Ask A Fellow Polycounter - "Maya Mental Ray Issue"

pliang

This one I really need help with...

I've finished my new portfolio scene with shader maps assigned to and all but when I booted up to do final renders today, Mental Ray suddenly could not render.

The script editor said it's out of memory, I tried restarting and optimize scene size but nothing is helping it.
This is what my editor says...

*******Script Editor*******

file -f -new;
// ./untitled //
commandPort -securityWarning -name commandportDefault;
// mental ray for Maya 9.0
// mental ray for Maya: using startup file C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/maya.rayrc
// mental ray for Maya: setup
// mental ray for Maya: initialize
// mental ray for Maya: using 1 license
// mental ray for Maya: register extensions
// mental ray Node Factory: loaded
// mental ray for Maya: successfully registered
// mental ray for Maya: loading startup file: C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/maya.rayrc
// parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/include/architectural.mi
// loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/lib/architectural.dll
// generating Maya nodes...
// parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/include/base.mi
// loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/lib/base.dll
// generating Maya nodes...
// parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/include/contour.mi
// loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/lib/contour.dll
// generating Maya nodes...
// parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/include/paint.mi
// loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/lib/paint.dll
// generating Maya nodes...
// parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/include/physics.mi
// loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/lib/physics.dll
// generating Maya nodes...
// parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/include/production.mi
// loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/lib/production.dll
// generating Maya nodes...
// parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/include/subsurface.mi
// loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/lib/subsurface.dll
// generating Maya nodes...
// parsing C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/include/surfaceSampler.mi
// loading C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya2008/mentalray/lib/surfaceSampler.dll
// generating Maya nodes...
updateRendererUI;
pv_performAction "I:/Maya/Project/GAD415/scenes/WW2Downtown/DowntownKoln.mb" "Best Guess";
file -f -typ "mayaBinary" -o "I:/Maya/Project/GAD415/scenes/WW2Downtown/DowntownKoln.mb";addRecentFile("I:/Maya/Project/GAD415/scenes/WW2Downtown/DowntownKoln.mb", "mayaBinary");
requires "VectorRender" "7.0 - 3.209 - cut 200708030649";
requires "Mayatomr" "9.0.1.2m - 3.6.1.6 ";
// File read in 2 seconds.
// Warning: swatches file depend node not found, icon discarded: DOMWINDOW1 //
// Warning: swatches file depend node not found, icon discarded: DOMEWINDOWTWO //
// Warning: swatches file depend node not found, icon discarded: DOMORNAMENT4 //
// Warning: swatches file depend node not found, icon discarded: DESK1 //
// Warning: swatches file depend node not found, icon discarded: SHERMAN1 //
// Warning: swatches file depend node not found, icon discarded: DOMCOLUMNS1 //
// 1 //
updateRendererUI;
Multilister;
listerEditor -e -replaceHighlight "SKY3" "multiListerPanel1TopTab1";
// multiListerPanel1TopTab1 //
showEditor "SKY3";
listerEditor -e -replaceHighlight "SKY3" "multiListerPanel1TopTab1";
// multiListerPanel1TopTab1 //
setAttr "SKY2.reflectivity" 0.1;
setAttr "SKY2.reflectivity" 0.15;
setAttr "SKY2.specularRollOff" 0.3;
setAttr "SKY2.eccentricity" 0.4;
setAttr "SKY2.eccentricity" 0.3;
setAttr "SKY2.eccentricity" 0.2;
setAttr "SKY2.eccentricity" 0.3;
setAttr "SKY2.ambientColor" -type double3 0.06612 0.06612 0.06612 ;
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Scene) : output data type "rgba" not directly supported by image format jpg, conversion performed by mental ray //
// Error: (Mayatomr.Geometry) : polySurfaceShape645: no material assigned, ignored //
// Error: (Mayatomr.Geometry) : polySurfaceShape1074: no material assigned, ignored //
// Error: (Mayatomr.Geometry) : polySurfaceShape1075: no material assigned, ignored //
// Error: (Mayatomr.Geometry) : Brick5Shape: no material assigned, ignored //
setAttr mentalrayIblShape1.mapping 1;
AEassignFilenameCB mentalrayIblShape1.texture "I:/Maya/Project/GAD415/sourceimages/Apt-probe.hdr" "image";
// 1 //
setAttr mentalrayIblShape1.mapping 0;
saveShelf Animation "C:/Documents and Settings/Peter/My Documents/maya/2008/prefs/shelves/shelf_Animation";
// 1 //
saveShelf Curves "C:/Documents and Settings/Peter/My Documents/maya/2008/prefs/shelves/shelf_Curves";
// 1 //
saveShelf Custom "C:/Documents and Settings/Peter/My Documents/maya/2008/prefs/shelves/shelf_Custom";
// 1 //
saveShelf Deformation "C:/Documents and Settings/Peter/My Documents/maya/2008/prefs/shelves/shelf_Deformation";
// 1 //
saveShelf Dynamics "C:/Documents and Settings/Peter/My Documents/maya/2008/prefs/shelves/shelf_Dynamics";
// 1 //
saveShelf Fluids "C:/Documents and Settings/Peter/My Documents/maya/2008/prefs/shelves/shelf_Fluids";
// 1 //
saveShelf Fur "C:/Documents and Settings/Peter/My Documents/maya/2008/prefs/shelves/shelf_Fur";
// 1 //
saveShelf General "C:/Documents and Settings/Peter/My Documents/maya/2008/prefs/shelves/shelf_General";
// 1 //
saveShelf Hair "C:/Documents and Settings/Peter/My Documents/maya/2008/prefs/shelves/shelf_Hair";
// 1 //
saveShelf PaintEffects "C:/Documents and Settings/Peter/My Documents/maya/2008/prefs/shelves/shelf_PaintEffects";
// 1 //
saveShelf Polygons "C:/Documents and Settings/Peter/My Documents/maya/2008/prefs/shelves/shelf_Polygons";
// 1 //
saveShelf Rendering "C:/Documents and Settings/Peter/My Documents/maya/2008/prefs/shelves/shelf_Rendering";
// 1 //
saveShelf Subdivs "C:/Documents and Settings/Peter/My Documents/maya/2008/prefs/shelves/shelf_Subdivs";
// 1 //
saveShelf Surfaces "C:/Documents and Settings/Peter/My Documents/maya/2008/prefs/shelves/shelf_Surfaces";
// 1 //
saveShelf Toon "C:/Documents and Settings/Peter/My Documents/maya/2008/prefs/shelves/shelf_Toon";
// 1 //
saveShelf peter "C:/Documents and Settings/Peter/My Documents/maya/2008/prefs/shelves/shelf_peter";
// 1 //
// Saving preferences to : C:/Documents and Settings/Peter/My Documents/maya/2008/prefs/userPrefs.mel
// Saving window positions to : C:/Documents and Settings/Peter/My Documents/maya/2008/prefs/windowPrefs.mel
// Saving runtime commands to : C:/Documents and Settings/Peter/My Documents/maya/2008/prefs/userRunTimeCommands.mel
// Saving hotkeys to : C:/Documents and Settings/Peter/My Documents/maya/2008/prefs/userHotkeys.mel
// Saving named commands to : C:/Documents and Settings/Peter/My Documents/maya/2008/prefs/userNamedCommands.mel
// Saving plug-in preferences to: C:/Documents and Settings/Peter/My Documents/maya/2008/prefs/pluginPrefs.mel
// Preferences saved. See Script Editor for details.
file -save;
// I:/Maya/Project/GAD415/scenes/WW2Downtown/DowntownKoln.mb //
select -r Banner2 ;
// Warning: (Mayatomr.Scene) : output data type "rgba" not directly supported by image format jpg, conversion performed by mental ray //
// Error: (Mayatomr.Geometry) : polySurfaceShape645: no material assigned, ignored //
// Error: (Mayatomr.Geometry) : polySurfaceShape1074: no material assigned, ignored //
// Error: (Mayatomr.Geometry) : polySurfaceShape1075: no material assigned, ignored //
// Error: (Mayatomr.Geometry) : Brick5Shape: no material assigned, ignored //
// Error: *Fatal* (mental ray) : mental ray encountered a fatal error. The system may have become unstable. Please save the scene and exit Maya. //

I really need some troubleshooting on this one.

Thanks.

pyromania

Does the scene render ok when you don't do a final render? Does a preview or a smaller resolution render ok in Mental Ray? What resolution are you trying to render at? How much RAM is in your computer?

Have you ran the Render Diagnostics against the scene. It usually find some problem with the scene thats worth correcting.

Rendering from the command line can help too. You don't use up memory loading the Maya UI.

Something like,

render -r mr -x 4000 -y 3000 -cam persp -im output_image -of tga my_scene.mb

Here we are using the Mental ray renderer (-r mr) ouputing a final image thats 4000x3000. Using the persp camera for the render view. Output image will be named output_image and will be in Targa (tga) format.

pliang

No, it still messes up using a smaller resolution.

I'm trying to render just one image of a persp shot at 1440x960 with 2GB of RAM...when I do render at the same settings without all the shaders it renders within 15 minutes.

I just found a script that's supposed to help me sort and efficiently place my shaders and color maps for more efficient final gather using .map but I never used it before.

http://highend3d.com/maya/downloads/mel_scripts/rendering/misc/FileTextureManager-1012.html

Anyone used it before???


Meanwhile I will try and ran those options through and see if it'll work out.

pliang

Just ran the diagnosis...I changed the giant resolution I used for two of my textures and ran it again with no errors and it still has issues so I guess I need to convert and resort my image files to .map or .bot if I switch to maya software which is having the same issue.

Pyro, I tried running the command line but it's having issue recognizing the "-r" variable...this is what I typed in.

render -r mr -x 1440 -y 960 -cam persp -im output_image -of tga DowntownKoln.mb


Anyone else know what I can do to fix it or how to use the script I oreviously posted?

Illusions

Can you post screenshots of all your render settings? Mentalray has a problem with a few things that regular scanline render doesn't, I can see if any I remember are present.

pyromania

[ QUOTE ]
Just ran the diagnosis...I changed the giant resolution I used for two of my textures and ran it again with no errors and it still has issues so I guess I need to convert and resort my image files to .map or .bot if I switch to maya software which is having the same issue.

Pyro, I tried running the command line but it's having issue recognizing the "-r" variable...this is what I typed in.

render -r mr -x 1440 -y 960 -cam persp -im output_image -of tga DowntownKoln.mb


[/ QUOTE ]

That should work, not sure why its complaining. What does the output of

render -listRenderers

look like. There should be mr: Mentalray renderer in the list.

pliang

Yep, here are the settings that I usually use and has only altered in the mental ray settings...

Common/Scanline Tabs


Final Gather/Environment Map Tabs


I should also mention that I used a general point light with
raytrace on with shadow rays set to 2...

Illusions

What are the raytracing properties on your materials?

Also, uncheck alpha as your image format (.jpg) doesn't support alpha, either that or change it to a format that does like .tiff. Then also try lowering the accuracy on the final gathering. Any particular reason you chose 500?

That and what size is the image you are using for image based lighting?

pliang

Well....the rays were shifted to 500 since before it defined the shadows in the scene the most.

The environment map's less than 1024.

The raytracing tab's on the first image...I used a lower sampling level.

Good call on the alpha though, I wasn't sure what effect it would have on the render.

But what I would like to know more about would be how to convert my texture files to .map since its a more software efficient format?

Any fast methods to achieve that would be a real life saver.

pliang

http://highend3d.com/maya/downloads/mel_scripts/rendering/misc/FileTextureManager-1012.html

I posted this link a little earlier, its a handy MEL script that allows me to mass sort, move, copy and covert existing texture files to either .bot for maya software or .map for efficient final gather but I wasn't too sure how to use it...any ideas?

pliang

....Just figured out how to convert the tga files properly to .map for mental ray rendering but 375 textures still took an hour and 15 mins to render...is there any way to speed up the loading???