F*** you relax tool!

Firecracker197

Please don't tell me Im the only max user that has a problem with the uv relax tool crashing max with the click of a mouse. I understand that its probably because its a potentially complex calculation, but is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening that I don't know about?

crazyfingers

Never had an issue, try reducing the "iterations" to one, bump up ammount to compensate.

DEElekgolo

It may be an Ngon or a degenerate triangle with some very messed up topology.

ZacD

export the obj, create a new scene and import it and try again?

Firecracker197

ZacD wrote: »

export the obj, create a new scene and import it and try again?

did that and it failed, and the topology couldnt be messed up because I tested it on a freaking plain.

But turns out I just need to restart my computer and its working again :poly142:

pior

I wouldnt mind having a look at the original .max scene!

I am trying to streamline my max UV workflow these days (always been a max user but I find maya's unified approach to be much cleaner than a stack for this very one scenario) and relax did some strange things to me too.

ArcticNova83

Select face mode in the UV edit, then under select, click "inverted faces." If you see any, flip 'em. It happens more often than you think.

I once had a face that was inverted, but at the same time attached to a bunch that weren't. Had to retopologize to get rid of it.

Might also want to show us the object.

Firecracker197

ArcticNova83 wrote: »

Select face mode in the UV edit, then under select, click "inverted faces." If you see any, flip 'em. It happens more often than you think.

I once had a face that was inverted, but at the same time attached to a bunch that weren't. Had to retopologize to get rid of it.

Might also want to show us the object.

I'll try that next time, and the object well was litterally a plane, I was trying to make a simple sign for a lowpoly scene I'm working on, when I went to unwrap it I used relax to get the correct proportions and poof it was gone, closed without even a warning.

I always try and clean up my workflow as much as I can, each project Im trying something new to keep the file clean. I use good modeling practices and I dont f-around with stuff to much. It just seems like this damn tool is so buggy and I hate it, but sure enough all I needed was a restart - so stupid.

pior

Hi there!
Do you have a screenshot of the topology by any chance? You peaked my interest :P

Shogun3d

Are you using any scripts?

Firecracker197

ok here you go

again its just a PLANE

this instance was just a quirk I think, its too bad I can recreate it now, because restarting the comp fixed the problem.

pior

Oh haha I thought you meant some sort of cuts on a plane surface, not just a plain plane lol
Computers, they never work huh
Maybe more ram would help? If you had many things running at once....

Firecracker197

pior wrote: »

Oh haha I thought you meant some sort of cuts on a plane surface, not just a plain plane lol
Computers, they never work huh
Maybe more ram would help? If you had many things running at once....

Yeah, I guess working on the computer for the past 4 days straight without turning it off is bound to create some sort of crazyness. But that seems to be the answer to all my problems "more ram."

Michael Knubben

I've had this problem at work in some versions of max, and I found that applying the relax rather than letting it run will fix your problems. Yes, even if you bump up the settings to ridiculously high numbers.
Makes no sense, I know.

Let me know if that works for you
edit: Ah, I see, the issue's solved itself? Well, if it happens agian, see if this does the trick

Xoliul

I had the same thing yesterday. It crashed more than 5 times on me, just POOF, gone.
What sucks, is that I was capturing the process for a tutorial and that the previous 3-4 hours of unwrapping went fine. It really seems to be random when your Max decides it doesn't want to Relax

pior

Out of curiosity, what version of Max was that for you guys ? So far I found 2009-32bit to be the most stable of all. It would be nice to somehow track that one down.

Xoliul

2010 64bit.

danshewan

pior wrote: »

Out of curiosity, what version of Max was that for you guys ? So far I found 2009-32bit to be the most stable of all.

That's what I'm running, and aside from pushing my luck with massive scenes, I've never had a crash I didn't see coming.

Firecracker197

Im on 2010 64bit and usually I can see crashes coming, but this is the only time It doesn't even freeze, and like Xoliul said the first hours of unwrapping went just fine and then once I went back to add some things and re-pack it was poof gone. I should remember to not let my computer automaticly do anything, I'll try and remember to manually apply as much as I can from now on.

pior

So yeah maybe that version is to blame. No reason to install before the first service pack got released anyways...

BJA

I'm having a similar problem with the Max 2010 64bit version. Everytime I apply a vertex paint modifier it crashes. Switched over to the 32bit version and everything works fine. I'm having some performance slowdowns when I hide polygons though, but it's better than the permanent crashes I've got with the 64bit version.

onionhead_o

i use 3dmax 2009 64 bit, and relax tool sometimes doesnt relax uvs properly. i think it don like me.

Michael Knubben

Haha Pior. It's funny how your 'most stable max' seems to change every so often.
I thought you said 2009 was shit, and 8 or 9 was [tonythetiger]greeeaaaat[/tonythetiger]?

All of them have random issues on different pc's sadly. 2009 (32 or 64, doesn't really matter) both worked pretty well for me, but not noticeably better than 2008, for instance. And I had this relax-crashing in all of them, I'm pretty sure.

[HP]

never had probs with relax tool. I mean, sometimes it behaves really oddly, but never really crashed max.

the pelt mapping on the other hand...

CompanionCube

stability and bugs is mostly down to just ghosts in the machine. since i got zbrush 3.5r3 i couldn't get zapplink to work with PS CS3 or PS CS4 64-bit, only PS CS4 32-bit, today i reformatted PC and everything works.

a good reformat usually sorts out alot of problems. if not then its issues with hardware or drivers, or maybe those dam ghosts don't want to stop haunting you

arrangemonk

one should format the computer on a monthly base, (especially when dealing with infected software)

whipSwitch

dunno, got 2k9-64 here and the relax tool has never crashed on me. It's utterly destroyed my uvs, but it hasnt crashed.

Firecracker197

yeah I dunno whats up with it, lately the tool hasn't even been working at all on some things..I dont get it. Yesterday I had more planes that i was working with and well I scaled them on x by 50% then I went back to relax the UVs since I scaled the geo and it didnt do anything, even though they had been obviously changed. So Ive gone from it crashing to not doing anything at all...>_< maybe planes don't like me...one of the simplest forms of geometry doesn't like me

I would reformat but Im scared Ive never done it before and Im scared I would mess something up and then I wont be able to use my computer.

brokenpoly

I`ve had some problems with the relax tool as well, but I think I found a solution to the problem. If that happens, usually I just select all the faces and choose "flatten mapping". Then I convert it into an editable poly and add an unwrap modifier again. After doing this, my "corrupt" meshes have worked just fine with minimal crashing.

I`m on 3dsmax 2009 64bit btw.


Hope it helps!

renderhjs

I assume its because if a broken vertex table. Under tools in 3dsmax there should be somewhere the vertex channel listener.
Alternatively run this maxscript in the maxscript listener:

ChannelInfo.dialog();

maybe it can give you some info on what might be wrong because I highly suspect a wrong table for the UV, smoothing or vertex groups.

Popeye9

Have this same prob in max 2010 64 bit. I just make sure I am saving a lot when unwrapping cause I never know when it will happen.

cw

the only time i have problems relaxing is relaxing UVs on object with xform not reset, it throws the maths off somehow and my uvs sometimes spin off into space. still, resetting xform is almost a reflex action so not such a biggie. would this have been a likely culprit in your case?

MoP

Historically I've seen crashes using Relax when you try to relax a mesh which has 5-sided polygons in some cases. However that was back in Max 8 and I haven't really used Max extensively enough since then to know what's changed, I'm pretty sure that's been fixed. I haven't run into any issues or crashes relaxing various meshes in Max 2010 yet.

killingpeople

I've been using Max 2010 64 Service Pack 1 for a while now and I haven't had any notable problems.

ukjackal

MightyPea wrote: »

I've had this problem at work in some versions of max, and I found that applying the relax rather than letting it run will fix your problems. Yes, even if you bump up the settings to ridiculously high numbers.
Makes no sense, I know.

Let me know if that works for you
edit: Ah, I see, the issue's solved itself? Well, if it happens agian, see if this does the trick

Works a treat, I was starting to lose a clump or 2 of hair :poly121:

leslievdb

are you using a shared uvw modifier on multiple objects? because that will make max crash if you relax on those

Synaesthesia

What Ravenslayer said. I always combine my model before I start trying to relax anything. Also, rescale clusters is broken when used on more than one object.