Can someone explain me the workflow and pitfalls with using xrefs in max with deadline? I have some troubles with it, I submit and the xreffed models aren’t rendered.
tnx!
Hi,
If you submit 3dsMax jobs via the SMTD interface, under the “render” tab, there is a checkbox to allow the merging of object XREF scenes.
However, for some reason, the Scene XREF functionality is not presently available (although the checkbox is in the SMTD interface). (technical issues probably, which Frantic are aware of).
As always, make sure everything is network side and not on a local path. Apart from that, XREFs should work fine in Deadline 
Mike
The merging means that the xref objects get merged into max? Ok, that is why my scene got heavier. What do you mean by network side and local path?
Do linked vrmeshes have the same issue as linked xrefs?
Tnx!
Hi,
By ‘network’ I mean, that all your assets for the Max file including the 3dsMax scene files should be on a network drive letter and not locally saved.
Not sure about V-Ray meshes as we don’t use VRAY here but Frantic do, so I’m sure someone will be able to answer that for you in the next few hours…(NAB this week).
Mike
Don’t let mike lure you into a sense of false security. XRefs are a disaster. 
It’s not deadline’s fault. But if you have XRef Scenes with layers and you hide the layer… it’ll still render. So visibility doesn’t stick when cmdline rendering. Very annoying.
I agree Gavin, We gave up on XREFs a while ago and only use them when absolutely necessary.
Here’s hoping that “Containers” are a bit more helpful 
Mike
the xrefs are merged with that option, but where are they merged?
They are they merged for sure into the scene send to the repository but are they also merged in the scene you just submitted and which stays in the current project folder?
yes I can confirm, after I choose merge in submission, the merge also gets done in the original file, that is kinda annoying. It would be great if the merge is only done for the scene that gets sended to the repository.
Containers, I’ll skip 2010 all together, I’m not going with the overhype, so I’ll see about those containers later
Perhaps for the time being, you could save the file / carry out a hold, before submitting the file and then revert/carry out a fetch after submission.
You could write a Sanity Check to assist?
Mike
Jep that is a good workaround, I hope it doesn’t take too much time to do the hold and fetch. Is it on purpose that the merge gets done in the original max scene?
Vraymeshes are tricky too, havent test their behavior with deadline yet but I did a test in rendertime and they render slower than xref or in scene.
Tnx for the great support
Yes, we’ve also confirmed that the merge isn’t undone in the original file. There is some commented out code that looks like it used to revert everything, so we’ll have to do some digging to determine why that code was commented out in the first place.
Cheers,
- Ryan