.. _GETTINGSTARTED_INDEX: Getting started with |FABRIC_PRODUCT_NAME| =========================================== .. image:: /images/FE_logo_345_60.* :width: 345px :height: 60px | |FABRIC_PRODUCT_NAME| version |FABRIC_VERSION| | |FABRIC_COPYRIGHT| Introduction -------------- Welcome to the Getting Started Guide for |FABRIC_PRODUCT_NAME|! This is a step by step guide on how to get into |FABRIC_PRODUCT_NAME| and how you can use it to improve your workflows. .. image:: /images/GettingStarted/02_canvas.png |FABRIC_PRODUCT_NAME| is an accessible and portable development framework that helps visual effects and games studios reduce the cost and risk of building high-performance custom tools. |FABRIC_PRODUCT_NAME| allows users to easily create standalone applications or extend their content creation applications without needing a deep understanding multi-threading or GPU coding, or technical languages like C++. Included with Fabric 2 is a standalone utility called :dfn:`Fabric Standalone` as well as a series of integrations into existing DCC (Digital Content Creation) applications, such as Autodesk Maya, The Foundry MODO or Autodesk Softimage. You can use the :dfn:`Fabric Standalone` to get familiar with the |FABRIC_PRODUCT_NAME| visual programming paradigm, and also to write your very first KL node directly within the application (see :ref:`CANVASUSERGUIDE` for more information). If you are interested in one of the integrations for Fabric :dfn:`Canvas` you will find the relevant information here as well. Using :dfn:`Canvas` within DCCs provides a high performance alternative to the host application's features while being 100% portable! If you are interested in using :dfn:`Canvas` directly within a DCC, you can skip to the :ref:`GETTINGSTARTED_DCCINSTALLATION` section. If you want to know more information about the Canvas user interface, please refer to the :ref:`CANVASUSERGUIDE`. If you are a commercial customer, feel free to ask questions and submit tickets through your Zendesk portal. If you are using a free |FABRIC_PRODUCT_NAME| license, feel free to ask questions on the |FABRIC_PRODUCT_NAME| `forum `_. Table of Contents ----------------- .. toctree:: :maxdepth: 2 baseinstallation licensing dccinstallation firststeps canvastutorials mayatutorials modotutorials softimagetutorials