DR Frustration - HELP!

[glorybound]

unc

It was not clear before in the earlier posts: do you know how to assign them via unc rather than mapped drive?

How do you assign them via unc rather than mapped drive?

[simmsimaging]

In Max go to the Asset Tracker and choose Paths/Preferences/ and turn on Convert Paths to UNC.

When assigning textures do not use any mapped network drive assignments. Share out the folder where you have your maps, and then everytime you assign a map you navigate to it through the network. It's a bit slower/more cumbersome than mapped drives depending on the depth of your file structure.

In Vista you would always navigate through the network, even to a local harddrive, if that's where your assets are.

So instead of (for example):
F:\3D_Assets\TextureMaps\texture.png

you will end up with:
computername\f:\3D_Assets\TextureMaps\texture.png

Which gets converted in the asset tracker for you into:
\\computername\f:\3D_Assets\TextureMaps\texture.pn g

Note the drive letter is still used -because it's still a local drive on whatever machine holds the assets. If you are using NAS instead it might be slightly different but essentially the same drill - just navigate through the network from the bottom up, no shortcuts, and you should be good I think.

That help?
b

[glorybound]

Unc

YES! it seems that navigating through my network and not using the map drive worked for me. Who would have guessed? Man, 2 weeks of hell!

[simmsimaging]

YES! it seems that navigating through my network and not using the map drive worked for me. Who would have guessed? Man, 2 weeks of hell!

Glad it's working. I'd say a few people (Morbid and plastic i.e) guessed it pretty early on though

b

[glorybound]

Service

It still does not work using it as a service and launching it manually makes typing not possible, but I am not complaining.

[simmsimaging]

Yeah, that slow typing thing is a pain in the arse. I gave up on the service option but I only leave the spawner running on render nodes for the most part so the typing thing isn't much of a hindrance. I think that problem only happens on the Vista machines though - it's not bad on my XP boxes IIRC.

[vlado]

It still does not work using it as a service and launching it manually makes typing not possible, but I am not complaining.

You need to set the service to run with a proper user account for the machine, instead of the default system account.

Best regards,
Vlado

[glorybound]

Share

I have also found out that the MAX resolve UNC isn't the same as manually navigating your network path. I am working on an older job and I had to select each texture and remap to keep all my nodes from falling off. With Vista's folder history it wasn't to bad, but I thought I would share.

[simmsimaging]

That is correct. You have to re-navigate on older scenes. If you previously used a mapped drive, as I did, then it's pretty easy. I disconnected the mapped drive and then use Colin's re-link bitmaps script to quickly put thing right again with a full UNC path. Takes seconds.

b

[glorybound]

Unc

I thought about collins script, but I didn't think about removing the mapped version of the shared drive. I guess I have no reason to have them mapped now so I'll just remove the map.

I am noticing one thing. That last bucket is taking almost as long as the whole scene. All my machines are the same so it isn't stuck on a slow slave. Any reason or tips on this one?

[simmsimaging]

re: buckets - This happens to me from time to time. I find it tends to happen on particularly complex areas (like glossy refractions of refractions etc.) and eventually they clear up. I think others have had a more serious problem with this but not sure.

re: script - killing the mapped drive gave me a one-shot clearing of all mapped paths so the script could work. I think you can also do it scene-by-scene using the strip paths function in the Asset Tracker to clear the way or the re-link script to kick in. That script is super handy for this kind of thing though.

b

[rmejia]

I have also found out that the MAX resolve UNC isn't the same as manually navigating your network path. I am working on an older job and I had to select each texture and remap to keep all my nodes from falling off. With Vista's folder history it wasn't to bad, but I thought I would share.

If you have another computer, other than the one where the files are stored, with Max installed that you can use to open the file and edit it; and if that other computer with Max has the paths setup to know where the files are stored you can use the "asset tracking" to easily select all maps and change the paths all at once. Then just save the file, and open it in the other computer and all files will be UNC.

Ideally all files would be in a separate file server (like a NAS), other than the workstation where Max is running. Then the paths would always be the network UNC paths.

[glorybound]

Overbright

I am getting the overbright or invalid materials, which I can't find out what is causing it, and it is keeping my render hosts from responding. I know that some bushes are causing it because they are new to the scene and the error is after I placed them. The materials are plain old v-ray materials and the outputs are all default. Any clues?

[glorybound]

slow buckets

I got around the slow bucket by making my buckets smaller.

[glorybound]

Overbright

I know I answer a lot of my own questions, but isn't that what a users forum is about?

I have a white material in my scene (255,255,255), which was causing the over-bright. I changed the material to a vray color material and the issue is gone.