This page explains the basic usage of AYON Launcher, including the Tray Menu and how to use different actions.
Last updated About 1 month ago
Introduction
Once you launch the AYON Launcher, the AYON icon should appear in your system tray.
The AYON icon can appear in different colors, indicating the pipeline mode in which AYON was launched.
⬤ AYON is in Production mode.
⬤ AYON is in Staging mode.
⬤ AYON is in Development mode.
The default executable starts AYON Launcher in Production mode, which is the stable mode for daily work.
For more info about running the launcher in different modes, see Launch in Different Pipeline Modes.
Tray Menu
When you click the AYON icon in your tray, the AYON Tray Menu appears. It provides a set of tools:
Launcher Info The button with the launcher version
Launcher
The AYON Launcher is used to start DCCs in the specified AYON context. It also sets the studio environment based on your admin configuration when starting DCCs, minimizing the need to set environments in your local user preferences.
Launcher UI
Select a Project. If no project is selected, use the project filter at the top.
Refresh View
Actions Pane
Select Folder. Use the folder filter at the top.
Select Task
Action Pane
Available actions follow your studio's configuration for application and tool settings mentioned in Applications and Tools.
Left-click an action to trigger it and open a list of available application variants. By default, it opens the last available workfile; otherwise, it starts a new scene.
Right-click an action to change its mode, which is useful for specifying how to launch applications. For example, enable
skip opening last workfileto always start a new scene.
Starting New Scenes:
Admins can enable initializing new scenes via the Templated Build Workfile feature.
Common Actions
Launch Applications: Denoted by the DCC app icon.
Explore Here: Opens the location for the selected folder or task in the file explorer.
Show in AYON: Opens the location for the selected folder or task on the AYON server.
Terminal: Allows you to pick the shell context. Useful for admins and TDs. More info in Launcher Advanced Usage.
Publisher
This is only available if your admin added the tray publisher addon to the pipeline bundle.
When clicked, it launches the standalone publisher. For more info, see Tray Publisher Docs. It's the same as our Publisher tool but standalone.
Browser
Explore Published Products. It's the same as the Loader tool but used for browsing and checking published products.
Select a Project
Refresh UI
Select a Folder
Available Published Product Types
Available Published Products
Thumbnail of the Selected Product or Folder
Version Info of the Selected Product
Available Representation for the Selected Product Version
Admin (Utilities)
Useful AYON utilities for Admins and TDs.
Console
It's like any other script editor in DCCs where you can interact directly with AYON.
Script Output Pane
Script Input Pane
Add Tab...
Execute
Some Useful Code Snippets:
Publish Report Viewer
This tool is used to examine exported publish reports.
Publish Reports Pane: Drag and drop publish reports to add them. Click the trash icon to remove them.
Report Viewer: Displays what the publisher looked like when the report was exported.
Login
Log in to AYON using the credentials provided by your studio. You can log in directly using the input fields on the login window or click Login with AYON Server to log in using the browser.
Login window.
Once logged in, the login window will show the current user.
Launcher Info
This button is labeled with the AYON launcher version. When clicked, it shows additional information about your installed AYON launcher, local site ID, and environment variables.
See Environment Variables for more information about environment variables set during startup.
* Local Site ID: A unique ID assigned to your machine when installing AYON Launcher. More info in Site ID.
Exit
Exit and close the AYON Launcher desktop app.