User guide

6 Katana Launch Modes
Launching Katana
You can start Katana in a number of different modes, using command line arguments to start the application:
Interactive no flags Runs Katana with the standard GUI.
Batch --batch Runs Katana without a GUI to render the output of a specific
node in the Node Graph.
Script --script Runs Katana without a GUI, and executes the specified Python
script.
Shell --shell Runs Katana without a GUI, and allows Python commands to
be run interactively.
Interactive Mode
Interactive mode is the default mode, requiring no additional command line arguments. It also loads additional
modules, such as the ScenegraphManager. Interactive is the only mode that launches Katana with the GUI.
To start Katana in Interactive mode:
1. Open a terminal.
2. Navigate to the directory where you installed Katana.
3. Enter:
./katana
If a license is present, the interface displays. Otherwise, you need to license Katana. See the Licensing Katana
chapter in the Katana User Guide for more on this.
You can also specify a Katana scene to load. To start in Interactive mode, and open a specified Katana scene: