| Since | 19.5 |
This node registers an instance of one of the available PDG service types with the PDG Services panel. Once a service has been registered, it can be used by the PDG graph.
Tip
You can also create PDG services directly in the PDG Services panel.
Parameters ¶
Service Create ¶
Open PDG Service Panel
Opens the PDG Services panel.
Generate When
Determines when this node will generate work items. You should generally leave this set to “Automatic” unless you know the node requires a specific generation mode, or that the work items need to be generated dynamically.
All Upstream Items are Generated
This node will generate work items once all of the input nodes have generated their work items.
All Upstream Items are Cooked
This node will generate work items once all of the input nodes have cooked their work items.
Each Upstream Item is Cooked
This node will generate work items each time a work item in an input node is cooked.
Automatic
The generation mode is selected based on the generation mode of the input nodes. If any of the input nodes are generating work items when their inputs cook, this node will be set to Each Upstream Item is Cooked. Otherwise, it will be set to All Upstream Items are Generated.
Create Service During
Determines when the service is created.
Cook (In-Process)
Creates the service during the cook stage in the same process as the Houdini session.
Generate
Creates the service when the work item is generating.
Service Already Exists
Determines how the node operates when the specified service (as defined by the Name parameter) already exists.
None
The node does nothing and the work item will successfully cook.
Report Warning
The node reports a warning and the work item will successfully cook.
Report Error
The node reports an error and the work item will fail.
Copy Inputs to Outputs
When on, work items in this node copy input files to their output file list.
Owner
Determines which type of service to create. A service can belong to either the Houdini session or to a scheduler.
Session
The service belongs to the Houdini session.
Scheduler
The service belongs to the scheduler specified in the Scheduler field.
Scheduler
The scheduler that the service belongs to. When creating a service scheduler, you are required to provide a value for this parameter.
This parameter is only available when Owner is set to Scheduler.
Type
Determines the type of service to create.
ROP Fetch Service
The service is a ROP Fetch service.
Python Service
The service is a Python service.
HDA Processor
The service is an HDA Processor service.
Name
Specifies the name of the service. The service Name is used as the service’s unique identifier. As such, there cannot be any other registered services with the same name.
See also Service Already Exists.
Pool Size
Specifies the number of clients that are created by the service. Each client can process one work item at a time.
Persistent
When on, the service definition will be saved to the pdgservice.json files, whic will make the service available in new Houdini sessions.
Automatically Start Service
When on, if the service is not already running, then the service will be automatically started before it’s required by a PDG cook. Services are automatically started during the pre-cook step.
Port
Determines which port the service will use for communication between Houdini, the MQ Server, and the service clients.
Automatic
Use the automatically determined port.
Manual
Use the custom port number specified by the integer field.
Connection Timeout (s)
Determines how long service clients should wait when starting up before timing out.
MQ Server Log Level
Controls what type of information is written to the MQ server’s log file.
None
No information is written to the log.
Errors
Only errors are written to the log.
Warnings
Warnings and errors are written to the log.
All
General status messages, warnings, and errors are written to the log.
MQ Server Log Directory
Specifies the logging directory in which the MQ server will create its log file.
Client Log Type
Specified whether the client should log to standard output, a file on disk, or supress log output.
Client Log Directory
Specifies the logging directory in which clients within the service pool will create their log files.
Schedulers ¶
TOP Scheduler Override
This parameter overrides the TOP scheduler for this node.
Work Item Label
Determines how the node should label its work items. This parameter allows you to assign non-unique label strings to your work items which are then used to identify the work items in the attribute panel, task bar, and scheduler job names.
Use Default Label
The work items in this node will use the default label from the TOP network, or have no label if the default is unset.
Inherit From Upstream Item
The work items inherit their labels from their parent work items.
Custom Expression
The work item label is set to the Label Expression custom expression which is evaluated for each item.
Node Defines Label
The work item label is defined in the node’s internal logic.
Label Expression
When on, this parameter specifies a custom label for work items created by this node. The parameter can be an expression that includes references to work item attributes or built-in properties. For example, $OS: @pdg_frame will set the label of each work item based on its frame value.
Work Item Priority
This parameter determines how the current scheduler prioritizes the work items in this node.
Inherit From Upstream Item
The work items inherit their priority from their parent items. If a work item has no parent, its priority is set to 0.
Custom Expression
The work item priority is set to the value of Priority Expression.
Node Defines Priority
The work item priority is set based on the node’s own internal priority calculations.
This option is only available on the 
Python Processor TOP, 
ROP Fetch TOP, and ROP Output TOP nodes. These nodes define their own prioritization schemes that are implemented in their node logic.
Priority Expression
This parameter specifies an expression for work item priority. The expression is evaluated for each work item in the node.
This parameter is only available when Work Item Priority is set to Custom Expression.
| See also |
Service Start
Service Stop
Service Delete
Service Reset
