maintaining Vray builds with workstations and the render frarm?

[gardeler]

We are using different versions of software as modules. For vray we have 3 versions (modules). We have a little script that we use to choose the modules you need and then launches maya with the correct variables and paths, so that the correct versions are used. We hope to expand this in the future so our shot tracking system will tell you what versions of the software you need for that specific project. But that will take some time....

anyways, the module based approach is working really well for us, and I can recommend that approach as it keeps script and plugin folders nice and clean too.

[ultrasonic]

I have also established a clean way of dealing with multiple versions per project here at Mackevision...it's the same as gardeler says...create startup batchscripts that launch maya with the right env variables...this is then also handled by our renderfarm submitter,that tells the renderslaves to use the correct version depending on how maya was started. It's not so easy,but also not rocket science.

if anyone needs some consulting please PM me...

cheers
Oli

[sinagra]

Gardeler.... can you post which files go in which folders.... and what other vars might need to be set dynamically?

we have all of our plugins setup using modules and I have yet to get vray working with that method....

[gardeler]

Sinagra, I cannot answer your question in detail, but I'll check with our sysguy if he has a few moments to provide you with an answer. We are in the middle of a move at the moment and our sysguy looksa bit pale, hehe. But I'll talk to him.

Maybe chaos group could make it an option in the installer to install as module?

[brainspoon]

If it is of any help for one of you, this is the way I deploy the current vray version to my rendering machines.
I use PSTools to kill the running vrayspawner and vray.exe.

set MACHINE=machinename
set USER=username
set PASS=password

..\pstools\pskill \\%MACHINE% -u %USER% -p %PASS% vraymayaspawner2011.exe
..\pstools\pskill \\%MACHINE% -u %USER% -p %PASS% vray.exe

rmdir /Q /S "\\%MACHINE%\d$\Autodesk\Chaos Group"
rmdir /Q /S "\\%MACHINE%\d$\Autodesk\Maya2011\vray"

xcopy /Y /E /I "D:\Autodesk\Chaos Group\V-Ray\Maya 2011 for x64" "\\%MACHINE%\d$\Autodesk\Chaos Group\V-Ray\Maya 2011 for x64"
xcopy /Y /E /I "D:\Autodesk\Maya2011\vray" "\\%MACHINE%\d$\Autodesk\Maya2011\vray"
xcopy /Y /E /I "D:\Autodesk\Maya2011\modules" "\\%MACHINE%\d$\Autodesk\Maya2011\modules"
xcopy /Y /E /I "D:\Autodesk\Maya2011\bin\vray.dll" "\\%MACHINE%\d$\Autodesk\Maya2011\bin\"
xcopy /Y /E /I "D:\Autodesk\Maya2011\bin\rendererdesc\vrayRendere r.xml" "\\%MACHINE%\d$\Autodesk\Maya2011\bin\rendererDesc "

..\pstools\psexec \\%MACHINE% -u %USER% -p %PASS% -c setvrayvars.cmd
..\pstools\psexec -d \\%MACHINE% -u %USER% -p %PASS% D:\Autodesk\Maya2011\vray\bin\vraymayaspawner2011. exe




The setvrayvars.cmd contains this to remotely set the env vars:
SETX /M VRAY_FOR_MAYA2011_MAIN_x64 "D:\Autodesk\Maya2011\vray"
SETX /M VRAY_FOR_MAYA2011_PLUGINS_x64 "D:\Autodesk\Maya2011\vray/vrayplugins"

[sinagra]

An install as module option would be great Vlado... (hint hint)
That way we can keep multiple builds live and only have to change a single var to update and segment machines

Although the silent install seems to be the way to go for the meantime.. just let the renderfarm do the workfor u....

[Fredrik Averpil]

Below is an example .xml file, here is a description of the variables:

MAYAROOT - this is the root Maya folder;
STDROOT - this is the folder where various other files will be installed (documentation, SDK etc);
MODULEDEST - the Maya modules folder;
PLUGINS - this is the folder where V-Ray specific Maya-related stuff will be installed (scripts, plugins etc);
OPEN_CHANGELOG - this is 1 to open the changelog after the installation and 0 if you don't want it to open;
INSTALL_TYPE - 0 is full install (workstation, includes SDK); 1 is standalone only;

Are all of these variables the same for V-Ray 2.0 for Maya 2012?
Or are there any changes or additions?
I noticed you had not mentioned the REGISTER_RENERSLAVE_SERVICE variable. Is it still available in the V-Ray 2.0 installer?

It would be awesome to be able to actively choose whether or not the installer would un-install an already existing install. It has happened that our distribution script installs a version as one machine is rebooting or is offline. Then this machine will from that point on have V-Ray uninstalled when other machines have it being installed and vice versa...

[ilpvfx]

Hi,

I am trying to configure mutiple versions of vray, so far without success, we have a python wrapper around maya witch we use to setup different modules depending on witch project you are working on. however getting vray to play along is not going great.

I am setting the following enviroment variables :

VRAY_FOR_MAYA2011_MAIN_x64 =..../vray/maya2011-x64/2.0/maya
VRAY_FOR_MAYA2011_PLUGINS_x64=$VRAY_FOR_MAYA2011_M AIN_x64/vrayplugins

MAYA_SCRIPT_PATH" =$VRAY_FOR_MAYA2009_MAIN_x64/scripts
MAYA_PLUG_IN_PATH"=$VRAY_FOR_MAYA2009_MAIN_x64/plug-ins
XBMLANGPATH" =$VRAY_FOR_MAYA2009_MAIN_x64/icons/%B
MAYA_SHELF_PATH"=$VRAY_FOR_MAYA2009_MAIN_x64/shelfs

and finally the ld_library_path

LD_LIBRARY_PATH =..../vray/maya2011-x64/1.0/vray/lib/linux_x64/gcc-4.1

but it seams I am still missing some shared librarys since I get this message trying to load the plugin in maya:
// Warning: line 1: Failed to call script callback //

// Error: line 1: /mnt/megatron/final/software/vray/versions/vray/maya2011-x64/2.0/maya/plug-ins/vrayformaya.so: undefined symbol: _ZN22PluginManagerUtilsBase15newBitmapPluginEPKcii iifiRbbifS1_S1_iif (vrayformaya) //

anyone who has any idea what I am missing?

/Eric

[ilpvfx]

aha, I goofed, there is a maya specific libvray.so that the insaller putts in /usr/autodesk/maya2011-x64/lib having that in the LD_LIBRARY_PATH instead solves it.

/Eric

[vlado]

Heh ok, I see you found it out already. There is some more information here: http://www.spot3d.com/vray/help/maya...l_from_dir.htm

Best regards,
Vlado

[chuckie7413]

Ok so I am coming back to this as I never quite got it to work. My question previously in this thread was about just trying to install vray on our renderfarm quitely without having to do have any manual input. (we are not worrying about mainting multiple builds yet)

Vlado showed that this was possible and I can successfully run and install vray (standalone) with this quite installion but only when I run the command LOCALLY on the machine I want to install it on.

When I try and run exactly the same command remotely from my workstation using PSTools, the install seems to run and create the folders but then starts to delete them. I am guessing this is actuall an issue with regards to PSTools as the command obviously works when I run it on the local machine.

Was wondering if anyone has any experience with PSTool and this kind of install.

Basically I have a shared drive on all machines and in this drive is an install folder contaning the vray install file and the xml file i created. It looks like this:

        <DefValues>
            <Value Name="MAYAROOT" DataType="value">C:\Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\Standalone 2 for x64/vray</Value>
            <Value Name="STDROOT" DataType="value">C:\Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\Maya 2012 for x64</Value>
            <Value Name="PLUGINS" DataType="value">C:\Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\Standalone 2 for x64/vray/vrayplugins</Value>
            <Value Name="OPEN_CHANGELOG" DataType="value">0</Value>
	    <Value Name="INSTALL_TYPE" DataType="value">1</Value>
        </DefValues>

N.B. Reason I have named it Standalone 2 for x64 is because I want to keep the previous standalone built for 1.5 we have on our the render nodes already.

Along with the vray install exe file and the xml file is a .bat file that contains the command to run the quite install.

vray_adv_20004_maya2012_x64.exe -gui=0 -configFile="xml_mya2012_x64.xml" -quiet=1

Now on my workstation I have installed PSTools and on my desktop I have .bat file that runs following code

@ECHO ON
"C:\PsTools\psexec.exe" \\rendernode1 -c -f -u domain.local\rendernode1 -p password "Z:\installs\install.bat"

PAUSE

When I run file the install begins. However it as mentioned above it will start installing and then start deleting the files. Incedently it seems to also not take into account the correct name of the path for MAYAROOT and PLUGINS.

Attached is a log of the install.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Best,

Richard

[vlado]

It seems that even if you choose the "standalone" installation, the installer will still try to modify one of the Maya MEL scripts, but it will look for it in the wrong location (C:\Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\Standalone for x64/scripts/others/createMayaSoftwareCommonGlobalsTab.mel). Since this fails, the installer automatically rolls back all changes.

We will fix this for the next nightly build tomorrow, but in the meantime a work-around would be to copy that MEL file from a Maya installation into the location the installer looks for it.

Best regards,
Vlado

[chuckie7413]

Thanks Vlado.

What confuses me is why the install will work perfectly if the command is run on the render node locally as opposed to doing it remotely via PSTools?

Cheers,

Richard

[vlado]

Hm, now that I look more closely I see this has been fixed a very long time ago; I could not reproduce the issue with the V-Ray 2.0 installation. However I notice that you specified the config file as "xml_mya2012_x64.xml" instead of "xml_maya2012_x64.xml" - is this intended, or a misprint?

Best regards,
Vlado

[chuckie7413]

This is intended. I named the file "xml_mya2012_x64.xml"

Richard