When you add components on a disciplines flowchart, you will need to define their input and output settings (see Component inputs and outputs on discipline flowcharts). SimpleCloud will then add connection boxes to the left of the component box for inputs and on the right for outputs. By drawing connection lines from the connection boxes, you can define the workflow, with publications from one discipline being passed to other disciplines.
In this article, we explain how to draw connection lines between your components. If you are unfamiliar with the icons on the connection boxes and need more information about how they work, see Component connection icons.
Draw connection lines between components
To draw a connection line from a component's output to an input:
- Select the output connection on the component that is going to publish to the other discipline.
The connection box goes black when it is selected and if you move the cursor, a dotted black connection line appears.
- Draw the line to the input connection on the "target" component in the "target" discipline. Here, we use the term "target" to describe the component and discipline that will use the published component from another discipline. You can connect a component's output to any component input that has the same format, for example, .ma for Maya files.
When you select the input connection, the line becomes solid, which shows the connection has been made.
Note that if a component already has inputs in place, you will draw a line to an extra unused connection box. The box is numbered to show there is a hierarchy of inputs.
If you connect a component's output to its own input, two arrows appear on the input connection and no line is shown.
For more details on the input and output connections and icons, see Component connection icons. - Repeat this process until you have drawn the connection lines that define the flow of files between your disciplines.
- Select Update to save your changes.