Automation of EVS

Given an appropriate Enterprise license or Automation license, EVS can be run in a fully automated manner in two ways. The first is to use special command line flags to run the program, open applications, run scripts, and cleanly close when complete. The second is to use an external language and programming API to control EVS via custom written code.

Automating EVS via the Command Line

EVS can be automated using custom command line arguments. The command line arguments all have a long form as well as a shorter form, either of which can be used identically.

The available arguments are:

• –file or -f followed by the full path to an .evs file: Load a specific EVS application when opening EVS
• –python or -p followed by the full path to a .py file: Run a specific Python script after loading the EVS application
• –shutdown or -s: Shut down EVS after the application opens and any specified Python script finishes running.
• –suppressplash or -w: Do not show the splash screen when starting EVS
• –startminimized or -m: Start and run EVS minimized

For example, the following command, if added to a batch file (.bat), would run EVS Version 2024.9.1 (if installed to default location), suppress the splash screen, open a specific application, run a specified Python script, then shut down immediately when finished:

start /wait “C:\Program Files\C Tech Development Corp\EVS 2024.9.1\bin\system\EarthVolumetricStudio.exe” -f “C:\Projects\My Application.evs” -p “C:\Projects\My Python Script.py” -w -s

Given an appropriate Enterprise license or Automation license, EVS can be run in a fully automated manner in two ways. The first is to use special command line flags to run the program, open applications, run scripts, and cleanly close when complete. The second is to use an external language and programming API to control EVS via custom written code.

Automation via Custom Code

EVS can also be automated by using custom written code and our API. We currently support a Python API for automation of EVS.

Full details can be found at https://github.com/C-Tech-Development-Corp/python_evs_automation. Also see the Python Scripting help topic.

The Python API strives to be as compatible with scripts written inside EVS’s internal Python environment as possible. With the proper libraries available within your Python environment, scripts written within EVS can be adapted to be run externally within any automated system with few changes.

Here is an example script which loads an application, adds a new titles module, then runs a Python script:

import evs_automation

try:
    with evs_automation.start_new() as evs:
        # Load an application
        evs.load_application('C:\\Projects\\my application.evs')

        # Instance a titles module and set the title
        newmodule = evs.instance_module('titles', 'titles', 363, 679)
        evs.connect(newmodule, 'Output Object', 'viewer', 'Objects')
        evs.set_module(newmodule, 'Properties', 'Title', 'Title added from script')
        evs.set_module(newmodule, 'Positioning', 'Anchor Side', 0)

        # Execute a Python script
        evs.execute_python_script('C:\\Projects\\export_data.py')

except Exception as e:
    print(f"Received exception : {e}")