maya error: simulation data missing

[monsteradurm]

Hi, I am having a horrible time trying to get a job out on a deadline using pheonix. The scene's render for a few frames but then start rendering black. If I go into the 'data' folder the simulation data after this point is no longer there. It also looks like at this point there is a new folder there, under the machine name and date time. I am guessing what is happening is that a machine is crashing and moves the simulation data? Then when the next machine on the farm picks it up there is no sim data anymore. Any help would be appreciated. I am tired of re-simulating the same scenes over and over when nothing has changed.

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Hey,

Can you share a bit more info on how you set up the deadline sim? Are you simulating via deadline, or just rendering a sequence of done caches? Are you using Phoenix's submitter or directly deadline? Have you changed your simulation cache output path to an absolute network path? And finally, which Phoenix are you using - is it 3.03, or a nightly?

Cheers,

[monsteradurm]

using pheonix 3.03

simulated to a shared network path on a single machine prior to submission.

When I've gotten a crash in the past ive seen a dialogue box where maya asks if i want to copy the cache to the new location ( where maya is attempting to save the backup ) - i am assuming this is what is happening over deadline (mayabatch) and it is automatically just confirming.

I havent changed the sim path from whatever the default location is set to ( resolving to the project/data folder ).

[monsteradurm]

I unticked 'use the referenced scene name' thinking that it wouldnt bother asking me If i wanted to copy the cache files to the new location if i save under a new name. Unfortunately it still does, so i am assuming if it crashes on the farm again the same thing will happen even if I untick that checkbox.

Can i disable that dialog from coming up in the first place? I dont care if a machine crashes on the farm but if it moves all of the pheonix caches automatically then it prevents all the other machines from rendering the job and is thus causing me much grief.

[monsteradurm]

OK.
If I overwrite the 'simulation save path' from the default to something more absolute it no longer asks if i want to copy/move the cache. I assume this will prevent the issue from happening again.

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Yup, this is it - you can check the docs for more info on the Phoenix paths, but by default caches are relative to the maya scene, so if it gets copied or moved, the caches would get copied/moved as well, even as a side effect of Maya's crash handling mechanism. However, if we can catch the crash it would be even better. Does it happen locally? You could send the scene over to Support so they can try and reproduce it as well.

Cheers!

[monsteradurm]

yeah, its not happening locally.. just over mayabatch (on deadline).

I'll definitely be sending some files over to support in the next couple of days ( once I've rendered this out ). 'Splash' particles don't seem to render in geometry mode as I mentioned in another thread which i've now reproduced in 4 different scenes - which stifles our deep compositing pipeline. Am keen to get that sorted prior to getting feedback from client.

I'd also still like to know if im able to use the pheonix texture for outputting speed/velocity (preferably as a render element). Attaching directly to an extra tex render element doesnt seem to work - is there another means?

[monsteradurm]

OMG.. frustratingly this still isnt working.

I just opened the scene again ( which was working fine prior to submission ) and now the simulation isn't loading on open.

I click load current and i get this message:

// Error: Phoenix FD: Can't find valid simulation data. Aborting.

[monsteradurm]

OK. i know why - but i dont know how to fix. please help.

When i reopened the scene after setting the simulation save path, the input path had changed to match the adjusted scene path. Is this being set automatically somewhere to match?

[monsteradurm]

argh.. sorry.. $(same_as_output).
I thought i had changed this.

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Indeed, check your settings carefully. The Splash not rendering in geom mode is something we haven't had so far - do the other particle systems in the setup render in geometry mode?

I'll need more info on the velocity render element. The Phoenix tex is used to extract 2D/3D voxel data from a simulator, modify it and use it as a volume tex for a geometry of plugging back into the simulator - it won't work as a render element. If I understand correctly, do you need the liquid mesh velocity as a render element?

Cheers,

[monsteradurm]

Thanks for letting me know regarding the pheonix textures. What I was hoping to do was to grade the rendered particles in nuke based on their speed. My thinking was that I would be able to use it to tweak the transition from mesh/splash particle a bit better.

[monsteradurm]

If the vray 'velocity' render element works with pheonix than i guess i can try calculating the length of the vector at each pixel. Ive just been too worried about causing more crashes on the farm with incompatible render elements given the issues that ive been having the past day or so.

[monsteradurm]

I should also mention that the reason I have tested it off the farm is that maya hangs at 100% if I press render locally in gui mode , but it seems to render on the farm ( though the frames actually crash at the end on most machines - with the failure to clear key data error i mentioned earlier), so im unable to inspect the render elements.