DR and progressive mode, Save to Raw image file

[fraggle]

Hello,
are DR and progressive mode compatible?
Are Progressive mode and save to image file (vrimg) compatible?

When trying to used that on a render farm service the project got stacked.

Thanks
Farm Name: Rebus

[vlado]

It's a bug; we are working on this right now and we should have a fix fairly soon. In the meantime, writing to an OpenEXR file instead should work fine (provided that "memory frame buffer" is enabled).

Best regards,
Vlado

[alexyork]

Bump.

Having an issue with this - I have a scene set up with Progressive mode, with V-Ray raw image file checked and a proper absolute path to an EXR specified. With Generate Preview OFF.

I still got a full-res frame buffer while rendering - is this right?

The EXR was NOT generated during rendering.

When I canceled the render, after 15 hours or so, max crashed and no file was being written. Luckily I had manually saved the buffer out to an EXR before canceling the render.... !

Any ideas Vlado and co? I can't send you the file due to NDA.

Running 07 here with max design 2014 latest SP.

[svetlozar.draganov]

Would it be possible to run the same test on a very simple scene? I just did that and it worked fine here with 3.00.07.
There was an error about "cannot write output image files" but the file was written successfully.

[alexyork]

Would it be possible to run the same test on a very simple scene? I just did that and it worked fine here with 3.00.07.
There was an error about "cannot write output image files" but the file was written successfully.

I will try on a simple scene when I can - on a very tight deadline, hence the cry for help! I have not checked the vraylog to see if there's any error happening but I don't think there is. Just nothing being written at all.

Unless there's a temp file location somewhere on C that I could check?

[alexyork]

I will try on a simple scene when I can - on a very tight deadline, hence the cry for help! I have not checked the vraylog to see if there's any error happening but I don't think there is. Just nothing being written at all.

Unless there's a temp file location somewhere on C that I could check?

I've just tried this on a massively simplified version of the same max scene with only 1 object, the HDRI and same settings, and it's not writing any file during rendering - only after i hit Cancel. Then it writes the file. Because I never specified the time limit or noise limit for PR it just kept going forever, or until it crashed, so I never had any written file as a result.

[alexyork]

I get an error:

Cannot write output image file "......." (with the file name there).

[alexyork]

I have emailed you a zip/max file Svetlozar - hopefully we can find the issue!

[alexyork]

ok so it works fine if i use vrimg. it does NOT work with EXR. so this is the issue. regardless of 32 bit checked or not, by the way.

edit. when i hit cancel, interestingly it still says "Cannot write output file "....... .vrimg". but it actually does.

[alexyork]

question - at what time/passes intervals is the vrimage updated? Every minute? 5 mins? 100 passes?

just ran a PR for about 5 mins and it didn't update the file once during rendering, only at start and when i hit cancel.

[alexyork]

Oh and Generate preview seems to make no difference to anything. I get my VFB window and the render is shown regardless of if it's on or off.

[vlado]

I still got a full-res frame buffer while rendering - is this right?

Yes it is.

The EXR was NOT generated during rendering.

The file is written only after rendering is complete. Saving the file at regular time intervals is somewhere on the "to do" list, but it's a bit complicated due to the number of ways that people can save their files. We will probably end up doing it for .vrimg only.

When I canceled the render, after 15 hours or so, max crashed and no file was being written.

Can you send me the crash dump from the temp folder, if you still keep it around? Also, can you tell me what resolution you rendered to?

Best regards,
Vlado

[vlado]

Oh and Generate preview seems to make no difference to anything. I get my VFB window and the render is shown regardless of if it's on or off.

This is correct; for the moment, the "Generate preview" option only has any meaning if "Memory frame buffer" is disabled - in that case, it generates a small preview to show you how the render progresses. If "Memory frame buffer" is ON, the "Generate preview" option doesn't do anything and perhaps we need to gray it out.

Best regards,
Vlado

[alexyork]

Thanks Vlado.

I've been talking with Svetlozar about this so it's mostly all cleared up now.

I think regular on-the-fly image writing would be a HUGE bonus with progressive mode. E.g. at specified sample intervals or time intervals. And I agree that the Gen Preview option should be greyed out when needed as it's all quite confusing at the moment.

Apparently the help file is also a bit out of date and with some incorrect info, so if this gets a re-write hopefully some clarifications can be made.

Many thanks.

[vasil.minkov]

Hello,

Currently the output image is not updated at a regular intervals. It is fully written at once at frame end.
A a result, if there is a crash during rendering, the image is not written at all.

Best Regards,