Having the same issue as on this thread for Maya…
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=7989&p=33218&hilit=irradiance+map#p33218
Is there any hack for 3dsmax to make it work?
What we need is a secret setting in deadline to specify Nth frame rendering that gets picked up by 3dsmax.py…
I’m currently digging, will report back when I’ve found a hack…
So we can set “for frame in range( self.StartFrame, self.EndFrame + 1 ):” to have a ‘by’ value…
Just need to pass the NthFrame value from Max to Deadline…
in 3dsmax.py
StartFrame = 0
EndFrame = 0
CurrentFrame = 0
NthFrame = 1 ##DW## Added Nth Frame value
[code]# This renders the current task.
def RenderTasks( self ):
if self.RegionRenderingSingleJob:
self.StartFrame = GetIntegerPluginInfoEntryWithDefault( “RegionSingleFrame”, 0 )
self.EndFrame = GetIntegerPluginInfoEntryWithDefault( “RegionSingleFrame”, 0 )
else:
self.StartFrame = GetStartFrame()
self.EndFrame = GetEndFrame()
VerifyMonitoredManagedProcess( self.ProgramName )
SetProgress( 0.0 )
denominator = self.EndFrame - self.StartFrame + 1.0
for frame in range( self.StartFrame, self.EndFrame + 1, self.NthFrame ): ##DW## PUT IN A 'BY' VALUE
self.RenderFrame( frame )
if denominator != 0:
progress = ( (frame - self.StartFrame + 1.0) / denominator ) * 100.0
SetProgress( progress )
#SetProgress( ( (frame - self.StartFrame + 1) / denominator ) * 100.0 )
VerifyMonitoredManagedProcess( self.ProgramName )
SetProgress( 100.0 )[/code]If I set this NthFrame value to 10 now it works, rendering every 10th frame whilst in a range of 0-400… but this is a global setting of course and not linked to a job setting.
StartFrame = 0
EndFrame = 0
CurrentFrame = 0
NthFrame = 10 ##DW## Added Nth Frame value
I’m trying to work out where exactly I add into the 3dsmax.py the part where it reads an ‘NthFrame’ value from the job plugin, and how I add it into the submission process of 3dsmax so it gets added to the plugin file.
Any help appreciated! 
Got it working
We need to add the NthFrame value to the SMTD Settings and put it into our job info file.
SubmitMaxToDeadline_Functions.ms
ChunkSize = 1,
SequentialJob = false,
MaxVersionToForce = "none",
MaxVersionToForceSticky = false,
NthFrameRendering = 1, --##DW CODE
[code]if( ((maxVersion())[1]/1000 as integer) >= 12 ) then
if( maxOps.productID == #3dsMaxDesign ) then
format “IsMaxDesign=1\n” to:JobInfoFile
else
format “IsMaxDesign=0\n” to:JobInfoFile
else
format “IsMaxDesign=0\n” to:JobInfoFile
--##DW CODE
format "NthFrame=%\n" SMTDSettings.NthFrameRendering to:JobInfoFile
--##END DW CODE[/code]
So to get the value read we add in the SMTD process add this bit…
3dsmax.py
[code]if self.IsMaxDesign:
LogInfo( “Rendering with 3dsmax Design version: %d” % self.Version )
else:
LogInfo( “Rendering with 3dsmax version: %d” % self.Version )
##DW CODE
self.NthFrame = GetIntegerPluginInfoEntry( "NthFrame" )
##END DW CODE
# Read in the Build of 3dsmax to force.
self.ForceBuild = GetPluginInfoEntryWithDefault( "MaxVersionToForce", "none" ).lower()
LogInfo( "Build of 3dsmax to force: %s" % self.ForceBuild )[/code]And finally the UI Tweak…
SubmitmaxToDeadline.ms
rollout SMTD_JobOptions "Job Options:"
(
local VSpacing = 22
--##DW CODE
label lbl_chunk "Render Task Chunk Size (Frames Per Task):" align:#left pos:[23,5] across:3 --offset:[-112,3]
spinner spn_chunkSize "Frames: " range:[1,1000,1] type:#integer align:#right fieldwidth:50 offset:[20,0] \
tooltip:"Defines the number of Tasks (Frames) to be processed at once by a Slave."
spinner spn_nthFrameRendering "Chunk Nth: " range:[1,1000,1] type:#integer align:#right fieldwidth:50 offset:[0,0] \
tooltip:"Used to allow one machine to render nth frames for one task assignment."
--##END DW CODE
[code]on SMTD_JobOptions open do
(
SMTD_MainRollout.Ui_report “>Opening Job Options Rollout”
--RESTORE UI VALUES FROM STRUCT
spn_chunkSize.value = SMTDSettings.ChunkSize
--##DW CODE
spn_nthframerendering.value = SMTDSettings.NthFrameRendering
--##END DW CODE[/code]
on spn_chunkSize changed value do
(
setIniSetting SMTDPaths.InIFile "JobSettings" "ChunkSize" ( (SMTDSettings.ChunkSize = value) as string)
SMTD_MainRollout.Ui_report ("+Job Options: Chunk Size set to [" + value as string + "]")
)
--##DW CODE
on spn_nthframerendering changed value do
(
setIniSetting SMTDPaths.InIFile "JobSettings" "nthFrameRendering" ( (SMTDSettings.nthframerendering = value) as string)
SMTD_MainRollout.Ui_report ("+Job Options: Nth Frame Chunk set to [" + value as string + "]")
)
--##END DW CODE
I take no liability for breaking your deadline installation, always make a backup 
Whilst I’ve since realised these hack could be considered unnecessary due to the way Deadline works, but it works quite nicely with some of our other tools and prevents a job being interrupted accidentally.
Trying to get it to work for Deadline 6 but it’s not working, and due to the changes from file system to database I’m not able to debug it again…
In…
def RenderTasks( self ):
frame = frame + (1 * self.NthFrame) ##DW## put in nth Frame value
This makes the nth Frame work, but this line is now not working…
self.NthFrame = GetIntegerPluginInfoEntry( “NthFrame” )
I have the nthFrameRendering value in the SMTDFunction struct set…
NthFrameRendering = 1,
and in
fn CreateJobInfoFile…
I have…
format “NthFrame=%\n” SMTDSettings.NthFrameRendering to:JobInfoFile
so I can only assume this value is being sent to the info file correctly…
Infact in the deadline6\temp folder in…
max_job_info.job
there is…
NthFrame=10
so my question is… why isn’t this bit working…
try:
self.NthFrame = GetIntegerPluginInfoEntry( “NthFrame” )
except:
self.NthFrame = 1
Is this new ‘custom’ value not being sent into the database? How can I query whether it is there or not?
Aha… of course, needed self.Plugin to work…
self.NthFrame = self.Plugin.GetIntegerPluginInfoEntry( “NthFrame” )