Skip to main content

Quick start

Download and Install Connect​

Your very first step would be to download and install Connect, which can be found on the official ftrack Integrations GitHub repository, where previous versions and the source code are also available.

note

For windows advanced users, you can also install Connect silently through the command line using the following commands:

ftrack_connect-24.5.0-win64.exe" /VERYSILENT

or

ftrack_connect-24.5.0-win64.exe" /SILENT

Connect windows is packaged using Inno Setup. More info about supported flags in: https://jrsoftware.org/ishelp/index.php?topic=setupcmdline

Install your first plugin​

The next step would be to install your first plugin, that is done through the Plugin tab in Connect, find more information about the process here.

How does it work​

To integrate ftrack with any DCC (Digital Content Creation) tool, such as Maya, you need to start the DCC through ftrack Connect. As a user, to launch Maya via Connect, you must first select a task in the Launch Tab within Connect. Once the task is selected, you can launch Maya or any other DCC of your choice. This workflow is standard for any DCC user utilising ftrack integrations or for developers extending integrations through our extensions workflow.

Let's review what happens during the launch process when a user starts a DCC.

  1. The Launch - through the Connect application launcher (driven by launch configs)
  2. The Hook - listen to launch event, compile environment variables.
  3. DCC bootstrap - startup plugins to run in DCC on launch, including creating menus.
  4. Base tools inside the Integration based on the Framework, customisable with Extensions:
  • Opener
  • Publisher

With a basic understanding of how users launch DCCs and ensure integration with ftrack or custom extensions, let's explore how you can extend the integration.

note

At ftrack, we highly recommend building on top of the core framework that ftrack provides. This concept is called Extensions. The next section links to a series of example guides designed to help you better understand the framework and how to extend it.

Customise the DCC integrations​

The DCC integrations are built on top of the Framework and can be customised to fit your pipeline, go to the guides section to get started and find working examples in the recipes section, for example on how to change the path were a DCC is installed.

Develop your first Connect plugin​

We provide a base example here on how to develop a plugin that will show up as widget inside Connect.

Another example is provided here on how you can create a custom location overrides the default behaviour of how Connect and the integrations interact with your storage - dictate where files get saved and what names they will be given.

Create your own integration​

If you want to create your own integration, go to the guides section to get started.

note

We would love to hear from you before embarking on your new integration journey, to coordinate your effort and make sure you get the best possible support.

Develop the framework​

All our code is open source and available on Github for you to explore and contribute to.

In general, it should be sufficient to leverage the Framework extensions to achieve your goals, but if you need to go deeper, forking the repository and developing/building your own version of the Framework and Connect is always an option.

note

Don't hesitate to reach out to us, communicating what parts of the framework that you could need to augment, for us to better understand your needs and be able to answer any questions you might have.

Header over to the advanced section were your will find all information you need to get started with developing.