Launcher

The Launcher plugin allows artists to open DCCs and other tools with pre-configured environment variables.

Overview

The Prism Launcher can be used to manage which plugins should be loaded in the DCC or which versions of a DCC is available in a specific project.

Additionally websites can be linked, for example to provide quick access to internal documentation.

Video Overview

Using different Launcher configs in different projects

In the Prism project settings an option is available to define a launcher config when the current project is active.

If the config doesn’t exist yet, it will be created when opening the Launcher.

Alternatively, the PRISM_LAUNCHER_CONFIG environment variable can be used to define where the launcher configuration will be saved.

It should be set to the full filepath of a .json file i.e:

C:/projects/myproject/00_Pipeline/Configs/launcher.json

This environment variable can be set in the Prism Project Settings -> “Environment” tab.

This ensures that the launcher config will be used by everyone working on this project and that it is only used when the project is the currently active project in Prism.

Centralizing the Launcher config

Similar to the per-project launcher config mentioned above you can also set the PRISM_LAUNCHER_CONFIG to a launcher config path for your whole studio like: C:/studio/configs/launcher.json

To set this environment variable for all users in your studio you can use the Prism Studio Plugin or set it in the Windows System settings.

Launching a DCC in a specific environment from the Project Browser

After an app is setup in the Launcher, it can be used to launch DCCs from the Project Browser.

In the Prism User Settings in the “DCC apps” tab you can enable the executable override for your DCC. There you can use a string with this pattern:

launcher:@launcher_app_name@:@launcher_version_name@

For example like this if you have an app in the launcher named Houdini FX with a version named 19.5.0.605:

launcher:Houdini FX:19.5.0.605

The version is optional, so you can also use this:

launcher:Houdini FX

Setting the Prism version

A Prism version can be set in the top right corner of the Launcher.

The selected Prism version will be used when opening a DCC from the Launcher.

Note

The Launcher sets the PRISM_ROOT environment variable, which is read by most Prism DCC integrations.

If you configured a custom Prism integration in your DCC startup scripts, make sure they utilize this env var.

Use the “Manage Prism Versions…” option to manage the available Prism versions.

A default Prism version can be set in the “Manage Prism Versions” window or by CTRL + click on a Prism version in the menu.

This default Prism version will be set when opening the Launcher, when switching the current project (if different launcher configs are used per project) and when opening DCCs from the Project Browser in a Launcher environment.

Additionally, custom environment variables can be defined for each Prism version.

This can be used to set the PRISM_PLUGIN_SEARCH_PATHS env var to load plugins, which are specific to a Prism version.