Command Line Tools
In addition to loading media manually from the GUI, command-line arguments exist that can be used to automate the process.
A full list of command line arguments can be found by running PFTrack from the terminal with the "-help" command, i.e.:
"C:\Program Files\The Pixel Farm\PFTrack\PFTrack.exe" -help
Note that the full path to the binary needs to be used and enclosed in double quotes since it includes spaces
Full details on all the command line arguments are available on the Command Line Usage page. The commands directly related to loading media and preparing exports are reproduced here for convenience:
Media:
-load_clip /path/to/footage.001.ext
-load_photos /path/to/footage.001.jpg
-load_spherical /path/to/footage.mov
-set_default_import_path /path/to/media/
-set_default_export_path /path/to/exports/
-set_default_export_name exportName
-set_default_export_format formatName
-set_default_export_format formatName#version
Loading media
The -load_clip
command will create a new Clip Input node and load the clip specified as the command argument. Similarly, the -load_photos
and -load_spherical
commands will create either a Photo Input or Spherical Input node.
For example, the following command will first create a new project called myProject ,and then create a Clip Input node and attempt to load the media:
"C:\Program Files\The Pixel Farm\PFTrack\PFTrack.exe" -create_project C:\Projects\myProject -load_clip C:\Footage\Shot1\clip.0001.exr
Setting export parameters
When creating or loading projects, the default import and export paths can also be specified on the command line. The following commands are available:
-set_default_import_path
: This command adds a default path to the project which will be available in the File Browser allowing the project to be initialised to quickly locate the correct media files on disk.
-set_default_export_path
: This command will set the default export path for the project to a specific directory. This is the default path which will be used when creating new Scene Export or Footage Export nodes.
-set_default_export_format
: This command can be used to set the default export format for new Scene Export nodes. The formatName
must match the name of one of the exports available in the Scene Export node. For example:
-set_default_export_format "Nuke Python Script"
-set_default_export_format "Autodesk FBX#2010"
-set_default_export_format "Autodesk FBX (Ascii)#2019"
For Autodesk FBX, an additional version number can be added using the # separator to specify which version of FBX to use.