Can't Save RenderElements (Maya 2018.3, VRay NEXT)

[BeneZ]

Hi,
how can I save Renderelements?
It does not work as a preset and also not when using the "Save" Button underneath the Renderelements.
"Could not save file"
Thanks for help
EDIT: Updated now to Maya2018.4 and same problem.
When I save the renderelements it can't save them. Furthermore after that Maya is corrupt and doesn't save anything more.
Needs to be restarted without possibility of file saving!

[nikolay.kusht]

I cannot seem to reproduce the same issue on our side. Could you try making a backup and deleting the "prefs" and "presets" folders located in "C:\Users\Training5\Documents\maya\2018". You could also try to re-install V-Ray and see if this would help.

[BeneZ]

Thank you, I will try this. It is a complete new Maya and a new fresh VrayNEXT installed, but of course Maya took its preferences from an old version.
I heard the same issue with an older version of vray3.6 once from a colleague.
Small question: Is it correct, that Renderelements were saved as Maya .mb-file?

[BeneZ]

Deleting Preferences did not solve it. Still hitting the "Save" button gives an error and makes any savings impossible. You need to quit the whole scene without saving.

Only workaround for saving renderlayers: When I don't use "Legacy Renderlayers", then there is the Option to export AOV's. This works, but is not available wit Legacy Renderlayers, which are still better.

Another missing feature: With the new mode (Render Setup), Vray also does not remember the toggled state of renderelements for each renderlayer.
In the "Legacy Renderlayers" mode you could toggle them for different renderlayers and it stored automatically ("Y" or "N").
So this feature is missing at the moment, too.

Best,
Ben

[yolov]

The 'save' option in the render elements tab can be used to save the selected render elements to a .mb file. The .mb file can then be used to import the elements back in, using the 'import' option in the same tab.
To also transfer layer overrides, you'll need to export the layer overrides from the render setup window > file > export all/selected to a json and then you can import the .mb file and the json file back into another scene.
On my end this works with V-Ray Next and Maya 2018.

[BeneZ]

Ok thanks, this is what I thought, but that's not working (see about crashing above)

[yolov]

I didn't see anything about a crash, could you point it out for me?
When you get the 'error saving file' message - is it just by pressing 'save' on the render elements tab? Or after you specify a location to save to? What happens if you save a regular maya scene in the same location?

[BeneZ]

Hi Yolov,
right in the moment, when I press the "SAVE" button, there comes the red message "Could not save file...".

From exactly that moment on, Maya isn't anymore able to save anything. You can work, but you can't save anymore your scene, not as .mb and not as .ma.
It means, pressing in Vray renderelements the "SAVE" corrupts somehow Maya.
And this is the same like a crash, when my scene is lost, because I can't save it anymore.

[yolov]

OK, judging from the previous screenshots, this is on Windows.
Can you try and do the same thing, only after you press save, go to the windows task manager, locate the maya process in 'processes', expand it, locate Maya, right click and do 'create dump file'. We can try and see if a process dump will help us figure out what's going on. The file may be huge, so you can upload it to something like google drive and send us a link, or we can provide you with ftp access to upload it for us.

[BeneZ]

Hi yolov,

yes, windows 10 with latest Maya and latest Vray...
VrayNext was installed on monday with kind help of your support team (just because of a license server issue), but still can't save renderelements

In a second try, with opening the scene again and setting Script Editor on "echo all commands" it also could not save the file,
but at least it did not destroy Mayas ability to save.
But it also did not save the renderelements. I attached the script editor screenshots, too.

One message in the script editor is wrong: I am on windows 10 and I can read there something from "windows8". Don't know if that matters...

Thanks for watching...

[yolov]

Does it let you browse where to save the file once you click the SAVE button?

[BeneZ]

Yes, it lets me browse. Everything seems normal except that I can't save. I also tried different locations for saving.