Glossary

Anchor

A file in a directory that tells Ignite the type of the directory within the structure of a VFX project. This is strictly formatted as .ign_[type].yaml and shouldn't be needed to be created or edited manually unless you need to repair or change the type of a directory (ideally done through the UI though). This file often contains useful metadata about this directory. Examples: .ign_task.yaml, .ign_asset.yaml, .ign_scene.yaml

Asset

A directory containing all the versions (AssetVersions in Ignite) of a specific export. For example there can be a "car" asset on the filesystem which will merely contain the "v001", "v002" and "v003" AssetVersion directories inside. Marked by a file named .ign_asset.yaml

AssetVersion

A directory containing exported files (Components in Ignite). This could be a render in the form of an image sequence or a video file, geometry files such as usd, alembic and FBX or any other type of file. It can also contain a thumbnail image, a preview directory containing an image sequence for dynamic thumbnails and/or a source directory containing the source (Scene) of the export. AssetVersions are numbered (v001, v002, v003 being 1, 2 and 3) but there is also a "latest" and "best" AssetVersion. Marked by a file named .ign_assetversion.yaml

Attribute

Named values stored on any directory that get translated into environment variables when launching an app through Ignite. For example an attribute called "Start Frame" will be accessible within apps using the "IGNITE_ATTRIB_STARTFRAME" env var. For supported apps Ignite will also assign some attribute values to the equivalent env vars that the app understands, such as "Start Frame" -> "FSTART" in Houdini.

Build

A directory that defines an asset build. Usually contains a set of tasks, with an "Asset" task containing the final exports for the asset build. Marked by a file named .ign_build.yaml

Comment

A description added to a Scene.

Component

A file or sequence of files within an AssetVersion.

Context

The parent path to a directory or file relative to its Group.

Directory

A directory that can contain any other directory. Marked by a file named .ign_directory.yaml

Exports

Coming soon!

Group

A directory at the root of a project used to separate different parts of it such as an asset builds section, a sequences or episodes section, an unreal project section or a project exports section. Marked by a file named .ign_group.yaml

Project

A directory that is the root of a project. Should be inside the projects directory. Marked by a file named .ign_project.yaml

Projects Directory

The directory that contains all of your projects. This can be changed as needed in case you need to store projects in multiple locations.

Scene

A directory containing the scene files for an app. Marked by a file named .ign_scene.yaml

Tag

Labels assigned to directories (usually Assets and AssetVersions) to categorise or distinguish them from the rest. In the case of AssetVersions, special tags "Approved" and "Deprecated" raise or lower the way AssetVersions are scored when fetching the "latest" or "best" one.

Task

A directory where the actual work is done. This is where scenes and exports are created in. Marked by a file named .ign_task.yaml

URI

A string that uniquely identifies an Ignite entity (directory or file) within a project directory.

Vault

Ignite's asset library. Lives inside the project directory so each one has its own unique Vault.