Verbosity of batch simulation

[spacematt]

Hi there, this is an easy one I think! Our in-house tools would sure love Phoenix to have some verbosity options when running batch simulations. Stuff like...

1. Regular progress updates on slow sims, just so our tools know it hasn't hung (same as the option in VRay)
2. Full path of the cache frame just successfully written
3. Whether the last written frame was a restore point or not
4. Some error codes, eg instead of the 'Simulation stopped', perhaps 'Phoenix FD could not reach the license server'.
5. Running particle counts, grid dimensions etc.

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Hey, thank you for the suggestions! Just to make sure we are on the same page - you mean Maya batch simulations, correct? (not Deadline or Backburner sims)

[spacematt]

Yes, that's correct, thanks.

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Alrighty, for tomorrow's nightlies there will be verbose license errors, grid size, particle counts, written cache files and backup frame info too.

Gotta see what we can do about printing more often on longer frames, and also I have to route all errors that get written to the log file through to Maya Batch as well...

[spacematt]

Amazing, thank you!

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Hey, no probs

[Joelaff]

Would be cool if that verbose stuff got spit out when batch simulating in Max with 3dsmaxcmd.exe as well. Right now there is no output at all.

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Indeed, unfortunately this is closed for 3rd party developers

[Joelaff]

Indeed, unfortunately this is closed for 3rd party developers

I think you are saying that third party plugins cannot write to the log displayed by 3dsmaxcmd.exe . Is that what you mean? I was wondering about that. That sucks. At least it works without a Max license.

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Ah, hang on, this is not correct - we can Not control the progress bars of Backburner, but we Can print messages in 3dsmaxcmd.

[spacematt]

Thank you again for the increased verbosity, it has been very helpful in recent days. I have one more request for a message the distinguish between a crash and a successful completion. At the moment both crashes and completion are reported with "Simulation stopped" and "Simulation done". Of course it would be better if it didn't crash, but in the short term it would be great if it were easier to spot the difference without having to backtrack through the log, and for bonus points, a clue to why the sim stopped.

Example:

Phoenix FD: frame 1007/1126 (0%), simulation step 96, 9h 17m left:
Phoenix FD: Simulation stopped.:
Phoenix FD: Batch simulation done in 856.027039 sec.:

Phoenix FD: Cache File Written: /Volumes/VFX/ProjectX/data/little_sim.ma_Phoenix_frames/PhoenixFDSimulator1_0120.aur * Backup Frame, can Restore From Here:
Phoenix FD: Grid Size: 272 x 268 x 262:
Phoenix FD: Simulation stopped.:
Phoenix FD: Batch simulation done in 346.769012 sec.:

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Hey, it would be good to have indeed, but often crashes are very easy to fix, though they are painful to endure as a user, so if you could help us catch this crash and fix it so it won't happen neither to you nor anyone else, it would be great!

[spacematt]

Of course. I believe those conversations are happening in another thread or via email.

[Joelaff]

Ah, hang on, this is not correct - we can Not control the progress bars of Backburner, but we Can print messages in 3dsmaxcmd.

In this case would it be possible to print updates there? At least upon each frame completion, any errors, etc. Would be useful. What is in that listing above (from Maya perhaps?) works too if you want to reuse that code. Thanks.

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Yup, will be back to the office next week after 3 weeks off so I hope to be able to add it quickly after I clear up what's built up in the meantime Will ping you when there is progress