Yesterday I sent DL a Max8 job lasting about 15hrs. Today I went to look at the files, and there were none. Appearently I added a filename and path in Max, but somehow "unchecked" the save files box. Deadline went off and did the job, and successfully completed it, but never saved any files. I had the VFB window open, so I saw the progress.
I'm a bit surprised that DL did not warn me that the files would not be saved. Backburner will tell you that the submitted job has no saved file sequence.
Is there some level of error checking I need to turn on to get a warning about not saving file sequence?
I checked the job properties after realizing the files were not being saved, and saw that it lists in the Render Options the path and filename, but no indication that the file is actually going to be saved. (it's implied).
I caught this mistake on my part when I went to RMB on the Tasks to view the output, and did not find the normal option to view the output. At that moment I realized I had somehow unchecked the box back in Max.
Is this just my dumb mistake or does DL not check to see if your Max file is set to save output files?
I had even run the sanity check when I first started to test DL, but on this last render, it fell off my procedure list. . . I will check the option to run at submission as that will keep me from making more late night blunders. . . Thanks again.
Here are some thoughts on the Sanity Check function. Running on Max v8sp3.
1. The Sanity Check does not catch the Save File checkbox and flag it as un-checked. It will allow submission of a job that will not save files. It checks the existance of a valid path and file only. Once you add a file path, any errors will be missed. If your running tests and not rendering through DL, I frequently check and un check that box. If you forget to check it at final render time, your files will not be saved and you will not be warned.
2. The default tab in the submission dialog is Job. I'd love to see the run Sanity Check button moved to that page (leave the option in Options) or the Submission and Monitor buttons are large and always visible. Is it possible to get that button down in that area so it is always visible?
3. I frequently get maxscript errors when double clicking on the Error Description line in the Sanity Check window. See .jpg for example.
Actually, there is a property to check the state of the save file flag and I will add a test and repair option to the Sanity Check to check for that one, too.
The reason it is allowed to submit jobs with that file unchecked is, as Ryan mentioned, that Deadline jobs do not necessarily have to save to a file - for example if you want to render Render Elements only without saving a main output. But you are right, we should be more rigorous when it comes to this setting.
The default tab in the
submission dialog is Job. I’d
love to see the run Sanity
Check button moved to that
page (leave the option in
Options) or the
Submission and Monitor buttons
are large and always visible.
Is it possible to get that
button down in that area so it
is always visible?
It would be possible and easy to do. Truth is you are possibly the only one using the Sanity Check (at least I haven’t heard of anybody else using it).
I frequently get maxscript
errors when double clicking on
the Error Description line in
the Sanity Check window. See
.jpg for example.
Where is the jpg?
I realized there were some bogus functions in the Sanity Check yesterday because Ryan enabled the Check by default on all Frantic installations. Of course, everybody including me immediately turned it off, because we hate that thing popping up and telling us what to do… ;o)
Will go through all the functions again and make sure it runs in both 8 and 9 (the 9 version uses DotNet controls and requires a Right Click instead of a DoubleClick, but it also has those errors).
Sorry for the inconvenience, we will try to fix these things ASAP.
Oh man, I feel personally responsible for all the crew getting those pop-ups unexpectedly the other day ;( Do I need to send beer?
Since I'm on Max8 (first time since DOS I did not upgrade, wanted to see who wins Max/Maya) and current version is 9, I understand that v8 might have some differences or issues :) I am certainly not being inconvienced in any way, your software is impressive. And since I'm still working with Free version I am feeling a bit "guilty" for not paying yet.
I totally get that the Sanity check is probably not being used by many folks. I just noticed the check box thing because Back Burner would catch that little un-check goof during late-night render jobs. I think just adding a warning, so that if you do use Sanity check, it will catch that gotcha. Putting the check button in the always visible area would be a nice addition, but probably not worth the effort
The Maxscript error is now attached, sorry I forgot to attach. When I get any that are different I will post. I think that one was during a "Current view isn NOT a camera" check.
Please don’t feel bad, we are grateful that someone found these bugs so we can spend some time fixing them once and forever.
After all, this would benefit all our customers (and believe it or not, we consider people using the free version customers of ours - a customer is a person or a company that uses our product, not necessarily an entity that sens us money ;o)
We already moved the sanity check into the top area of the dialog. We also fixed some issues in the Max 9 version (unchecking all checkboxes did not update the status light correctly).
We added the check for the save file checkbox as a “Can Be Fixed” type of error, double-clicking (right-clicking in Max 9) will automagically check it. The error will only be shown if there is a save path. If there is no save path, the There is no output path error will be shown instead. Since fixing that would automatically check the save file checkbox, fixing the one would fix the other. This way, we don’t get multiple messages about the same area of the Render dialog.
I bumped up the severity of the missing output file to “Can Be Fixed” instead of “Warning” so it requires an action from the user to submit without a file name.
Once again, thank you for the report and sorry for the inconvenience.
Borislav “Bobo” Petrov
Technical Director 3D VFX
Frantic Films Winnipeg
P.S. Here is a related joke about customer service:
A guy decided to buy a Rolls Royce car and went on a trip around Europe. One day, his car broke down and he called the company. They sent a technician to the place he was who fixed the problem and flew back. The car owner continued the trip but could not sleep thinking about the size of the bill he would have to pay for the repair.
After he came back from the trip he started waiting and waiting and one day he picked up the phone and called the company. “I had a problem with my Rolls Royce several months ago and I am still waiting for the bill” he asked. “What are you talking about?” answered the guy from the company. “Our cars do not break down”.
Funny story too. And I wouldn't doubt if there was some truth in that story back in the day.
> >P.S. Here is a related joke about customer service: > >A guy decided to buy a Rolls Royce car and went on a trip >around Europe. One day, his car broke down and he called the >company. They sent a technician to the place he was who >fixed the problem and flew back. The car owner continued the >trip but could not sleep thinking about the size of the bill >he would have to pay for the repair. >After he came back from the trip he started waiting and >waiting and one day he picked up the phone and called the >company. "I had a problem with my Rolls Royce several months >ago and I am still waiting for the bill" he asked. "What are >you talking about?" answered the guy from the company. "Our >cars do not break down".
