Renders fail after MtoA upgrade (Maya 2023 / Arnold)

Deadline
1

tl;dr - after updating MtoA on a renderfarm node from 5.2.1.1 to 5.4.4, renders fail because Maya can’t find/read the OCIO config file.

We have a lab full of Windows 10 workstations running Maya 2023 with MtoA version 5.4.4 (Arnold 7.3.4.0), and a small Linux-based (Rocky 9.5) renderfarm running Maya 2023 with MtoA version 5.2.1.1 (Arnold 7.1.3.2). Deadline (obv) does the renderfarm management.

I’d like to upgrade MtoA on the renderfarm clients, but renders break when I do that, in the following way:

OLD (5.2.1.1):

 [color_manager] using color manager of type "color_manager_ocio"
 [color_manager_ocio] using config file /usr/autodesk/maya2023/resources/OCIO-configs/Maya2022-default/config.ocio

NEW (5.4.4):

 [color_manager] using color manager defaultColorMgtGlobals of type "color_manager_ocio"
 ERROR [color_manager_ocio] could not read '<MAYA_RESOURCES>/OCIO-configs/Maya2022-default/config.ocio' OCIO profile.

I’ve tried defining MAYA_RESOURCES in /etc/profile.d, and can see it when I’m logged into one of the renderfarm clients, but that didn’t help.

Yeah, something changed but I don’t know what, or how to fix it.

Anyone else run into this issue and if so, how’d you resolve it?

Thanks!

2

task-report.zip (3.8 KB)

I’ve added the task report from one of the failed render jobs here. Note that I am defining environment variables in the GlobalJobPreload.py file and can see that they’re being defined.

3

Hi,

Have you tried using a module file? We haven’t used Maya on the farm in a while, but usually we’d just use a mod file for OCIO. e.g.

[ja@ja-fedora modules]$ grep MODULE Maya.env
MAYA_MODULE_PATH = \\server\maya\maya2024\modules;

[ja@ja-fedora modules]$ cat ocio.mod
+ MAYAVERSION:2024 ocio any \\server\OpenColorIO\aces_1.2
OCIO := config_redshift.ocio

if you have env var OCIO, then you might want to unset it before using the above ocio.mod file.

4

Interesting; I’ve not used any module files (well, not explicitly). I’m not sure how it’s going to resolve the issue I’m having, of Arnold not replacing <MAYA_RESOURCES> with a folder path. Any thoughts on that one?

5

Hi. I’m not sure how your environment is set up. I’m going to assume that you installed maya and mtoa using default paths, and you have set OCIO as an env.var.

IIRC, the OCIO env.var takes precedence over the mod.file …

As a test, can you unset MAYA_RESOURCES and instead use MAYA_LOCATION=/usr/autodesk/maya2023

Also, if you set OCIO based on MAYA_RESOURCES, change that back to:
/usr/autodesk/maya2023/resources/OCIO-configs/Maya2022-default/config.ocio
or whatever your correct ocio cfg path is.

6

Yes, using default paths, for both Maya and MtoA. I have the following in GlobalJobPreLoad.py:

deadlinePlugin.SetProcessEnvironmentVariable("MAYA_LOCATION", "/usr/autodesk/maya2023")
deadlinePlugin.SetProcessEnvironmentVariable("OCIO", "/usr/autodesk/maya2023/resources/OCIO-configs/Maya2022-default/config.ocio")

and still get this render-ending error:

[color_manager] using color manager defaultColorMgtGlobals of type "color_manager_ocio"
ERROR [color_manager_ocio] could not read '<MAYA_RESOURCES>/OCIO-configs/Maya2022-default/config.ocio' OCIO profile.
7

Can you please check if there is another MAYA_LOCATION set in the Maya.env file?

8

The maya/2023/Maya.env file exists, and is empty.

9

If you grep for ocio in the .ma file does it list the windows path? Zain had a test for someone who had a path translation issue between windows and linux

10

I see this in the .ma file:

`select -ne :defaultColorMgtGlobals;`
      setAttr ".cfe" yes;
      setAttr ".cfp" -type "string" "<MAYA_RESOURCES>/OCIO-configs/Maya2022-default/config.ocio";

In Deadline Monitor, I do see “Path Mapping For Scene Files (For Mixed Farms)” and, right now, it’s set to “Use dirmap Command.” The other option is “Text Replacement (.ma files only)”.

I’ve added a new rule in Deadline Monitor, under “Configure Repository Options” / Mapped Paths, to have it replace <MAYA_RESOURCES> with /usr/autodesk/maya2023/resources.

This works!

Thank you very much.