maintaining Vray builds with workstations and the render frarm?

[Zdravko]

The default location for the install log under Mac OSX is : /Applications/Chaos Group/V-Ray/Maya 20xx/Uninstall
It should be in the V-Ray additional plugins folder /vray_builds/my_version/vray (http://www.spot3d.com/vray/help/maya...l_from_dir.htm)

[Zach Gray]

EDIT:
After I played with the silent install I noticed that the installer wants to modify these mel scripts "createMayaSoftwareCommonGlobalsTab.mel; shouldAppearInNodeCreateUI.mel; unifiedRenderGlobalsWindow.mel". If I copy them to the network folder I want to install vray to (/vray_build/my_version/maya_root/scripts/others/) the installer finishes without errors. With these modified scripts the common tab problem mentioned above is gone.

THANK YOU for posting this! This was driving me crazy. I just added the source statement for these scripts in my user setup.mel, so they overwrite what maya loads by default. Works great.

[Fredrik Averpil]

I've tried to consolidate what's been said in this thread on arbitrary location install + some own ideas (simple python example scripts). Feel free to comment!
http://fredrikaverpil.tumblr.com/pos...location-setup

[ultrasonic]

Very good resource...the only thing that i was missing, is that u need to install vray inside the default maya location to be able to find the modified mel scripts!!! But I think chaosgroup just modified the installer in a way that u can install to arbitrary locations more easily!

cheers
Oli

[Zach Gray]

Has anyone successfully done a network install with Maya 2013 x64? I can't do it with the either the stable or nightlies.

I get the following error on render in addition to a hard crash when opening the VFB.

// Error: Error loading plugin library "K:\Public\Pipeline\vray_builds\deploy\Maya2013\maya_vray\vrayplugins\vray_MtlBump.dll" (127) //

I've confirmed that all the environment vars are set up properly, set via a group policy, set locally, and even launched via python and Fredrk's script. Vray launches fine, but I think there is a glitch in how it's finding the /vrayplugins folder. There is a .module file, but that points to [PLUGINS], and hardcoding that to the right folder doesn't work either.

Everything works great for 2012, and also works fine with a normal local install. I can't figure out what has changed, and I was hoping someone had it running properly.

Thanks,

Zach

[alainfx]

Have you checked that the env var that contains in its name the maya version has been changed to 2013 ?

VRAY_FOR_MAYA2013_PLUGINS_x64 \\yourPath\vray\vrayplugins
VRAY_PLUGINS_x64 \\yourPath\vray\vrayplugins

[Zach Gray]

Have you checked that the env var that contains in its name the maya version has been changed to 2013 ?

Definitely. Vray is actually running, but not at 100%, obviously. I'm trying to determine if it is something unique to my environment or if everyone is facing the same issue with 2013.

[vlado]

// Error: Error loading plugin library "K:\Public\Pipeline\vray_builds\deploy\Maya2013\maya_vray\vrayplugins\vray_MtlBump.dll" (127) //

This error will appear if the wrong libvray.dylib file is loaded (i.e. DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH variable does not point to the correct version of V-Ray).

Best regards,
Vlado

[Zach Gray]

This error will appear if the wrong libvray.dylib file is loaded (i.e. DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH variable does not point to the correct version of V-Ray).

Strange. I'm on a winx64 installation, so I can't find any trace of that file. Looking through the directories, I didn't see anything that served that purpose. So I haven't added it to the environment. Is there an equivalent for winx64 that I should look for?

[renderslaveuk]

How can we access the nightly builds??

I would love to see what is new so far before the new service pack is out.

Best,
Nikos

[vlado]

Strange. I'm on a winx64 installation, so I can't find any trace of that file. Looking through the directories, I didn't see anything that served that purpose. So I haven't added it to the environment. Is there an equivalent for winx64 that I should look for?

Hm, I don't know why I thought about Mac OS X On Windows the file is vray.dll and the environment variable is the PATH variable. You must make sure that the PATH variable contains only one path to a vray.dll file, and that it is the correct one.

Best regards,
Vlado

[Zach Gray]

You must make sure that the PATH variable contains only one path to a vray.dll file.

Wow. That was maddeningly easy. Works fine now. Chaos support and I were back and forth for a long time on that one. I think the cmdline changes we were making to the path weren't actually working since they were only for the cmd process. Crazy. I guess you have to set it in the windows settings and restart to have it apply system wide.

The right way to check the actual path is with python inside maya so you can see the:

import os
print (os.environ['PATH'])

What is also nice is that you can modify the path after Maya launch. It's my understanding that that is only for the Maya process. So processes spawned from it like vray will inherit the environment. This might also cause issues for batch rendering that isn't started from maya.

os.environ['PATH'] =  'X:/mypath/vraystuff/'

I've modified Fredricks script, and I'm executing that in my userSetup.py. That seems to be working fine since scripts are run before plugins are loaded.

My concern is how this will affect standalone for network rendering. Does the standalone also need that vray.dll to function? I may be able to start that process with a custom environment in Qube, but it would be simpler if it could be set globally.

[bigbossfr]

Hi,
I have this error : "Error: Exception: MayaSceneAccessUtils: Could not obtain plugin manager"

I have setted the PYTHONPATH to Maya2012\vray\scripts\vray

If anyone have this problem ?

[vlado]

There should be no need to change the PYTHONPATH variable - this can lead to other issues.

Best regards,
Vlado

[bigbossfr]

False alert, all is fine now (bad installation).