Hi everyone, my first post here!
I am getting problems importing RLA passes on After Effects when rendered on Deadline. Saving on vRay Frame Buffer (Max) as the same RLA format I don’t have any issue. The RGB main pass is ok, as you can see on the name list on the left, the problem only occurs with vray Elements rendered on Deadline, as you can see on the error message.
Am I doing something wrong? I can send any further info if needed.
Thanks!
=)
Can you use EXR file format and the ProEXR plugin in AE instead? Some of VRay VFB based RE’s have a higher bit depth than others (VRay’s RE’s “Reflection”, “Refraction” and “Alpha”), so if you remove those, it might be ok. However, RLA/RPF is pretty much a dead file format in the industry these days, so I would recommend standardising on EXR or render the channels (RE’s) out to separate file formats. (I know after doing a lot of benchmark testing in AE, that multi-channel EXR files are really slow, but if you use PNG files for the lower bit depth RE’s, AE will be soooo fast.)
I believe this is a known issue in AE:
myleniumerrors.com/category/afte … ber/61-80/
Message text:
After Effects error: RLA data size does not match image size.
Message interpretation:
There was extraneous data in your RLA file that the program cannot interpret.
Possible causes:
RLA handling in After Effects does not support specific formats or arbitrary channels that were introduced in Autodesk products like Maya or MAX in more recent versions. This can include 32bpc data, “invisible” buffers or data extending outside the camera frustum. This can mean that for any of these data types there is no actually visible pixel and the program therefore cannot associate those custom buffers and figure out their relation to the visible content.
Resolution or workaround:
Choose render settings that avoid these issue, use other formats like multipass OpenEXR or render each of these buffers to its own separate image sequence. Optionally convert the files in one of Autodesk’s compositing programs or tools like fcheck that are included with the 3D programs.
Thank you for response Mike,
I use EXR and RLA in my pipeline, and both are useful for different purposes. The advantage in EXR is the multichannel, and in RLA are the g-buffer passes, like Object ID. I use a lot of Objects IDs as RLA because they are very light in size and do a perfect job to isolate objects when compositing. Much better than ID Color or Wirecolor selection.
And RLA passes works perfect well when saved on vRay frame buffer or directly on Max’s QuickRender window. (see image bellow)
We are trying Deadline and so far looks the best farm manager in our opinion… Jigsaw is a dream!!! But I need RLA beside EXR in my pipeline and this limitation diminishes our will to definitely buy the product as our final manager. Jigsaw assembler doesn’t assembles RLA too, unfortunately.
I’ll do some tests based on the article link you gave me and try to figure out a way to workaround this issue when using Deadline. If anyone have any idea plz share with us!!
Cheers!
P.S.: I just tried to open the Deadline rendered RLA file on Nuke and I am getting read error too. =(
Hi,
I’ve tried as many combinations as I can think of and in all cases except one, RLA’s work perfectly via Deadline. The only exception, is that Deadline renders 32bit RLA files fine. However, AE is unable to handle the higher bit depth. Nuke seems to work better here. So, apart from that, I’m unable to reproduce any issue that you are are seeing here.
Here’s some details and some attached example files to show you what I was testing against and I also included an example 3dsMax-MultiChannel EXR workflow, where I’m saving to EXR files both as a single multi-channel exr file and also separating them out into individual files (you wouldn’t do both in reality; just showing you). In both cases, I’m able to save out either VFB or the Max buffer, the object ID as well as other RE passes and import them into AE CC 2014 & Nuke v9.0v6 just fine. I can then use (in the case of the single multi channel EXR file), the AE “effects” → “3D Channel Extract” or “EXtractoR” to separate the EXR channels if I so wish. Note, you can create multichannel EXR files as a single EXR file if you so wish from either VFB or the Max buffer. See the file saving options in Max. In the VFB, you can use the “Separate Render Channels” to split the RE’s out to separate files, PNG for lower bit depth will be super fast in AE.
RLA_Test.zip (3.06 MB)
Screen Shot 2015-07-05 at 12.04.34.png
Note the caveats with regard G-buffer & RE support in VRay in 3dsMax:
docs.chaosgroup.com/display/VRAY … r+Support#
docs.chaosgroup.com/display/VRAY … +Elements#
If you need us to continue testing the RLA workflow, then could you please confirm the exact versions you are using and also provide a demo scene file (can just be a single teapot or torus, for example) with the scene file all setup to render as you are seeing your issue and then I can try and reproduce. However, I would recommend the EXR workflow.
I was testing against:
Max2014 + latest service packs + latest extension
Deadline v7.1.2.1
VRay v3.25 (nightly build - latest)
AE CC 2014 + latest service pack
NukeX 9.0v6
re: Jigsaw
Thanks for the feedback! RLA/RPF is a closed image file format spec owned by Autodesk. As a result, nobody has the access to develop an application which could stitch individual RLA/RPF files together. Unless, ADSK were to open up their image file spec, nobody can stitch these files except ADSK. Conversely, I don’t know of any studios still using RLA/RPF workflow, as the majority of studios use EXR, which thankfully ILM open-sourced and both our older (now end of life) “TileAssembler” and newer, next gen, Jigsaw “DraftTileAssembler” support. (There are a few caveats where the TileAssembler does not support, which the newer Draft one does). See here for more info that subject:
docs.thinkboxsoftware.com/produc … d-meanings
Hello Mike! Thanks for sharing the files.
I’ve just reinstalled my Deadline 7.1.0.35 R and rendered your file and everything is working great. I am not getting the error on After FX anymore. Now I’ll do some tests with a real job and see what happens.
I am familiar with the EXR workflow you explained, but the thing I really love on RLA format is the easy way to isolate elements, without the need to render a different ID pass, or Wirecolor Pass, and charge my storage space even more. Neither the need to setup a color key node to get the alpha I want and risking to get undesirable “mask borders” between my layers. Since RLA mask is not color keyed, we don’t have those keying border issues.
If you show me a similar easy way to isolate elements using EXR on After FX, as I show you using RLA on the attached video, without using color keying process, I promise you I will never use RLA anymore!!
Cheers!
Douglas
Torus_Knot_RLA_Test_01.mp4 (1.81 MB)
Doesn’t VRay’s “VRayObjectID” RE not provide the same functionality as the built-in G-Buffer? My understanding is trying to use the 3dsMax G-Buffer items in VRay ends up using more memory during rendering, instead of using VRay’s specific RE’s.
docs.chaosgroup.com/display/VRAY … +Elements#
As this is more a Lightning/Rendering workflow question and Deadline is now working as expected, I would probably recommend there are others much better versed in this subject over on the VRay forum:
forums.chaosgroup.com/forum.php
Finally, Deadline v7.1.2.1 is the latest patch version of Deadline, so please do contact our sales team and ask them to send you the latest version/license as this has important bug fixes for v7.1.0.35.
