Unusual problem with contour rendering while batch rendering in Maya 2015

Mizar

Hello, I've been having a strange problem when using contour rendering and batch rendering. Only the first frame has the contour rendering applied and all subsequent frames render normally with the exception of not having any contour rendering present.

If I render just a single still frame everything works perfectly. I've tried deleting user preferences and using a mel script to reset the render settings window, but neither of these solutions has fixed the problem.

I've tried rendering from other cameras and this doesn't seem to fix the issue either.

I've searched for other people who have had a similar problem and can't seem to find anyone with a response. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Mizar

Solution found. I'll post it here for anyone who encounters a similar problem.

So contour rendering in Maya 2015 doesn't work quite the way it used to iun 2014. Single frame renders will work fine, but when you try to batch render you'll encounter problems.

This is because maya 2015 now uses contour_shader materials that are new this year to mental ray. To apply one you must go into the shader group and apply the contour_shader (in my case contour_shader_widthfromcolor) to the Contour Shader group in the attribute editor.

Like old contour rendering contour rendering still needs to be enabled and legacy rendering mode needs to be set. Once these changes are applied a batch render should work.

darth_puppy

Thanks for posting the solution!

Psyminator

Yeah, this has been a great problem for me too!
Thanks for sharing