Maya and Vue

anon75384582 · June 6, 2008, 4:27pm

Hi,

We’ve been incorporating the latest version of Vue xStream into our render farm. After much banging of my head against the desk we finally got Max files with Vue scenes up and running. Now we’ve moved over to the Maya and it would seem that more head banging is in store. We are trying to render usin the Maya software render but when we submit a file it seems to default to the Mentalray renderer. I’ve included part of the log below:

purging logs older than 30 days
purging error reports older than 30 days
Scheduler Thread - Plugin loaded in 0.08 seconds.
---- June 05 2008 – 05:42 PM ----
0: Loaded job: vuetest3a (006_050_o_36cbf5f8)
0: INFO: Script plugin for Deadline 2.7.29178, built Aug 22 2007 14:02:42 R
0: INFO: >> Maya Renderer for Deadline, 2004-10-09
0: INFO: job file: c:\deadline\slave\jobsData\006_050_o_36cbf5f8.job
0: Plugin rendering frame(s): 6-10
0: INFO: Ignoring popup windows matching “.entry point.”
0: INFO: Ignoring popup windows matching “.Entry Point.”
0: INFO: Rendering to network drive…
0: INFO: Rendering with Maya 2008
0: INFO: Rendering with Maya Software.
0: INFO: Enforcing 32 bit build of Maya
0: INFO: Enforcing 32 bit build of Maya
0: INFO: Executable: “C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2008\bin\Render.exe”
0: INFO: Arguments: " -renderer sw -n 2 -eaa 0 -x 720 -y 486 -mb 0 -ard 1.332999945 -pad 4 -s 6 -e 10 -b 1 -rd “R:/01_PROJECTS_CURRENT/Vue_Test/” -cam “perspShape” -im “VueTest3a” -proj “R:/01_PROJECTS_CURRENT/Vue_Test” “c:\deadline\slave\jobsData\vuetest3a.mb”"
0: INFO: StartupDir: “C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2008\bin”
0: INFO: UseJobObject: true
0: INFO: HideDosWindow: true
0: STDOUT:
0: STDOUT: Starting “C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2008\bin\mayabatch.exe”
0: STDOUT: mental ray for Maya 9.0
0: STDOUT: // mental ray for Maya: using startup file C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/maya.rayrc
0: STDOUT: mental ray for Maya: setup
0: STDOUT: mental ray for Maya: initialize
0: STDOUT: mental ray: version 3.6.1.6, 17 Jul 2007, revision 21668
0: STDOUT: mental ray for Maya: using 1 license
0: STDOUT: mental ray for Maya: register extensions
0: STDOUT: // mental ray Node Factory: loaded
0: STDOUT: mental ray for Maya: successfully registered
0: STDOUT: mental ray for Maya: loading startup file: C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/maya.rayrc
0: STDOUT: // parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/include/architectural.mi
0: STDOUT: // loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/lib/architectural.dll
0: STDOUT: // generating Maya nodes…
0: STDOUT: // parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/include/base.mi
0: STDOUT: // loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/lib/base.dll
0: STDOUT: // generating Maya nodes…
0: STDOUT: // parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/include/contour.mi
0: STDOUT: // loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/lib/contour.dll
0: STDOUT: // generating Maya nodes…
0: STDOUT: // parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/include/paint.mi
0: STDOUT: // loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/lib/paint.dll
0: STDOUT: // generating Maya nodes…
0: STDOUT: // parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/include/physics.mi
0: STDOUT: // loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/lib/physics.dll
0: STDOUT: // generating Maya nodes…
0: STDOUT: // parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/include/production.mi
0: STDOUT: // loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/lib/production.dll
0: STDOUT: // generating Maya nodes…
0: STDOUT: // parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/include/subsurface.mi
0: STDOUT: // loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/lib/subsurface.dll
0: STDOUT: // generating Maya nodes…
0: STDOUT: // parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/include/surfaceSampler.mi
0: STDOUT: // loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/lib/surfaceSampler.dll
0: STDOUT: // generating Maya nodes…
0: STDOUT: // parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/include/Vue6xStream.mi
0: STDOUT: // loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/lib/Vue6xStream.dll
0: STDOUT: // generating Maya nodes…
0: STDOUT: [Vue 6 xStream] Starting application
0: STDOUT: [Vue 6 xStream] Updating path of Maya
0: STDOUT: File read in 10 seconds.
0: STDOUT: Result: c:/deadline/slave/jobsData/vuetest3a.mb
0: INFO: Deadline Slave ignoring error: “Warning: Found camera perspShape.” because it is not usually fatal.
0: STDOUT: Warning: Found camera perspShape.
0: STDOUT: Total Elapsed Time Since Start Of Maya (hh:mm:ss): 00:00:21
0: STDOUT: ====================================
0: STDOUT: Resource Usage At Start Of Rendering
0: STDOUT: ====================================
0: STDOUT: 50568 Page faults
0: STDOUT: 182.434 Mb Max resident size
0: STDOUT: 152.746 Mb Peak total size(Estimated)
0: STDOUT: 5.437 Mb Peak arena size
0: STDOUT: ====================================
0: STDOUT: 182.434 Mb Current
0: STDOUT: 0.124 Mb Transforms
0: STDOUT: 5.000 Mb MEL
0: STDOUT: 0.002 Mb arguments
0: STDOUT: 0.313 Mb Data Blocks
0: STDOUT: ====================================
0: STDOUT: Rendering using 2 threads.
0: STDOUT: Automatic near/far clipping values: 0.1, 1010.
0: STDOUT: Starting Rendering R:/01_PROJECTS_CURRENT/Vue_Test/VueTest3a.0006.png.
0: STDOUT: Constructing shading groups
0: STDOUT:
0: STDOUT: Rendering current frame.
0: STDOUT:
0: STDOUT: Frame triangle count: 0
0: STDOUT: ====================================
0: STDOUT: Resource Usage At End Of Frame
0: STDOUT: ====================================
0: STDOUT: 2052 Page faults
0: STDOUT: 190.371 Mb Max resident size
0: STDOUT: 201.461 Mb Peak total size(Estimated)
0: STDOUT: 12.103 Mb Peak arena size
0: STDOUT: ====================================
0: STDOUT: 201.629 Mb Current
0: STDOUT: 5.000 Mb MEL
0: STDOUT: 0.124 Mb Transforms
0: STDOUT: 6.667 Mb Render Cache
0: STDOUT: 0.313 Mb Data Blocks
0: STDOUT: 0.007 Mb Render Geometry Arena
0: STDOUT: 0.002 Mb arguments
0: STDOUT: ====================================
0: STDOUT: Postprocessing rendering result.
0: STDOUT: Time For Tessellation (hh:mm:ss): 00:00:00
0: STDOUT: Time For Shadow Map (hh:mm:ss): 00:00:00
0: STDOUT: Time For Post Process (hh:mm:ss): 00:00:00
0: STDOUT: Time For Frame Render (hh:mm:ss): 00:00:06
0: STDOUT: Finished Rendering R:/01_PROJECTS_CURRENT/Vue_Test/VueTest3a.0006.png.

The weird part is that the beginning of the log shows it’s using Maya software and then it seems to switch to Mentalray. All I get for the rendered file is a black frame because (I assume) when Vue loads it cannot find a valid license file. (software vs mentaray) I’ve sent a request off to e-on asking for guidance but getting a timely answer out of them is like watching an ice cube melt at the north pole. If you can see anything in the log file I would appreciate any feedback. The same machine that submitted this file can submit a Maya software rendering scence without a Vue file and it renders just fine.

Thanks,

Kurt

rrussell · June 6, 2008, 5:06pm

Hi Kurt,

From looking at the command line arguments, Deadline is telling Maya to render with the Maya Software renderer (-renderer sw). Also, the stdout being printed from Maya is consistent with what Maya Software prints out (Mental Ray stdout is quite a bit different). I’m pretty sure Maya is just loading the Mental Ray plugin when it starts up because the plugin is likely set to auto-load, but then continues to render with the Software renderer.

The fact that a scene without Vue renders with Maya Software just fine leads me to believe that Vue is the culprit here.

Cheers,

Ryan

anon75384582 · June 6, 2008, 5:43pm

Hi Ryan,

Ok that’s what I thought as well. One more quick question for you. If I submit a file without the Vue scene I don’t get the loading of the Mentalray plugin. Only when there is a Vue scene incorporated. The problem we had with Max and Vue was that there was a hidden popup box requesting to change the video card to OpenGL that Deadline was giving the wrong answer to. Of course why the Vue software was even written to change the graphics card at that stage of the process is beyond me, but that goes back to the whole ice cube analogy. But that makes me wonder if there is another popup box that I’m not seeing when we load the Maya plugin with a Vue scene. Is there anyway to allow all dialog boxes to show when a slave is running a file just to see if there is something weird going on?

Thanks again,

Kurt

rrussell · June 6, 2008, 5:54pm

If Deadline detects a popup box during rendering, it will mention this in the render log, and will either handle/ignore the popup (if configured to do so), or fail the job. From looking at the render log, there doesn’t seem to be any popups that are detected.

One thing you can try is rendering the same scene file from a command prompt using the same command line arguments that Deadline is using to see if you get the same results. You can see the executable and render arguments that Deadline is using in the log above. You can copy the Maya scene file locally and then change the path to point to it if necessary. If anything is popping up, you should be able to see this when running the render from the command prompt.

Cheers,

Ryan