Using Max's Bath Render with PSDManager and Vray?

[windrockwater]

Hello there,
Does anyone know if you can use the built-in 3dsmax Batch Render along with PSDManager (and Vray of course)? It does not seem to work for me because the PSDmanager just keeps overwriting the PSD file for each successive render.

[windrockwater]

Anyone? By the way, i meant BATCH rendering not BATH rendering (damn clumsy fingers)...

[vlado]

Might be better to ask the developer of PSDManager, he may have more info.

Best regards,
Vlado

[windrockwater]

I tried to post on cebas. But there is little to no action on there. There is a grand total of 5 posts for psdmanager on their forum.

[prateekvishwa]

I tried to post on cebas. But there is little to no action on there. There is a grand total of 5 posts for psdmanager on their forum.

HAHAHA HA .. thats why i always says.. vray & thr team ROCKS! i have never seen such a brilliant support from any developer in any field.. making software & selling it doesnt ends thr responsibility.. after sales customer care is equally important.. they should understand this.

[vlado]

Well, I emailed Daniel Schmidt (the creator of PSDManager), hopefully he will help...

Best regards,
Vlado

[dans]

During batch rendering psd-manager always writes to the same PSD file. This happens because the PSD filename is defined inside the psd-manager effect UI. You can not easily assign a different PSD filename for each rendered batch rendering view. The same happens with the 3ds Max "File Output" rendering effect.

There are 2 workarounds:

A) Use a Pre-Render Script to set the PSD filename:
You use a Pre-Render Script (http://www.cebasserver.com/psdmanager/psdbatchrender.ms) that overwrites the PSD filename. The script simply sets the psd-manager filename to the render output filename but replaces the file extension with "psd".
e.g.: c:\example\render.tga (render output) --> c:\example\render.psd (psd-manager)
So whatever you use as filename for the render output will also be the filename of the created PSD file. This way you can use the Batch Render dialog to set a different filename for each view.
Setting the PSD filename requires a psd-manager license. This is a problem if you use the Net Render option. in this case, make sure you have psd-manager licenses available for each render slave or limit the number of slaves assigned to the network rendering job. (Note: Normal network rendering does not require a psd-manager license, only changing the filename does.)

B) Use rendering presets:
You can save multiple rendering presets that contains just the "Effects" and "Render Elements" categories. Before saving each preset you should set a different PSD filename for psd-manager. You can then assign a different rendering preset to each batch render view. So during batch rendering the rendering preset will replace the psd-manager render effect with one with a different PSD filename.

Best Regards,
Daniel

[windrockwater]

Daniel,
Thanks for posting about this. I understand your option B. But with many cameras and max files that can become pretty cumbersome (although easy to understand how that works).

So i want to try Option A. Can you provide a few more pointers on how to get this work? How and when do you run the script? For now, I am setting a simple test max file with two batch render cameras. I set each to save as a PNG. I am dragging the script into the Max window and then running the batch render but it still only overwrites the single PSD file.

And advice, pointers or sample files to play with? I am using DR rendering (not backburner and not Net Rendering) and two render slaves. I have one PSD manager license (floating, version 2.1).

[dans]

Daniel,
So i want to try Option A. Can you provide a few more pointers on how to get this work? How and when do you run the script? For now, I am setting a simple test max file with two batch render cameras. I set each to save as a PNG. I am dragging the script into the Max window and then running the batch render but it still only overwrites the single PSD file.

In your Render-Setup Dialog under the Common-Tab is a Rollout "Scripts". There you can select the provided script as a Pre-Render Script (Download the script file and then Use the File... button to locate the script file). During Batch Rendering the script will then always be executed automatically before rendering the next batch rendering view.

Daniel

[windrockwater]

Beautiful. Got it. Seems to work fine. Thanks alot.

[dans]

FYI. psd-manager 3 will not require this pre-render script for batch rendering anymore.
The PSD filename can then be linked to the Render Output name in the Setup dialog.



Daniel