Houdini 19.0.383 + Arnold Job fail on simple scene

gregoire_d · April 22, 2022, 3:48pm

Hello there, I’m tinkering with Deadline for a small farm with workstations on Windows 10

I can submit jobs fine with Houdini, but job fail when I try to submit a scene with a Arnold ROP or any Arnold material node inside, even if I submit the job to my own workstation.

After some adjustments to hrender_dl.py to make the error more verbose , I was able to find the culprit :

=======================================================
Error
=======================================================
FailRenderException : Error:       Bad parent found (parent is not a network): mat/grey/OUT_material.init.
   at Deadline.Plugins.DeadlinePlugin.FailRender(String message) (Python.Runtime.PythonException)
  File "C:\ProgramData\Thinkbox\Deadline10\workers\suzanne\plugins\6262c14683d0c90012ac7cbc\Houdini.py", line 440, in HandleStdoutError
    self.FailRender(self.GetRegexMatch(0))
...
=======================================================
...
2022-04-22 16:55:11:  0: STDOUT: Input File: P:/TEST_FARM/houdini/cube.hip
2022-04-22 16:55:12:  0: STDOUT: Unknown command: verification_id
2022-04-22 16:55:12:  0: STDOUT: Unknown command: license_id
2022-04-22 16:55:12:  0: STDOUT: Unknown command: lock
2022-04-22 16:55:12:  0: STDOUT: Unknown command: product_id
2022-04-22 16:55:12:  0: STDOUT: Unknown command: server_platform
2022-04-22 16:55:12:  0: STDOUT: Unknown command: support_expiry
2022-04-22 16:55:12:  0: STDOUT: Unknown command: houdini_version
2022-04-22 16:55:12:  0: STDOUT: Unknown command: available
2022-04-22 16:55:12:  0: STDOUT: Unknown command: count
2022-04-22 16:55:12:  0: STDOUT: Unknown command: ip_mask
2022-04-22 16:55:12:  0: STDOUT: Unknown command: display
2022-04-22 16:55:12:  0: STDOUT: Unknown command: }
2022-04-22 16:55:12:  0: STDOUT: The attempted operation failed.
2022-04-22 16:55:12:  0: STDOUT: Error loading: P:/TEST_FARM/houdini/cube.hip
2022-04-22 16:55:12:  0: STDOUT: Warning:     Bad node type found: arnold_materialbuilder in /mat.
2022-04-22 16:55:12:  0: STDOUT: Warning:     Bad node type found: arnold_materialbuilder in /mat.
2022-04-22 16:55:12:  0: Done executing plugin command of type 'Render Task'

I guess the HtoA plugin is not correctly loaded for the job to work, but i’m unable to make it load correctly : this is what I’ve tried so far :

Load Arnold through a custom package
and adding the package folder to my HOUDINI_PACKAGE_DIR system env, which is still recognized by Houdini and work as expected. Inside the sandboxed job I can see the HOUDINI_PACKAGE_DIR var being correctly set, but HOUDINI_PATH and PATH are not updated by the var inside my package.

The arnold package :

{
    "env": [
        {
            "PATH": "S:/plugins/houdini/htoa/htoa-6.0.1.0_rb2fc4a5_houdini-19.0.383/htoa-6.0.1.0_rb2fc4a5_houdini-19.0.383/scripts/bin",
            "method": "append"
        },
        {
            "solidangle_LICENSE": "5053@licenseServerAdress"
        }
    ],
    "path": "S:/plugins/houdini/htoa/htoa-6.0.1.0_rb2fc4a5_houdini-19.0.383/htoa-6.0.1.0_rb2fc4a5_houdini-19.0.383"
}

( S:/ is a network drive)

Add fileHandle.write( "IncludeEnvironment=True\n" ) inside SubmitHoudiniToDeadlineFunctions.py to include worker environnement, which append htoa path to HOUDINI_PATH and PATH, but the render still fails with the same message.
Copy and paste the full hython command inside a local terminal, which completes the job without error.

I dont know how I’m supposed to embed arnold with houdini, if it’s because I’m using the submitter from this post by @bazuka which may not be compatible with arnold (?) or if i’m missing something else. I need your expertise on this !

Thank you !

bazuka · April 22, 2022, 7:54pm

Hi gregoire_d, just saw ur post, not sure about ur json paths but here is mine

and looking at the error u got it looks like there are some issues with arnold plugin paths

from what i notice in h19 there were some changes in json structure related to the h18.5, and i think i found this json on htoa forum, so far works fine on my side

let me know did this works for u

cheers

gregoire_d · April 23, 2022, 5:14pm

Hey @bazuka and thank you so much for your answer. My json file was formatted incorrectly, so I made some adjustments to make it work. Adding the "method" : "append" to my HOUDINI_PATH seems to break plugin loading when a user launch Houdini, and HtoA seems to advise to prepend it so I removed it.

I added some logs in hrender_dl.py and now I can see the PATH and HOUDINI_PATH being populated like expected :

2022-04-23 19:08:30:  0: STDOUT: HOUDINI_PATH : C:/Program Files/Side Effects Software/sidefx_packages/SideFXLabs19.0;C:/Users/gregoire/AppData/Local/Thinkbox/Deadline10/submitters/HoudiniSubmitter;C:/ProgramData/Thinkbox/Deadline10/submitters/Houdini;S:/plugins/houdini/htoa/htoa-6.0.1.0_rb2fc4a5_houdini-19.0.383/htoa-6.0.1.0_rb2fc4a5_houdini-19.0.383;C:/PROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.383/packages/kinefx;&
2022-04-23 19:08:30:  0: STDOUT: PATH :C:/PROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.383/python37;C:/Program Files/Side Effects Software/sidefx_packages/SideFXLabs19.0/bin;S:/plugins/houdini/htoa/htoa-6.0.1.0_rb2fc4a5_houdini-19.0.383/htoa-6.0.1.0_rb2fc4a5_houdini-19.0.383/scripts/bin;C:/PROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.383/bin;C:/PROGRA~1/SIDEEF~1/HOUDIN~1.383/toolkit/bin;C:/Program Files/Thinkbox/Deadline10/bin/python3/Library/bin;C:/Program Files/Thinkbox/Deadline10/bin/python3/Library/bin;C:/Program Files (x86)/Common Files/Intel/Shared Libraries/redist/intel64/compiler;C:/Program Files/ImageMagick-7.1.0-Q16-HDRI;C:/Windows/system32;C:/Windows;C:/Windows/System32/Wbem;C:/Windows/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0/;C:/Windows/System32/OpenSSH/;C:/Program Files/Microsoft VS Code/bin;C:/Program Files/Git/cmd;C:/Program Files (x86)/NVIDIA Corporation/PhysX/Common;C:/Program Files/TortoiseSVN/bin;C:/Users/gregoire/AppData/Local/Programs/Python/Python36/Scripts/;C:/Users/gregoire/AppData/Local/Programs/Python/Python36/;C:/Users/gregoire/AppData/Local/Microsoft/WindowsApps

but I still have the same error with arnold not being properly loaded through hrender_dl.py

2022-04-23 19:08:30:  0: STDOUT: Error loading: P:/TEST_FARM/houdini/cube.hip
2022-04-23 19:08:30:  0: STDOUT: Warning:     Bad node type found: arnold_materialbuilder in /mat.
2022-04-23 19:08:30:  0: Done executing plugin command of type 'Render Task'

bazuka · April 23, 2022, 5:28pm

still strange behavior looks like it the arnold matbuilder node is not detected, dont think that this has anything to do with the hrender_dl.py

i guess u made a material and everything was ok in houdini and htoa when u render it from the GUI?

i found few links related to similar errors like urs

gregoire_d · April 23, 2022, 5:58pm

You are absolutely correct. I can render with no problem using Houdini GUI or with hython by manually pasting into cmd the generated job command found in the log :

2022-04-23 19:50:44:  0: INFO: Full Command: "C:\Program Files\Side Effects Software\Houdini 19.0.383\bin\Hython.exe" "C:\ProgramData\Thinkbox\Deadline10\workers\suzanne\plugins\62643a4483d0c90012ac7eb4\hrender_dl.py" -f 1 1 1 -o "$HIP/$HIPNAME:r.$OS.$F4.exr" -g -d /out/arnold1 -tempdir "C:\ProgramData\Thinkbox\Deadline10\workers\suzanne\jobsData\62643a4483d0c90012ac7eb4\0_temp0wDud0" -arnoldAbortOnLicenseFail 0 "P:/TEST_FARM/houdini/cube.hip"

EDIT : hython inside the job sandbox doesn’t load arnold (The usual htoa loading verbose doesn’t show on the worker log, and HTOA env variable is not set) even with PACKAGE_SUBMISSION_DIR, HOUDINI_PATH and PATH being set correctly. Very strange !

bazuka · April 23, 2022, 6:17pm

i have a stupid one, can u send me the scene plz so i can try on my side?

gregoire_d · April 23, 2022, 6:42pm

I really appreciate your help !

Here is the houdini package located in a mapped network drive “S:/plugins/houdini/” and also in “C:/ProgramData/Thinkbox/Deadline10/submitters/Houdini”
arnold.json.zip (414 Bytes)

The scene file located also in a network drive : “P:\TEST_FARM\houdini\cube.hip”
cube.hip.zip (91.4 KB)

My HOUDINI_PACKAGE_DIR location

Let me know if you need anything else, I’m struggling for two days now and really appreciate your help !

bazuka · April 23, 2022, 6:52pm

i did the test and everything went fine

let me modify the json file and try with it

bazuka · April 23, 2022, 6:59pm

arnold.zip (385 Bytes)

ok try this json and let me know does it work

gregoire_d · April 23, 2022, 7:13pm

Same error infortunately !

Would it be possible to share your changes in order to make Arnold load for you ?

EDIT : I may didn’t share it below but I also have a strange STDOUT juste before it stops (doesn’t affect a regular mantra job though)

bazuka · April 23, 2022, 7:22pm

well i used my json file, can u try not use the network mapping for the plugin just to see will that work

gregoire_d · April 23, 2022, 7:35pm

That was it thank you so much !!! I owe you one !

bazuka · April 23, 2022, 9:15pm

welcome mate have fun

Ahmed_Hindy · February 21, 2023, 5:26pm

hi I dont get what “network mapping” was disabled here that made it work.