Francesco Siddi
8bc06b5be3
This is the initial step for a change of name of the project, from brender to flamenco! All active stakeholders have been informed.
2.6 KiB
System Architecture
flamenco architecture is is based on the following scheme. We have one server, one or more manager, controlling one or more workers, and one dashboard.
With this configuration it’s possible to have a very generic and simple API on the server, and develop/maintain different type of front-ends for it.
It could be argued that developing a unified version of server and dashboard would make things more efficient, but on the other hand the development of an API would be needed anyway.
Having dashboard and server separate also allows greater level of network security, as well as more flexible maintainability (dashboard can go down for changes and the server can keep running).
Manager double handshake
Connection between workers and the manager is entirely automatic and follows this procedure (assuming that the manager is up and running):
worker starts up
worker connects to the manager and sends identification info
manager checks identification and updates worker status or adds worker to the database
manager confirms connection to the worker
worker notifies its availability to the manager
manager checks current jobs and eventually assigns one to the worker
Render workflow
The render workflow is based on jobs. Once a jobs is added to flamenco, we automatically create tasks (collection of commands) to send to any available worker. When all tasks are completed, the job is marked as finished.
Frames
We need to get the frames framework set. Every frame rendered in flamenco gets saved in the database with the relative stats, frame address and a preview (the thumbnail).
Once a frame is rendered (as part of a job):
save it in the designated location
add an entry in the frames table
generate a thumbnails via the worker who made them
also save such thumbnails as part of the frame data?
Frame model:
Shot ID
Number
Name
Path (on server)
Render Date
Render Time
Thumbnail generation
Thumbnails of each rendered frame are automatically generated in flamenco and are used for both static and animated previews of a shot.
As soon as a frame is saved on the shared storage controlled by the server, it will be the server’s duty to generate a thumbnail for it.
Used for:
last frame rendered (to be displayed in the dashboard homepage)
all frames of a shot (in the frames view)
shot preview (single image and animation)
Thumbnail
shot_id/frame_name_thumbnail.jpg (or png for transparency)