Introduction

AYON Launcher is your starting point for working within the AYON studio platform.

Working in the Studio

Make sure AYON is installed and set up in your studio environment for immediate use. Your admin likely placed the AYON icon on your desktop or set your system to launch AYON on startup.

If not, contact your administrator for help with deploying AYON in your studio.

Working Remotely

If you're working remotely, like from home, you'll need to install the AYON Launcher yourself. You can download the AYON Launcher Installer from the AYON webUI.

Installation

AYON Launcher and its installation files are available for all major operating systems: Windows 10 (Server, WIN 11 and newer), macOS (Mojave or later), and Linux distributions (Rocky Linux, Ubuntu, and formerly CentOS).

Once logged into AYON Server, you'll find a Download Launcher button at the top right of the webUI. This provides a binary for the operating system you're using to access the server. Alternatively, clicking Download Launcher in the user menu redirects you to the Downloads Tab, where you can choose a specific binary version.

Download Launcher Buttons

Downloads Tab

Windows Installation

For installation on Windows, download and run the installation file AYON-#.#.#.exe. During the installation process, you can change the destination location path of the application, and create an icon on the desktop.

Linux Installation

For installation on your Linux distribution, download and unzip AYON-#.#.#.zip. A new folder AYON-#.#.# will be created. Inside this folder find and run ayon.

Mac OS X

For installation on Mac OS X, download and run dmg image file AYON-#.#.#.dmg.
Drag the AYON icon into the Application folder.
After the installation, you can find AYON among the other Applications.

Run AYON Launcher

On Windows, You can run AYON by desktop "AYON" green triangle icon (if it exists after installing) or by directly executing ayon.exe located in the AYON installation folder. This executable being suitable for artists, or alternatively by ayon_console.exe which is more suitable for TDs/Admin for debugging and error reporting. The later runs with a console window where all the necessary info will appear during user's work session.

For Linux and Mac OS, execute ayon located in the AYON installation folder.

Is AYON running?

AYON runs in the operating system's tray. If you see a green AYON icon in the tray you can easily tell AYON is currently running. Keep in mind that on Windows this icon might be hidden by default, in which case, the artist can simply drag the icon down to the tray.

First Launch

Upon launching AYON, you'll be prompted to enter your credentials to login to the AYON server and its URL.

AYON Login Details

Your Studio should provide you with the AYON url, username and password to fill in the dialog.

Updates

AYON updates automatically, based on your studio server every time you start AYON Launcher on your machine. Upon initial launch, the software may perform a fresh installation to ensure compatibility with the latest version of Studio, even if you recently installed it.

Launcher Usage

For more information about usage of AYON Launcher app, like learning about the tray menu actions and running with console, staging, or develop mode, please check the next sections launcher Basic Usage and Advanced Usage. For further information, please visit Admin section.