Be - Command-line powered project configurations

Hi,

I’m working on a prototype for a command-line powered directory and environment management system for collaborative creative projects running on Windows, Linux and OSX and would like to hear your take on it.

It works by associating an item in your pipeline - asset, shot, level etc. - with a format string, the typical Python function you get with strings, “my name is {}”.format(“Marcus”). The format string defines a directory structure, by mapping the arguments given in the terminal, for example spiderman, shot01 and animation to various parts of your design.

shot: "{cwd}/{0}/shots/{1}/{2}"

Software aliases are defined on a per-project basis in a similar fashion to how templates are defined; a per-project yaml file with one or more aliases pointing either directly or indirectly to the software it relates to, such as

alias:
- maya: start "" "c:/program files/autodesk/maya2016/bin/maya.exe"

The alias is then available upon entering a project. Also works cross-platform.

In addition, I’m also experimenting the the concept of “presets”. A method of encapsulating a full project configuration in a GitHub gist or repository and registering it with another GitHub repository acting as a central database of shared configurations, such that you can build, share and later use curated configurations by others.

$ be new film-project

The above would then start by looking locally, for any existing presets you’ve defined or downloaded earlier, and otherwise start looking through the database. I’ve mocked up a web application visualising the currently available ones here.

And there’s instructions for making your own, and registering them for others to enjoy here.

Presets then contain either just the configuration, or can include starter-content, like basic models, rigs, shaders, sound, music, you name it. The idea is for anyone who downloads your preset to get going quickly with a configuration of their choice; such as a preset for “animated-ad” or “action-game” etc.

Have a look and let me know what you think, there’s some thoughts about the future in the issues section, in particular about entering a running project. Being an early alpha/prototype, there is lots of room to grow and for feedback, but templates are quite well-defined and versioned so you can start designing a new project today, or try encapsulating the one you use at your company.

Enjoy and let me know what you think!