Installation ========================================== For a quickstart installation see the :ref:`Getting Started` page. Default installation ----------------------------------------- | Prism can be installed using the provided installer or zip file, which can be downloaded from `here `_. | In the future it will be also possible to download Prism from a GitHub repository. | Currently Prism is only available on Windows. | Prism can be installed locally on every workstation in your studio. | No additional installation on a server and no database setup is required. For a centralized setup see :ref:`here`. Installer ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ | The installer will install Prism into this folder by default: ``C:\Program Files\Prism2`` | The installer shouldn't be launched as admin from a non-admin account. It will ask for admin permissions in case it's needed. | | The plugin ``PrismInternals`` and ``Hub`` will be installed to ``C:\ProgramData\Prism2\plugins`` by default. | This is the default plugin location. Also all other plugins which will be installed afterwards will go into this folder. Zip ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The zip file can be extracted in any location on your filesystem. The setup.bat can be used to create Prism shortcuts in your Windows start menu and on your desktop. Plugins ----------------------------------------- There is a wide range of available :ref:`plugins` to integrate Prism into 3rd party tools and to add specific features to Prism. | Plugins can be downloaded from the Prism :ref:`Hub`. | By default plugins will be installed to ``C:\ProgramData\Prism2\plugins``. | You can change the plugin install location using the gear button in the Prism Hub. | Alternatively you can use the environment variable ``PRISM_DEFAULT_PLUGIN_PATH`` to set the default plugin installation path. | | It's possible to move a plugin after the installation to a different location. | Prism can load plugins from any custom location. To set the paths where Prism will look for plugins you can add and remove plugin paths in the Prism User Settings -> Plugins by clicking the gear button. | These paths are stored in this file and can be different for every Windows user: ``%userprofile%\Documents\Prism2\PluginPaths.json`` | | Installing a plugin from the Hub will download the plugin into the folder mentioned above and then add the path to the ``PluginPaths.json`` file. | If you don't see a specific plugin in the plugin list in the Prism User Settings, make sure it was downloaded and the path is added to the ``PluginPaths.json``. | | You can also use the environment variable ``PRISM_PLUGIN_PATHS`` to specify plugin paths separated by ``;``. | The environment variable ``PRISM_PLUGIN_SEARCH_PATHS`` allows you to specify folders in which Prism will search the sub-folders for plugins. DCC integrations ----------------------------------------- Some Prism plugins require you to setup the Prism DCC integration after the Prism plugin is installed. For example after the Houdini and Maya plugin installation Prism will ask you where your Houdini and Maya preferences folders are located. Prism will add some files to these folders so that Prism will be loaded when you launch the DCC. You can add and remove DCC integrations in the Prism User Settings -> DCC apps. .. _centralizedSetup: Centralized Setup ----------------------------------------- | Prism can be installed in a central location in your studio like a server, which can simplify the maintenance for example when updating or downgrading to a different Prism version. | The disadvantage can be that the launch of Prism can take longer if your network speed is slow. | | There are multiple ways to setup Prism in a central location. | One possible way is this: | - download the Prism zip from the website - extract it and move it to a location on your server - run the setup.bat to create start menu and desktop shortcuts - open Prism and navigate to the Hub - click the gear button and set the default plugin path to a folder on your server - install any plugins from the Hub which you'd like to use - on all workstations in your studio set the ``PRISM_PLUGIN_PATHS`` environment variable to a list of paths where your plugins are installed separated by ``;`` - from all workstations in your studio run the setup.bat to create Prism shortcuts (or use an automated custom solution) User Preferences ----------------------------------------- | Prism will save user preferences into this folder: ``%userprofile%\Documents\Prism2`` | The environment variable ``PRISM_USER_PREFS`` can be used to change the default preferences location. | The folder can be deleted to reset the user preferences. The folder and files will be created during the Prism launch if it doesn't exist. Anti-Virus warnings (false positives) ----------------------------------------- Some Anti-Virus tools are reporting a false positive when installing Prism. This is usually because of this file: C:\Program Files\Prism2\Python39\Prism.exe The Prism.exe is a copy of the pythonw.exe in the same folder. It only has a changed filename and a changed icon, which can be the reason that some Anti-Virus tools don't trust the file. There are two ways to workaround this problem: 1. You can add an exception for this file in your Anti-Virus tool to workaround this problem. 2. You can delete the Prism.exe, duplicate the pythonw.exe and rename it to Prism.exe. This will most likely remove the false positive warning and Prism will work without problem. The only difference with this method is that in some places a Python icon will be visible instead of the Prism icon, for example in the Windows Task Manager.