IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR ALL USERS:
Please read the following threads for important information regarding Deadline 6.1:
viewtopic.php?f=85&t=4484
viewtopic.php?f=85&t=4483
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What’s New In Deadline 6.1.53080 (Beta 7)
This release includes some additional Python environment fixes. Previously, if PYTHONHOME or PYTHONPATH were not already defined on the system, Deadline would set these values to NULL for the new process, which caused unexpected behavior (like Maya not being able to load its Maya.env file). The fix was to simply remove the variables from the process’ environment instead of setting them to NULL. This change affects the way the Launcher starts up the other Deadline applications (Monitor, Slave, Pulse) and affects the way the Slave launches rendering processes on Linux and OSX. It doesn’t affect the way the Slave launches rendering processes on Windows because that used a different method which was already setting the environment properly.
Job dependency scripts have also changed to improve performance, which means existing dependency scripts will need to be updated. Here are the changes:
- Dependency scripts for jobs that are not frame based will only accept one parameter in the main function, which will represent the job ID (string). This main function should return True if the job can start, or False if it cannot.
- Dependency scripts for jobs that ARE frame based will accept two parameters in the main function: the job ID (string) and a list of task IDs (string list). This main function should return a list of strings representing the IDs of the tasks that can start. This change allows the script to only be run once per job, instead of for each pending task for the job. Note that if this function simply returns the second parameter to the main function as is, then all the tasks will be resumed.
The job dependency view has also had some significant work one on it for this release. The style of the nodes has been changed a bit, including the ability to collapse or expand the job details. In addition, the mini-map can be added to any corner, or hidden if desired. Finally, there have been some additional options added to the right-click menu. There are some kinks to work out still, but we wanted to get these changes in your hands sooner rather than later.
On top of all this, a bunch of bugs were also fixed in this release.
General Improvements
- Housecleaning log messages are now gathered by and shown as the process is running instead of dumping it all at the end.
- Dependency scripts for jobs with per-frame dependencies are now only run once per job, instead of once per pending task.
- Fixed a bug that caused the menu colors to change if the machine went to sleep or the machine’s logged in user was switched.
- When submitting a job, the Auxiliary file information in the results has been cleaned up.
- Cleaned up the MongoDB error message that the Deadline applications would show at startup if they couldn’t connect to the database.
- Dialogs that popup during startup when only the splash screen is visible now show up in the task bar, so you can’t alt+tab to them.
- Deadline user name character restrictions now match those of Active Directory.
- When the Monitor, Slave, or Pulse shuts down, any Log windows that it spawned are closed with it.
- Removed default user name and password from Azure cloud plugin.
Launcher Improvements
- Fixed a bug where the Launcher could start the other Deadline applications with an incorrect Python environment.
- When changing repositories, the repository list dropdown is now sorted by most recently used repositories.
- Fixed a memory leak in the Launcher.
Monitor Improvements
- Fixed a bug where Drag & Drop job dependencies wouldn’t work if the Job ID column was hidden.
- Fixed a bug where remote commands would timeout too quickly.
- Removed some debugging output when sending remote commands.
- When viewing a task image with a custom viewer, the viewer process’ environment is now setup properly.
- Added the missing On Task Timeout setting to the Timeouts page in the job properties dialog.
- Added an Apple Remote Desktop scripts option to the script menus that already support VNC and RDC.
- The Monitor settings in the Repository Options now has an interval setting for Cloud list updates.
- When changing user, the current user is now selected properly even if the letter casing doesn’t match.
- When sending remote commands, if the host name resolves to 255.255.255.255, a better error message is shown that says the host name is unknown.
- The CTRL+F keyboard shortcut for the Job/Slave Report panel now works properly when the panel is docked.
- The CTRL+F keyboard shortcut for the Console and Job/Slave Report panels should now work properly on OSX.
- Added a paragraph of helpful info to the Scan For Missing Output dialog.
- If no tasks are selected in the Scan For Missing Output dialog, no prompt is shown when pressing OK.
- Increased the initial size of the Monitor Layout selection dialog.
- When changing the frames per task of a job to a small size, any stats for the original completed tasks are now averaged over the newly created tasks.
- Fixed an issue that caused the Montior to crash when using the native file or folder browser on Kubuntu.
- The job list and the job details panels now show the secondary pool for a job if it has one (in the format “primary / secondary”).
- Changed the wording of the Sync All Auxiliary Files job property to Re-sync Auxiliary Files Between Tasks.
- Reorded the properties in the job details panel to be more consistent with the propery ordering in the Job Properties dialog.
- Fixed remote exec tooltip to not mention the Slave, since the Pulse panel also uses it.
- Fixed up some tab orders, and added missing tooltips in various dialogs.
- Added buttons to clear the current icon and shortcut when customizing the script menus in the Repository Options.
- When choosing icons for submission scripts, the last icon path is now remembered for the next time the browser dialog is shown.
- Housecleaning process is now run in a separate thread so that you can continue to use the Monitor while it’s running.
- The power management dialog now properly disables the slave scheduling time boxes for newly created groups.
- Updated job dependency view panel.
Slave Improvements
- Fixed a bug where the Slave could start the rendering process with an incorrect Python environment.
- Fixed a bug where the slave still gathers CPU and RAM info on Linux/OSX even if the feature is disabled in the Repository Options.
- Fixed a bug where the slave wasn’t always setting the task’s render start time accurately.
- When attempting to dequeue a job that has asset dependencies, the slave will skip over that job if it can’t see any of its required assets.
- The Slave now only maps drives at the start of a job.
- Fixed a bug where the slave would start at the wrong task for a job with Sequential rendering enabled.
- The slave will now return its license if it is disabled.
Pulse Improvements
- Fixed a bug where Pulse would send more than one slave scheduling shutdown/startup command to a slave on the same day. This prevent someone from running the slave on their machine after the “Stop Slave” time.
Command Improvements
- Fixed a Qt error when closing the dialog shown by the ShowUserDialog command.
- Added GetJobErrorReportFilenames, GetJobLogReportFilenamescommands, and GetSlaveErrorReportFilenames commands to get report file names.
- The filter option for the SelectFilenameSave and SelectFilenameLoad commands now works properly.
- Added missing help info to the GetJobAuxiliaryPath command.
- Fixed a bug with the ShowMessageBox command where it would throw an exception when closing instead of printing out the pressed button.
- The SetJobSetting command now prints out the appropriate message when no jobs with the given ids could be found.
3ds Cmd Improvements
- Fixed some bugs in the integrated 3dsCmd submitter, including the bug where it wasn’t setting the frame list option properly.
3ds Max Improvements
- VRay progress reporting is working again.
- Fixed an error that occurred during shutdown if the socket connection to 3ds Max wasn’t initialized yet.
- The DeadlineUtil.GetAuxFilename maxscript utility function now works properly again.
- In SMTD, the “compose over previous output” option is now disabled by default.
- Render element paths are now stored in the job’s plugin info.
- Path mapping is now performed by the 3ds Max plugin (including all contents in the job’s plugin info).
- Added missing DeadlineUtil functions to the MAXScriptJobTemplate.ms script file.
- Added a workaround in SMTD for gw.transpoint which was broken in Nitrous in Max 2012.
- Lightning now saves its 3dsmaxConnect.log file to the Deadline 6 logs folder.
- Updated SMTD version to 6.1.
After Effects Improvements
- Added an option to the integrated submitter to just use the comp name for multiple jobs, instead of both the project and the comp name.
Anime Improvements
- Added explicit support for Anime Studio 8, 9, and 9.5.
- The submitter now sets the padding in the output file name properly for Anime Studio 9 and later.
- The plugin now sets the output format command line argument to lower case for Anime Studio 9.5 and later.
Draft Improvement
- Added the Additional Arguments option to all the other submitters that support Draft.
Draft Tile Assembly Improvements
- Updated SMTD to create tile assembly config file in output location.
- The Draft tile submitter now shows the correct icon.
- Improved some of the logging messages (including progress messages) from the assembly process.
FFMpeg Improvement
- Fixed a bug when replacing the input/output path padding with the required FFMpeg syntax for files that have a ‘-’ before the padding.
Maya Improvements
- They Monitor submitter now has the project folder listed first, and the Maya scene file and output directory will default to this project path unless they already have paths defined.
- The Edit Project button in the integrated submitter now works again.
- When stripping the scene file name in the integrated submitter, only the .mb or .ma extension is stripped. This ensures that the output file name is set correctly if the scene file has a ‘.’ in its name and the output file name is set to use the scene file name.
- When submitting an Arnold export job, a dependent Arnold standalone job is now submitted for each layer.
- When using the MayaBatch plugin, there is now an option to run a mel script when Maya starts up.
- The PYTHONHOME environment variable is now set for the Maya rendering process on Windows (previously, it was just set on OSX).
- The Explore Output option now works correctly when right-clicking a Maya Krakatoa job that was submitted in Deadline.
Nuke Improvements
- Sticky Deadline settings are now stored in the Nuke script before it is submitted to Deadline.
Quicktime Improvements
- Fixed some UI bugs in the Job list’s quicktime submission script.
VRay DBR Improvements
- VRay RT for 3ds Max is now supported.