Deadline 4.1Sp1 batch render problems

Deadline
1

Hello everyone.
What I have for now: 3ds max 2009 & vray scene with predefined render-presets, also with batch render for 9 cams - each of them has own preset and output folder. Also in presets using Render Elements.
This set-up working in brute force way - open max and click render batch file - at finish receiving 9 images + 3 channels for each image.

If start with deadline as batch work - receive just 9 cams without Render Elements and also these 9 images are wrong - looks like incorrect loading of presets, in images changed just camera view and kept standard settings for render (not from preset)

Tried another way - started deadline Maxscript work with just one row of script in script template - which means start batch render, everything going ok, but after 5 sec deadline recognized pop-up batch render window and closing max with exception.

It will be good to hear stg for solving this issue.
Thanks a lot.

2

This sounds like a known problem (which just recently came up):
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=4418&p=18505&hilit=batch#p18505

I had asked the poster in that thread to try explicitly setting the presets to see if that helps, but it sounds like you are already doing this. In the Deadline 5.0 beta (which is currently in progress), we found a couple of bugs that contributed to the Batch feature not working:

  1. The preset files are not submitted with the job
  2. Even if they were, Deadline was telling Max to look for them in the wrong location

Both of these issues have been addressed in the Deadline 5.0 beta, so if you would like to join, see this announcement for more info:
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4497

If using the beta is not an option at the moment, we can probably workaround the pop-up issue with your maxscript job. Send us the error report you get which contains the pop-up dump, and we should be able to figure out a pop-up handler for it.

Cheers,

  • Ryan
3

Thanks for fast reply!
Below saved error:

<?xml version="1.0"?> <ErrorReport xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"> <ReportDateTime>2011-02-01T00:18:04.6086+02:00</ReportDateTime> <SlaveMachineName>Athlonx4</SlaveMachineName> <ChunkIndex>0</ChunkIndex> <ReportMessage>Exception during render: An error occurred in RenderTasks(): RenderTask: Unexpected exception (Dialog popup detected: Title "Batch Render In Progress", Message "Current Batch View Progress") at Deadline.Plugins.ScriptPlugin.RenderTasks(Int32 startFrame, Int32 endFrame, String&amp; outMessage)</ReportMessage> <_SlaveVersionString>v4.1.0.43205 R</_SlaveVersionString> <JobName>arte_floorlamp_2009 [MAXSCRIPT]</JobName> <JobSubmitUserName>athlonx4</JobSubmitUserName> <JobSubmitMachineName>Athlonx4</JobSubmitMachineName> <JobSubmitDateTime>2011-02-01T00:17:02</JobSubmitDateTime> <PluginName>3dsmax</PluginName> <FramesList>1-1</FramesList> <TaskSecondsElapsed>36</TaskSecondsElapsed> <ErrorType>RenderPluginException</ErrorType> <ErrorStackTrace> at Deadline.Plugins.Plugin.RenderTask(Int32 startFrame, Int32 endFrame) at Deadline.Slaves.SlaveRenderThread.RenderCurrentTask()</ErrorStackTrace> <SlaveLog>dObjects set to 0 0: INFO: +system_checkForMissingFiles set to false 0: INFO: +system_optimizedAtmospherics set to true 0: INFO: +system_lowThreadPriority set to false 0: INFO: +system_vrayLog_show set to false 0: INFO: +system_vrayLog_level set to 3 0: INFO: +system_raycaster_memLimit set to 3000 0: INFO: +system_vrayLog_file set to c:\VRayLog.txt 0: INFO: +Image Sampler set to Adaptive QMC 0: INFO: +Primary Bounces GI Engine set to Irradiance Map 0: INFO: +Primary Secondary GI Engine set to Light Cache 0: INFO: +Adv.Irradiance Map Interpolation Type set to Least squares fit (good/smooth) 0: INFO: +Adv.Irradiance Map Sample Lookup set to Density-based (best) 0: INFO: +Adv.Irradiance Map Mode set to Single Frame 0: INFO: +Region Sequence set to Triangulation 0: INFO: +Frame Stamp Justify set to Left 0: INFO: &gt;Performing XREF workaround... 0: INFO: &gt;Scanning Renderer Paths... 0: INFO: &gt;Done Scanning Renderer Paths. 0: Plugin rendering frame(s): 1 0: INFO: Render Tasks called 0: INFO: Executing script: C:\Users\RTEwork\AppData\Local\Prime Focus\Deadline\slave\jobsData\batch_start.ms 0: INFO: Starting MAXScript Job... 0: WARNING: Detected popup dialog "Batch Render In Progress". 0: WARNING: ---- dump of dialog ---- 0: WARNING: msctls_progress32: 0: WARNING: Button: Cancel 0: WARNING: Static: Total Progress: 0: WARNING: msctls_progress32: 0: WARNING: Static: Current Rendering Progress 0: WARNING: msctls_progress32: 0: WARNING: Static: Current Batch View Progress 0: WARNING: ---- end dump of dialog ---- ---- February 01 2011 -- 12:18 AM ---- Scheduler Thread - Render Thread 0 threw an error: Scheduler Thread - Exception during render: An error occurred in RenderTasks(): RenderTask: Unexpected exception (Dialog popup detected: Title "Batch Render In Progress", Message "Current Batch View Progress") at Deadline.Plugins.ScriptPlugin.RenderTasks(Int32 startFrame, Int32 endFrame, String&amp; outMessage) </SlaveLog> <PeakRamUsage>2280071168</PeakRamUsage> <PeakRamPercentage>27</PeakRamPercentage> <AverageRam>2120900608</AverageRam> <AverageRamPercentage>25</AverageRamPercentage> <PeakCpuUsage>100</PeakCpuUsage> <UsedCpuClocks>198940</UsedCpuClocks> <CpuUtilisation>49</CpuUtilisation> </ErrorReport>

Better will be using current deadline, but also can try to use newer, but may be little later. And as advice - it will be good to see checkbox at maxscript section about “ignore pop-up” or stg else, because at current deadline is impossible to submit maxscript work in common, bec each script has pop-up or another info system to show progress - so deadline shut down all of them.

Thank you.

4

I think that’s a good idea. We can probably squeeze that option into version 5.

For now, let’s try to workaround that popup error. There are two ways to do this:

  1. Disable popup handling for the 3dsmax plugin. This is not recommended as a long term solution, since it affects Deadline’s ability to detect popups for all 3dsmax jobs, but it may work for you in the short term. To do this, go to \your\repository\plugins\3dsmax and open 3dsmax.py in a text editor. Look for this line:
		self.PopupHandling = True

You will probably find this line in 2 locations, but the one you want is the one near the bottom of the file. All you have to do is change “True” to “False”, like this:

		self.PopupHandling = False

Save the file, and popup handling will now be disabled.

  1. The other option is to leave popup handling enabled, but have Deadline ignore this particular popup. To do that, go to \your\repository\plugins\3dsmax and open 3dsmax.py in a text editor. Look for this code:
		# For Hair Farm progress dialog
		self.AddPopupIgnorer( "Hair Farm" )

Beneath this, we’ll add another ignorer, like this:

		# For Hair Farm progress dialog
		self.AddPopupIgnorer( "Hair Farm" )
		
		# For render progress dialog
		self.AddPopupIgnorer( "Batch Render In Progress" )

Save the file, and Deadline should now ignore this popup.

Cheers,

  • Ryan
5

Thanks! It works right!
did in second way, just ignored exactly this pop-up.

If i’ll find stg more, will let you know :slight_smile: