Generating LightCache with Mayabatch

[CAPTURE_MM]

Hi,
strangely, I couldn't find a thread about it:
Is it supported to generate the lightcache in flythrough-mode via mayabatch, or in our case, via submition to deadline render manager?
our experience with a first try resulted in extremely long render times (about 10 hours via deadline, 5 minutes in maya). maybe our settings wheren't right. how can we set this up?

kind regards,
Janosch

[vlado]

Is it supported to generate the lightcache in flythrough-mode via mayabatch, or in our case, via submition to deadline render manager?

Yes, it should be possible to set up the scene (or a render layer) that just calculates and saves out the light cache. You need to enable the "auto-save" option for the light cache with a suitable file name, and also disable the "Don't render final image" in the V-Ray Global options.

our experience with a first try resulted in extremely long render times (about 10 hours via deadline, 5 minutes in maya). maybe our settings wheren't right. how can we set this up?

That's odd and there shouldn't be such a difference - it would be helpful if you can get (a part of) the scene to our support guys at vraymaya@chaosgroup.com so that they can check it out.

Best regards,
Vlado

[CAPTURE_MM]

thanks for the quick reply.
unfortunately, i can't send you the scene (or part of it) and i am not able to reconstruct the problem with my small test scene right now...

so the lightcache in flythrough mode will be generated over the given render range in the render settings via maya batch, right?

i will give it the next try soon!

and also disable the "Don't render final image" in the V-Ray Global options.

now i am a little confused. i always enable this function. so i disable rendering the final image. right?

regards

[vlado]

so the lightcache in flythrough mode will be generated over the given render range in the render settings via maya batch, right?

You only need to render one frame; it will generate the light cache for the entire camera path. There is no need to render all the frames in the animation.

now i am a little confused. i always enable this function. so i disable rendering the final image. right?

There are two options that sound similar, one is in the V-Ray Common tab and is named "Don't save image (ignored in batch mode)", the other one is called "Don't render final image" and is in the Global options rollout in the VRay tab. The first option will cause the final image to be rendered, but not saved (you still see it in the Render View). The second option will cause the final image to not be rendered at all - only GI maps will be generated. I was referring to the second option.

Best regards,
Vlado

[CAPTURE_MM]

allright, one frame. so do i have to enable the "use camera path" option for the lightcache?

concerning the "don't render final image" option: i know it's functionality and can distinguish between the "don't save image" option. and i think we both think the same, but there might be a "disable - don't" mistake in your description. at least i hope that, because i think i understood the whole process *please*
our target is do let vray ONLY calculate the cache, and don't do the final step, that usually comes after -> rendering the final image.
in maya, to achieve this, we need to ENABLE the so called "DON'T render final image" option.

but please correct me, if i'm wrong!

best regards,
Janosch

[vlado]

allright, one frame. so do i have to enable the "use camera path" option for the lightcache?

It's enough to set the mode of the light cache to "flythrough".

in maya, to achieve this, we need to ENABLE the so called "DON'T render final image" option.

This is correct yes.

Best regards,
Vlado