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1020 Appendix A The Shake Command-Line Manual
Occasionally, you want to perform different operations on two different images within
the same command. This can be done with the branching commands -fi (FileIn) and
-label. Label a branch with the -label function, and start a new branch with the -fi
function. The following example blurs the background, and then assigns it a temporary
label of BG. It then reads the truck, brightens it (the truck, but not the background),
and composites the result over the blurred background:
shake bg.iff -blur 50 -label BG -fi truck.iff -bri 2 -over BG
Scripts
Execute pre-saved scripts with the -exec command. These scripts are usually generated
from the interface. The -exec function scans the script and executes all FileOut nodes. If
there are no FileOut nodes in the script, the function does nothing.
shake -exec my_script.shk -v
The -v stands for “verbose,” and provides feedback on the progress of the render. You
can also override many settings in the script. For example:
shake -exec my_script.shk -v -proxys .5 1 -t 20-30 -motion 1 1
renders at half-proxy scale, full-proxy ratio, only frames 20 to 30, and activates motion
blur without having to edit the script itself.
You can save a script from the command line with the -savescript function:
shake truck/truck.iff -outside truck/sign_mask.iff -over truck/bg.iff
-savescript toto.shk
If there is no FileOut in the script, you can test the script with the -script command. It is
similar to the -exec function in that it executes FileOut nodes. However, it also views
every branch in the script, and that can be awkward when rendering. It is really just for
testing scripts:
shake -script toto.shk
Command-Line Controls
In the following tables, < > indicate a mandatory argument, and [ ] indicate an optional
argument.
The following functions are unique to the command line.
Time Range Control Description
-t <frameRange> See “T
ime and Viewing Image Sequences” on page 1016.
I/O Functions Description
-exec <script.shk> Renders only FileOut nodes in a script. See “T
ime and Viewing
Image Sequences” on page 1016.
-fi <image> FileIn. Allows branching operations. See “A
rgument Flow” on
page 1019.