Cross Platform Font Sync Issue

Deadline
1

Hey Everyone,

I recently set up Deadline for After Effects and while I have had success rendering out basic projects with images etc. I am having an issue with font synchronization between OSX and Windows

Our current setup consists of 2 computers
One is a Mac OSX 10.7.5 running After Effects CS5.5 which we use to submit the jobs
& a desktop PC running windows 7 64bit using the CS6 render engine operating as a slave.

we are using Deadline Version: 6.2.0.32

We’ve currently got our fonts stored on a mapped harddrive with full permissions, the PC also has full Read/Write permissions for the local MAC Font folder (/Library/Fonts).
We ONLY use Mac fonts for the content creation.

Network Windows Font Folder: E:\RENDER WATCH FOLDER\Watchfolder\Fonts_WIN
Local Windows Font Folder: E:\RENDER WATCH FOLDER\Watchfolder\Fonts_MAC
Network Mac Font Folder: /Volumes/Render/RENDER WATCH FOLDER/Watchfolder/Fonts_MAC
Local Mac Font Folder: /Library/Fonts

We originally had the Local windows font folder directed to C:\Windows\Fonts which didn’t work (I read there was an issue writing to this folder on Windows Visa and up) so we just copied the fonts onto the network and mapped it there.

Here are our mapped paths:

Here is the log we are getting currently:

=======================================================
Error

Error: The following layer dependencies are missing
Text Layer: Font family: HelveticaNeue, Font style: Regular
at Deadline.Plugins.ScriptPlugin.RenderTasks(String taskId, Int32 startFrame, Int32 endFrame, String& outMessage, AbortLevel& abortLevel)

=======================================================
Type

RenderPluginException

=======================================================
Stack Trace

at Deadline.Plugins.Plugin.RenderTask(String taskId, Int32 startFrame, Int32 endFrame)
at Deadline.Slaves.SlaveRenderThread.RenderCurrentTask(TaskLogWriter tlw)

=======================================================
Full Log

0: Task timeout is disabled.
0: Loaded job: IGAProductsOftheWeek240914.aep - SpecialsCombinedMay14 (multi-machine rendering frames 0-2600) (5420b91aee6a010a34b6b5d5)
0: Skipping drive mapping because they have already been mapped for this job
0: INFO: Executing plugin script C:\Users\Render\AppData\Local\Thinkbox\Deadline6\slave\RENDER-PC\plugins\5420b91aee6a010a34b6b5d5\AfterEffects.py
0: INFO: Fail on Existing After Effects process: 0
0: INFO: About: After Effects Plugin for Deadline
0: INFO: The current environment will be used for rendering
0: Plugin rendering frame(s): 1
0: INFO: Synchronizing with network Font folder ‘E:\RENDER WATCH FOLDER\Watchfolder\Fonts_WIN’
0: INFO: Synchronizing to local Font folder ‘E:\RENDER WATCH FOLDER\Watchfolder\Fonts_MAC’
0: INFO: Stdout Handling Enabled: True
0: INFO: Popup Handling Enabled: True
0: INFO: Using Process Tree: True
0: INFO: Hiding DOS Window: True
0: INFO: Creating New Console: False
0: INFO: Executable: “C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CS6\Support Files\aerender.exe”
0: INFO: Multi Machine Mode enabled
0: INFO: Argument: -project “E:\RENDER WATCH FOLDER\Watchfolder\IGAProductsOftheWeek240914 folder\IGAProductsOftheWeek240914.aep” -comp “SpecialsCombinedMay14” -output “E:\RENDER WATCH FOLDER\Watchfolder\IGAProductsOftheWeek240914 folder(IGAProductsOftheWeek240914 Output)\WeeklySpecialTest5\SpecialsCombinedMay14_[#####].png”
0: INFO: Startup Directory: “C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CS6\Support Files”
0: INFO: Process Priority: BelowNormal
0: INFO: Process Affinity: default
0: INFO: Process is now running
0: STDOUT: Using DXGI: Device: “Intel® HD Graphics 4600” has dedicated video RAM (MB): 64 and has shared video RAM (MB): 1632 (Total: 1696 MB)
0: STDOUT: aerender version 11.0.4x2
0: STDOUT: INFO:After Effects: this project must be converted from version 10.5 (Macintosh 64) and will open as an untitled project. The original file will be unchanged.
0: STDOUT: INFO:The following layer dependencies are missing:
0: STDOUT: Text Layer: Font family: HelveticaNeue, Font style: Regular
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: 23/09/2014 10:06:00 AM: Starting composition SpecialsCombinedMay14.
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Render Settings: Multi-Machine Settings
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Quality: Best
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Resolution: Full
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Size: 1072 x 540
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Proxy Use: Use No Proxies
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Effects: Current Settings
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Disk Cache: Read Only
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Color Depth: Current Settings
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Frame Blending: On for Checked Layers
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Field Render: Off
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Pulldown: Off
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Motion Blur: On for Checked Layers
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS:
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Solos: Current Settings
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Time Span: Work Area
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Start: 0:00:00:00
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: End: 0:01:44:00
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Duration: 0:01:44:01
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Frame Rate: 25.00 (comp)
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Guide Layers: All Off
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Skip Existing Files: On
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS:
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Output Module: Multi-Machine Sequence
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Output To: E:\RENDER WATCH FOLDER\Watchfolder\IGAProductsOftheWeek240914 folder(IGAProductsOftheWeek240914 Output)\WeeklySpecialTest5\SpecialsCombinedMay14_[#####].png
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Format: PNG
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Output Info: -
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Start Frame: 0
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Output Audio: -
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Channels: RGB + Alpha
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Depth: Millions of Colors+
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Color: Straight
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Resize: -
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Crop: -
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Final Size: 1072 x 540
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Profile: -
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Embed Profile:
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS:
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Post-Render Action: None
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS:
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS:
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS:
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS:
0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: 0:00:00:00 (1): 0 Seconds

=======================================================
Details

Date: 09/23/2014 10:06:02
Frames: 1
Elapsed Time: 00:00:00:10
Job Submit Date: 09/23/2014 10:04:42
Job User: ****************
Average RAM Usage: 3619183872 (11%)
Peak RAM Usage: 3751100416 (11%)
Average CPU Usage: 12%
Peak CPU Usage: 16%

=======================================================
Slave Information

Slave Name: RENDER-PC
Version: v6.2.0.32 R (2563d5bc8)
Operating System: Windows 7 Professional (SP1)
Machine User: Render
IP Address: ********************
MAC Address: *******************
CPU Architecture: x64
CPUs: 8
CPU Usage: 1%
Memory Usage: 3.4 GB / 31.9 GB (10%)
Free Disk Space: 469.398 GB (20.195 GB on C:, 449.203 GB on E:)
Video Card: Intel® HD Graphics 4600

Thanks in advance for any help!!

Luke @ Plasma-Tech

2

Hey Luke,

I spent a fair amount of time troubleshooting this about six months ago.

The ‘local fonts’ path for Windows should be on the machine doing the rendering, and I’m not exactly sure how the Windows API will treat a mapped network drive.

I’ll do some testing and see where I get, but you should make a folder on the rendering machines to store the fonts, then confirm that at least they are being copied locally.

Update:

So, it definitely works if you provide a local folder. Here’s my example:
Local: C:\Test\Fonts
Remote: A:\users\edwin.amsler\DumpBin\Fonts (yes, you can mount ‘a’ and ‘b’ :smiley:)

The only issue here is that the way we register the fonts is per-session, so if you remove a font from the folder, it will still exist locally, but won’t be available after a logout/reboot.