It’s possible to have an artist working from home while using the licenses from the Studio. If client machine is able to telnet the license server @ port, it will work just as if s/he was at the studio (RLM ports).


The RLM license checkout process is usually fast, however, loading animBot modules from a remote location could take several minutes. In this scenario, it’s recommended that artists install animBot locally. 


How to install animBot locally while reading licenses from RLM server


a) Download animBot (version 2.0.0 or above, preferably the recommended version for the Enterprise Edition).


b) Install animBot.


c) Set the global variable ANIMBOT_CONFIGJSONPATH to point to the company’s config.json file location. Ask your pipeline where that location is. There are several ways to set an env variable in Maya, one of the simplest method is to use a Maya.env file:


a) Download and extract this Maya.env file.

b) Open the file with any text editor and change the path to the location of your config.json file.

c) Copy this file to every user maya preference directory: <user>/maya/<version>, i.e. ..john/maya/2020


d) Restart Maya.


Here is a bit more information about this method.

Windows users: do not use backslashes "\", use regular slashes "/".


How do I know if it worked?


You will know if animBot is running in Enterprise Edition mode here:

* If the license status is invalid, please read Troubleshooting Enterprise Edition installation.


Important notes


  • If animBot doesn't find your config.json file, it will not run in Enterprise Edition mode and will not check out floating licenses from the RLM server.
  • It’s not recommended to handle every artist with the config.json file to be installed locally, as one could enable internet connection and other settings that might not be desirable, plus the admin will lose control over further configuration.
  • If user has a spotty network connection and experiences frequently licensing issues, please read this topic on Roam licenses.