We are still having several problems then rendering render elements with deadline.
We currently are using the VFB of vray (1.5 sp2) and when we send a job using render elements of vray, we always get bad final frames.
What actually happens is that in several random frames and on random machines the render of the frame is replaced with one of the render elements and that render element frame gets all black! And we are using separate folders to the frames and render elements.
I send you a simple max file where this is happening and a print screen of our deadline script so that you can see if we are missing some option.
We are using deadline v3.1.0.36430
We are becoming more familiar with these render element issues with VRay, and we’ve found that ensuring the following helps:
Ensure “Restart Renderer Between Frames” option is enabled. This is under the Render tab, and is currently disabled in the screen shot provided.
Ensure that the “vray VFB” option for each render element is disabled.
Unless you’re rendering to a vray raw image file, disable the built in vray VFB.
Currently, the sanity check looks for (1) when submitting a vray job, and warns you as necessary. Also, (3) is handled by Deadline automatically on submission. (2) currently isn’t handled automatically, but it will be in Deadline 4.0.
We’ve been trying to troubleshoot this off and on for about a month now with no success. We’re consistently getting render elements that are black renders with correct alpha channels.
We have one artist that was able to produce render elements correctly on the farm. We tried replicating his render settings exactly on other scenes and have had no success.
So here’s two test scenes. In one we’ve followed the steps mentioned above, and some others in pretty much every combination we can think of. The scene just will not work correctly.
The other scene is based on the one that did work. I deleted the old geo and merged in the geo and camera from the broken scene, and render elements work just fine - even ignoring all the workaround settings mentioned.
Using V-Ray 1.50SP3a and Deadline Version: 3.1.0.36430.
Thanks for the test scenes. We were able to reproduce the problem with the 2nd one, and we’re going to run some more tests to see if we can figure out the cause. We’ll keep you posted.
We’re not having much luck narrowing down this problem. We compared all the render options in both scenes and ensured they were exactly the same, and still, one rendered fine and one didn’t. We then tried creating a very simple test scene from scratch, and it worked fine (see attached). Can you test this scene on your network (after changing the output paths of course) to see if it works or not?
Regarding the one artist that seems to have had some luck, is he always able to get the REs to work when creating scenes on his machine, or was this the only one? If he always has success, is it possible that his machine is configured slightly differently (ie: different plugins or different versions of plugins, different service pack release of max 2009, etc)?
The same file that I sent you didn’t work on your network? That’s really strange… we still aren’t sure what the root of the problem is, but we may have to talk to the VRay developers to help figure this out.
Gah - sorry. Crunching right now, so head’s fuzzy.
The file you made worked. Files that we’re making here are not working. Or are. There’s no rhyme or reason to it.
All machines have identical installs, service packs, you name it. Trying some more desperate stuff now …
Ah-ha - the problem might be on the Deadline side of the fence. I rendered the same scene using Max scanline and just a few basic scanline render passes (diffuse, lighting, etc).
All render elements render correctly locally, but render black frames on the network.
Can you post this scene as well so we can test it here? If it’s a general problem (ie: not renderer specific), then it might be easier to pinpoint the problem.
I’ve stripped this scene down to absolute bare bones. It will render fine locally, but will not render Render Elements on the farm.
If you change Renderer to Max Scanline, add a couple of max scanline render elements - same thing.
Some additional info. We ran a test last night trying to pin down if it was a hot-fix thing.
Starting with a newly created scene, we went from vanilla Max 2009 install to latest hotfixes, extensions etc.
Couldn’t break it. Our render passes worked the whole way through. There’s just something about these files where a flag got set or something, and then they’re kaput.
This issue became thermo-nuclear over the weekend, so as a last resort we rolled the farm back to Deadline 2.7.
Render Elements now work correctly for all scenes submitted, including the broken files I submitted to the thread.
We’re now having to do a mixed farm solution of 2.7 for 3d and 3.1 for 2d, which is FAR from ideal. I hope we get this fixed and resolved very soon.
Thanks for letting us know that it worked in Deadline 2.7. This helped us narrow down the problem quickly, and the fix for this bug will be included in the Deadline 4.0 release that is scheduled for the end of November. I’ve already gone ahead and added you to the beta board in case you want to test this out for yourself. Note that the fix will be included in beta release 8, which we’ll try to get out by mid-week. I’ll send you a private message shortly with more information regarding the beta program.
I apologize for the inconvenience this bug has caused you, but we greatly appreciate you helping us track this one down!
Great! I’m glad our feedback helped you guys track this sucka down, it’s been totally killing us here.
Now, is this something we can patch onto Deadline 3.1? I cannot recommend we do beta-testing or an upgrade mid-show,
and the 2.7/3.1 mix we’re having to run is already causing “the management” severe distress.
We have a VERY aggressive schedule, and we just can’t run these types of risks.
It should be possible to patch 3.1. We’ll see if we can get something out today or tomorrow for testing. We’ll provide rollback instructions in case any new problems arise with the patch.
Sorry for the delay in getting this patch up. This should fix the RE black frame issue. To install:
First make a backup copy of all the *.dlx files in \your\repository\plugins\3dsmax. These 8 files will be overwritten by the patch, so we’re backing them up just in case.
After making the backups, unzip the attached file to \your\repository\plugins\3dsmax.
Then submit a new job and let us know if the problem is fixed or if it persists.
Is anyone else still having issues with DL and Vray render elements? I tried the patch posted here but it seems Deadline still won’t allow jobs to render if the render elements are checked on. If I uncheck the “Elements Active” box in the Vray RE tab, the jobs render flawlessly minus the elements of course.
It might be Vray SP4 that was recently released… I’m going to rollback to SP3 and see if the issue still occurs.
