
export OCIO=/developments/devkit/ocio/studio-config-v4.0.0_aces-v2.0_ocio-v2.5.ocio

# User profile
export VIEW_LINE_PROFILE_ROOT=$HOME/Documents

# Launch Viewline
"$PYTHON" "%VIEWLINE_SOURCE%/viewline/main.py" "$@"

Make the launcher executable.

chmod +x viewline.sh

Run the application.

./viewline.sh

Environment Variables

Variable Description
PYTHON Python executable used to launch Viewline.
PYTHONPATH Locations of all required third-party Python packages and the Viewline source directory.
OCIO Path to the OpenColorIO configuration file.
VIEW_LINE_PROFILE_ROOT Directory used by Viewline to store user preferences, recent files, and application settings.
PATH Append the PATH to usd plugin lib and bin path.

Customizing Your Studio Environment

The launcher scripts included above are reference implementations.

Every studio has a different pipeline structure, Python installation, development kit, and OpenColorIO configuration. Before deploying Viewline, update the following values to match your production environment:

  • Python executable
  • Third-party library locations
  • Viewline installation directory
  • OpenColorIO configuration
  • User profile directory
  • OpenUSD 26.05

Only these paths need to be changed. The application itself requires no source code modifications to run in a different studio environment.

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