Client

SkyHook Client

The client uses Python's request library to send a POST request to the server. The Client class is built in such a way that it looks practically identical to use with a SkyHook server or Unreal's Web Remote Control. Behind the scenes there's some extra work done to make it all work. So if you're reading this and you use want to use the Client as is, great! If you want to tinker with the code a bit yourself, be aware that the UnrealClient needs some TLC :)

Making a client

A SkyHook client only needs to be provided with an address (default is 127.0.0.1) and a port (default is 65500) to connect to.

Making a SkyHook Client object is as simple as:

import skyhook.client

client = skyhook.client.Client()

skyhook.constants.Ports holds the ports that are set up to use with host programs by default. You can use this if you don't remember which program uses which port.

import skyhook.client
from skyhook.constants import Ports

client = skyhook.client.Client()
client.port = Ports.houdini

DCC specific client

All DCCs have their own named client you can use to make your life easier.

import skyhook.client

client = skyhook.client.BlenderClient()

That way you don't have to worry about which port to use.

All DCC clients are basically the same as the base Client class they inherit from. Unreal is the only odd man out, more on that further down.

Executing functions on the server

You use the execute function send a command to the server. It takes a command argument and an optional parameters argument. The command can be a string, or an imported module. Eg:

import skyhook.client
import skyhook.modules.blender as blender_module

client = skyhook.client.BlenderClient()
client.execute("make_cube")
client.execute(blender_module.export_usd, parameters={"path": "D:/test_file.usda"})

The parameters always have to be a dictionary and the keys have to match the argument names used in the function. If you want to execute a function on a SkyHook server without having access to the code, you can use the SKY_FUNCTION_HELP command to see what the arguments or keywords are called. For example, the function echo_message expects an argument called message:

import skyhook.client
from skyhook.constants import ServerCommands, Ports

client = skyhook.client.Client()
client.execute(ServerCommands.SKY_FUNCTION_HELP, parameters={"function_name": "echo_message"})

Returns:

{
     u'Command': u'SKY_FUNCTION_HELP',
     u'ReturnValue': {u'arguments': [u'message'],
                      u'function_name': u'echo_message'},
     u'Success': True,
     u'Time': u'19:15:14'
 }

Adding a module to the server using the client

One of the ServerCommands is SKY_HOTLOAD. You can use this to add functionality to the server from the client.

import skyhook.client
import skyhook.constants as shk
import skyhook.modules.maya as maya
from skyhook import ServerCommands

maya_client = skyhook.client.MayaClient()
maya_client.execute(ServerCommands.SKY_HOTLOAD, parameters={shk.Constants.module: ["embark_tools.Core.maya_utils"], "is_skyhook_module": False})

This will bring in all the functions from those modules.