Setup guide

Backburner Server, which calls the Wire daemon to carry out the task. Monitoring is embedded in the Visual
Effects and Finishing application. It can also be done using the Backburner Web Monitor (optional).
To set up background I/O in Visual Effects and Finishing, on a workstation with a Visual Effects and Finishing
application and all Backburner components installed.
1 Check that the Backburner Manager and Backburner Server are installed and set to run as daemons by
running chkconfig --list | grep -i Backburner. You should see output like:
backburner_manager 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:offbackburner_server 0:off 1:off
2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off. Levels “3”, “4”, and “5” must be “on” for the daemons to start
automatically.
2 Check /usr/discreet/backburner/cfg/manager.host contains the token localast, so that Backburner Server
can locate the manager. If you made a change, reinitialise the Backburner Manager and Backburner
Server: /etc/init.d/backburner restart
3 Check the BackburnerManagerHostname keyword in /usr/discreet/<product_home>/cfg/init.cfg is set
to the IP address of a valid manager, in this case localhost. BackburnerManagerHostname is also used
to indicate the manager for Burn and Cleaner XL. If either of these other systems has been set up for
this seat of the creative application, you can indicate that manager instead.
4 Restart the Visual Effects and Finishing application so it picks up the new configuration file setting
and begins communicating with Backburner.
Check that background I/O is using Backburner by importing an image sequence from the filesystem into
a clip library and generating proxies for it, in the background:
1 Create a new project for which proxy generation is always on or is conditional. To do this, edit the
project's settings in the Preferences Menu, Project Management group. It is not recommended that
you enable proxies or otherwise change proxy settings for an existing project, since it can result in the
generation of proxies for all clips already in the project in the foreground, an operation that can take
considerable time. The purpose of this procedure is to test proxy generation in the background.
2 In the library, click Import Image.
3 In the Clip Media group, enable Soft-Import Full Res.
4 In the Background Operations group, enable Generate/Import Proxies. The Proxy Generation button
in this area of the software does not determine whether proxies are generated or not. It specifies how
they are generated: in the background (with Backburner) or the foreground (Backburner not needed).
5 Use the file browser to select and import media files from your filesystem.
6 Verify the proxies are generated in the background, in a timely manner:
■ View progress of the background I/O in the Background Import/Export Queue. In the Library menu,
click the Background Monitor button (Ctrl+0).
■ Review messages appearing in the message bar in the Message History window. In the Preferences
menu, Miscellaneous group, click the Message History button (Ctrl+Alt+F7).
■ If the playable thumbnails indicate “Pending Render” for too long, this is a sign that the proxies
are not being generated.
Check background I/O using Backburner is operational by importing an image sequence from a remote clip
library into a local clip library. This operation makes use of the background I/O Wire feature, as well as
Backburner. In general, requesting a “Background Wire” transfer from the Clip Library menu invokes
Backburner and the Wire transfer
1 Check that Autodesk Stone and Wire must be installed on a remote system. Stone and Wire are
automatically installed during the installation of all Visual Effects and Finishing applications.
2 Create a new project or open an existing project.
Software configuration | 35