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Artist Guide

Work in progress

This guide is still WIP. Information might be outdated, incomplete or even misleading. If you have doubts or questions, contact Kira!

This guide is for artists working on a project that is managed by K-Pipe.

About

K-Pipe is a collection of scripts, plugins and tools, bundled as a Python package, which works with a variety of DCCs and Kitsu for production management.

Don't touch pipeline managed files

Since workfiles and exports managed via K-Pipe rely on metadata, please never edit, copy or move pipeline data manually! Use the tools provided, to manage workfiles and products. Talk with your TD if things don't work as expected.

Quick start

To install K-Pipe, go to the bin/ folder of the project pipeline directory and run KPipe-Installer.bat. This will install all dependencies and create shortcuts for all DCC launchers, for all configured projects in the pipeline, e.g. K-Pipe Blender (Project Name).lnk. You can copy all relevant shortcuts to your desired location, e.g. the desktop.

Launching DCCs

Always launch DCCs with K-Pipe launchers to load all relevant project configurations! This ensures the correct environment (Python paths, color config, project config) is set up.

Once installed, K-Pipe will keep itself up to date. Changes made by TDs will be loaded on the next launch automatically.

Overview

  • Principles & Terminology
  • Workfiles — Shots, assets and edits: Open tasks and save workfile versions
  • Loading — Importing, linking and keeping track of pipeline products
  • Publishing — how to publish your work with project-defined publishing pipelines
  • DCC Guides — DCC-specific features and workflows
  • Pipeline Tools — K-Pipe's GUI launcher, browser and publisher