error: [VFBCore::SetRegion] Error writing render region to raw image file.

[sv]

error: [VFBCore::SetRegion] Error writing render region to raw image file.
[ExrFile::WTRegion] Error writing tile to .exr file

This is really bugging me, as it happens all the time and it's inconsistent to be able to reproduce it, but i'd say we have about a 50% failure rate when writing directly to an .exr file or a .vrimg through the VFB but only for larger resolution images with the render to memory buffer disabled.
I've just rendered a high resolution still over night, and the resulting .exr file (12meg)won't open now in any program - I didn't render to memory frame buffer as it's high res and i wanted to concerve memory, so now i can't save out the image which is sitting on my screen as a preview!

(*) this only happens during DR, so i've got to conclude it's one of the DR nodes not doing something, or not passing some sort of information around
(*) rendering through backburner is absolutely fine; we shouldn't have any permissions issues with windows, my profile (which all the machines are on) is a network administrator power user
(*) This happens sporadically - sometimes all the DR works fine and saves a high res image, sometimes i just get this error, and if i haven't used the memory frame buffer i'm screwed.
(*) Only when writing to either .exr or .vrimg through the VFB

Am i missing something? Some times this works, sometimes not.

Really don't know what else to say -
Vray 1.5 SP1

I can provide any logs if necessary - see bottom bit of code and standard settings.



(The reason i still had "get resolution from MAX" still ticked was because this has failed before with that option off - i decided this time i'd keep it on, but still an error)


sample end of the vraylog.txt:

[2008/Jan/9|20:09:19] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to media-dwestwood
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:19] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to media-acosta
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:19] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to media-aaver
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:19] Sending 1012 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render3
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:19] Sending 1012 bytes of irradiance map to media-selliss
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:19] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to media-dwestwood
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:19] Sending 1012 bytes of irradiance map to media-acosta
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:19] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:19] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to media-aaver
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:19] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to media-dwestwood
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:19] Sending 1012 bytes of irradiance map to media-aaver
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:19] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:19] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:19] Sending 1012 bytes of irradiance map to media-dwestwood
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:19] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:19] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:19] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:19] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:19] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:19] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:20] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:20] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:20] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:20] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:20] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:20] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:20] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:20] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:20] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:20] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:20] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:20] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:21] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:21] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:21] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:21] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:21] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:21] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:21] Saving irradiance map to file "\\Svserver\Render Output\Claverdon\Claverdon_High_Res_Bathroom.vrmap "
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:21] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:21] Sending 840004 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:21] Sending 1012 bytes of irradiance map to clusta-render4
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:23] Irradiance map saved successfully
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:23] Image prepass completed.
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:23] Rendering image.
[2008/Jan/9|20:09:23] Setting up 8 thread(s)
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:30] Threads completed
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:30] Calling endFrame().
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:30] Entering endFrame().
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:30] Broadcasting NOTIFY_POST_RENDERFRAME.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:30] Applying render effects.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:30] Waiting for DR to finish

[2008/Jan/9|21:07:30] Number of raycasts: 1722758282

[2008/Jan/9|21:07:30] Clearing global light manager.

[2008/Jan/9|21:07:30] Clearing direct light manager.

[2008/Jan/9|21:07:30] Clearing ray server.

[2008/Jan/9|21:07:30] Clearing geometry.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:30] Calling frameEnd() on render instances.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:30] Calling frameEnd() on render objects.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:30] Calling frameEnd() on render materials.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:30] error: [VFBCore::SetRegion] Error writing render region to raw image file.
[ExrFile::WTRegion] Error writing tile to .exr file
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:30] Clearing camera image sampler.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Clearing camera sampler.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Clearing DMC sampler.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Clearing path sampler.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Clearing color mapper.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Region rendering: 5243.3 s
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] endFrame() done
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Updating irradiance map info.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] RenderAtTime() done.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Stopping frame timer.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Total frame time: 5262.9 s
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Render() done.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Entering Close()
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Calling endSequence().
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Entering endSequence().
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Calling renderEnd().
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Calling renderEnd() on render materials.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Sending RenderEnd().
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Sending RenderEnd() to atmospheric effects.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Sending RenderEnd() to render effects.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Sending RenderEnd() to the tone operator.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Sending RenderEnd() to environment maps.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Unloading bitmaps.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Freeing render instances and lights.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Broadcasting NOTIFY_POST_RENDER.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:31] Closing DR

[2008/Jan/9|21:07:32] endSequence() finished.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:32] Sequence timer stopped.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:32] Total sequence time: 5264.4 s
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:32] Enabling scene redraw and autobackup.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:32] Close() done.
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:32] error: 1 error(s), 1 warning(s)
[2008/Jan/9|21:07:32] ================================
[2008/Jan/9|21:32:12] Saving to file.
[2008/Jan/9|21:32:12] Saving distributed renderer.
[2008/Jan/9|21:32:12] Saving filter parameters.
[2008/Jan/9|21:32:12] Saving done.

[vlado]

Would be best to save the output locally on the machine first; all the network communication for DR may be interfering with the saving of the image over a network... just a guess.

Best regards,
Vlado

[sv]

ok vlado, i'll try this in future - is there any secret way to get this preview to save a render somehow so we haven't lost all the processing time? I presume not as it's not held in memory, but just wondering?

[vlado]

In preview mode, the only thing that is stored in memory is what you see in the preview window... so it wouldn't be much use to save it.

Best regards,
Vlado

[sv]

ok- just for your info, even if i try and save this (as an .exr or .jpg) it still kicks out an error saying something like "can't create bitmap".

maybe this might shed some light on what's wrong?


Thanks anyway.

[percydaman]

Sure you got space on your hdd?

[pixelstudio]

if you have problems saveing check the following:

- make sure you network connection is good. check this in the event viewer
- also make sure the connection doesn not drop out. this may cause windows to get syncronisation errors.
- check if anything is blocked by firewalls, or if there are conflicts with virus scanners

[sv]

Vlado; to help us nail this down, would you be kind enough to explain the process a little bit more so i can explain this to our IT company better.

The way i see it (obviously just guessing here), DR could work in one of two ways:

1, processing each bucket, sending the processed results back to the host machine to store in the image frame buffer. When not writing to the memory frame buffer, each machine will write the processed bucket directly into the .exr file.

or

2.)When not writing to the memory frame buffer, each machine will process each bucket and send the results back to the host machine which will write the data into the .exr file.

Am i on the right lines here? If so, which method is it? This might help us to understand why the .exr writing error has occured, although i do remember seeing this before and it always seems to be when writing the very last bucket

Pixel studio; you are indeed right, there was a recorded event which showed some sort of network adapter error. I'll get my guys to look into it..

[vlado]

Only the host machine writes to the output file, so that would be #2. I think the problem might be that the .vrimg/.exr file needs to stay open for a very long time (during the entire rendering) and so its network connection needs to remain established successfully for a long time. I can probably change this for the .vrimg so that it is opened just before a bucket is rendered, and closed immediately after that for heavy files, but I am not sure about the .exr, since we are using ILM's library and I don't know how easy it will be to implement this into it.

Best regards,
Vlado

[sv]

Vlado,
sorry to bug you on this one but any news on this?
Happened again last night when i setup two renders through Video Post, of course the first render to be completed failed to save properly, was shut down and the second one started, so we lost all that data.
Did you guys ever changed the way the vrimg saves as mentioned above?

Thanks

[vlado]

This is most likely due to saving the file over the network - e.g. I remember someone else on the forum found that his network cards had a power saving option that turned them off after a certain amount of inactivity as can happen with a long render. I have not yet gotten round to changing how the files are written; further on, I can only do that for .vrimg files, not .exr ones.

Best regards,
Vlado

[sv]

sure; thanks for the response.
i'll have to get into the habit of remembering to save to the desktop or something first, then move the images.
thanks.

[sv]

sorry to keep going on, but have to give you an update really...

Saving to the desktop makes no difference at all - still an error saving the file.

VFB,
render to memory is ticked because i can't afford to waste the processing time and will need to save out from here if it fails
Writting to a RAW image file with DR
On high res images will fail a lot of the time.

I agree with you that it's something to do with the network & or network cards, but just so you know it's nothing to do with where it saves.

If you could change the way it writes for the VRIMG this would be great - we'd happily test out any changes.

#
All the best.

[vlado]

I can try, but this will take some time (well, at least until Monday). If you email me to vlado@chaosgroup.com I'll get you an update as soon as I have it.

Best regards,
Vlado

[sv]

Vlado - whenever you get round to it!
enjoy your weekend!