Create a queue environment - AWS Deadline Cloud
Default Conda queue environment

Create a queue environment

A queue environment is a set of environment variables and commands that set up fleet workers. You can use queue environments to provide software applications, environment variables, and other resources to jobs in the queue.

When you create a queue, you have the option of creating a default Conda queue environment. This environment provides service-managed fleets access to packages for partner DCC applications and renderers. The default environment For more information, see Default Conda queue environment.

You can add queue environments using the console, or by editing the json or YAML template directly. This procedure describes how to create an environment with the console.

  1. To add a queue environment to a queue, navigate to the queue and select the Queue environments tab.

  2. Choose Actions, then Create new with form.

  3. Enter a name and description for the queue environment.

  4. Choose Add new environment variable, and then enter a name and value for each variable you add.

  5. (Optional) Enter a priority for the queue environment. The priority indicates the order that this queue environment will run on the worker. Higher priority queue environments will run first.

  6. Choose Create queue environment.

Default Conda queue environment

When you create a queue associated with a service-managed fleet, you have the option of adding a default queue environment that supports Conda to download and install packages in a virtual environment for your jobs.

If you add a default queue environment with the Deadline Cloud console, the environment is created for you. If you add a queue another way, such as the AWS CLI or with AWS CloudFormation, you'll need to create the queue environment yourself. To ensure you have the correct contents for the environment, you can refer to queue environment template YAML files on GitHub. For the contents of the default queue environment, see the default queue environment YAML file on GitHub.

There are other queue environment templates available on GitHub that you can use as a starting point for your own needs.

Conda provides packages from channels. A channel is a location where packages are stored. Deadline Cloud provides a channel, deadline-cloud, that hosts Conda packages that support partner DCC applications and renderers. Select each tab below to view the available packages for Linux or Windows.

Linux

  • Blender

    • blender=3.6

    • blender=4.2

    • blender-openjd

  • Houdini

    • houdini=19.5

    • houdini=20.0

    • houdini=20.5

    • houdini-openjd

  • Maya

    • maya=2024

      maya=2025

    • maya-mtoa=2024.5.3

      maya-mtoa=2025.5.4

    • maya-openjd

  • Nuke

    • nuke=15

    • nuke-openjd

Windows

  • After Effects

    • aftereffects=24.6

    • aftereffects=25.1

  • Cinema 4D

    • cinema4d=2024

    • cinema4d=2025

    • cinema4d-openjd

  • KeyShot

    • keyshot=2024

    • keyshot-openjd

When you submit a job to a queue with the default Conda environment, the environment adds two parameters to the job. These parameters specify the Conda packages and channels to use to configure the job's environment before tasks are processed. The parameters are:

  • CondaPackages – a space-separated list of package match specifications, such as blender=3.6 or numpy>1.22. The default is empty to skip creating a virtual environment.

  • CondaChannels – a space separated list of Conda channels such as deadline-cloud, conda-forge, or s3://amzn-s3-demo-bucket/conda/channel. The default is deadline-cloud, a channel available to service-managed fleets that provides partner DCC applications and renderers.

When you use an integrated submitter to send a job to Deadline Cloud from your DCC, the submitter populates the value of the CondaPackages parameter based on the DCC application and submitter. For example, if you are using Blender the CondaPackage parameter is set to blender=3.6.* blender-openjd=0.4.*.