Cannot get Houdini Jobs to Render

Deadline
1

Hi,

I recently upgraded to DL 10.1.13.1 for Houdini 18.5 support. I for the life of me cannot render any jobs without getting this error:

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Error

FailRenderException : Error: Caught exception: The attempted operation failed.
at Deadline.Plugins.DeadlinePlugin.FailRender(String message) (Python.Runtime.PythonException)
File “C:\ProgramData\Thinkbox\Deadline10\workers\Production\plugins\601d93de44eac24838c62f3e\Houdini.py”, line 424, in HandleStdoutError
self.FailRender(self.GetRegexMatch(1))
at Python.Runtime.Dispatcher.Dispatch(ArrayList args)
at __FranticX_Processes_ManagedProcess_StdoutHandlerDelegateDispatcher.Invoke()
at FranticX.Processes.ManagedProcess.RegexHandlerCallback.CallFunction()
at FranticX.Processes.ManagedProcess.e(String di, Boolean dj)
at FranticX.Processes.ManagedProcess.Execute(Boolean waitForExit)
at Deadline.Plugins.DeadlinePlugin.DoRenderTasks()
at Deadline.Plugins.PluginWrapper.RenderTasks(Task task, String& outMessage, AbortLevel& abortLevel)
at Deadline.Plugins.PluginWrapper.RenderTasks(Task task, String& outMessage, AbortLevel& abortLevel)

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Type

RenderPluginException

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Stack Trace

at Deadline.Plugins.SandboxedPlugin.d(DeadlineMessage bcn, CancellationToken bco)
at Deadline.Plugins.SandboxedPlugin.RenderTask(Task task, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
at Deadline.Slaves.SlaveRenderThread.c(TaskLogWriter aja, CancellationToken ajb)

I have uninstalled and reinstalled both Deadline and Houdini multiple times without any luck. Is this a bug? I’ve been using Dl for years now and never had something so unsolvable on my end.

Thank you.

2

The Houdini integration plugin performs a RegEx on each line of the rendering application’s STDOUT.
When it matches something that looks like an error message, it normally calls FailRender() and prints to the log what the offending message was.

In this case, it appears that the message was

Error: Caught exception: The attempted operation failed.

In most cases, the Deadline Worker is just the messenger, the Bad News comes from the application it is controlling. There is nothing in this error that implies that Deadline itself failed. In fact, line 424 mentioned in the error report is exactly where the function HandleStdoutError() reporting an error that was caught by an AddStdoutHanderCallback() registered callback is located:

def HandleStdoutError(self):
    self.FailRender(self.GetRegexMatch(1))

The definitions of the handers are around line 46 in the Houdini.py integration script.

So you will have to figure out why the scene you are trying to render is failing. Have you tried a super simple Houdini scene with just basic geometry, light, and camera? Does it still fail?

3

I have the exact same problem. New install of Deadline 10.2.0.10. All nodes are Windows. Very simple Houdini scene. When I copy the Full Command and paste it verbatim into a command line on the render node running with the same user account, the render completes successfully.

4

Hello @maxfurni

Can you share the full job report with me. We might be able to find out which operation was not permitted and why.

Here’s how you get to the Job Reports:

https://docs.thinkboxsoftware.com/products/deadline/10.1/1_User%20Manual/manual/job-controlling.html#job-reports-and-history

Share the Task ID 0 (see in upper pane of Job reports UI - 4th column from left) because it is the most verbose.

As Bobo mentioned above, to test further and get (maybe) more log out of Houdini follow below:

  • Backup [repo]/plugins/Houdini/Houdini.py
  • Look for line self.AddStdoutHandlerCallback( "(Error: .*)" ).HandleCallback += self.HandleStdoutError
  • Comment it out by putting # at the front of the line
  • Reproduce the issue and share the job report for this test too.