Batch render scripts that handle IR/LC saving/loading

V-Ray V-Ray for 3ds Max General
1

Hey everyone.
Anyone know of any scripts that can help me batch render from a file? There are 36 renders that need to be sent from it, each camera needs a pre-calculated IR/LC pass setting off first then a base render going with a couple settings changed.

Each IR/LC & output file can be named after the camera, they all have code numbers so I don’t need any fancy naming tools. They’ll all be rendered on a single machine using DR too.
With compress on save turned on, the total scene & xrefs works out to be around 3.4gb. it’s a solid few minutes between pressing render and getting back in to switch to the next camera…

2

have you tried this?

I haven’t tested it doing pre-calculated IR/LC. but looks like its possible.

3

I have been trying, but it’s not behaving very well. I can change one thing on it’s interface, then the second thing I change I get an error that says ‘unable to convert: undefined to type:float’
If I close the script, I can reopen it and make one more change.
I need to change render width, height, IR map output etc on 36 cameras and I can only do one at a time. naturally it’s one of those scripts that has a bit of a delay every time it opens. ha.

edit: think I cracked it. it has a copy & paste function!
wish me luck

4

can you use the %cameraname% in the save/load for IR/LC

I haven’t tested it in that way before. but that should really be only thing stopping you from sending all 36 cameras off at once.

5

:frowning: When I press the ‘render’ button it pops up

MAXScript Rollout Handler Exception

-- Unknown property: “baseObject” in “Camera001”

Probably shouldve tested that before setting up 18 IR maps in it.

6

in the regular batch render? I never thought of this. will try now!

7

Tried it - just saves the IRmap as %cameraname%.vrmap, doesnt fill it in with the name of the camera :frowning:

8

Managed to get that script working! I had a slightly older version, got a fresh one, reinstalled and it worked fine. even remembered all my old settings.

9

That script doesnt appear to support the 6x1 camera type :frowning:
First time i sent all my renders using the script, I waited for one to start and it was rendering from a standard camera instead of 6x1…
Opened the max file, and camera was set to default. must have made a mistake. Change it to 6x1, resend everything… renders in default. open the saved max file and it’s switched back to default type again. Time to leave before I give myself an aneurysm.

3 hours messing around with this later, i’m back at square one, having to press ‘render’ 72 times from a 3.5gb file. I timed how long it takes to do one (about 4min, including changing file path and waiting for max to come back after each time) and it comes out to just under 5 hours of work just to queue them all up on backburner.

Any suggestions are very welcome. I cant afford to loose 5 hours a week every week until the end of september. that would come out to a total of 30 hours… :confused:
Is anyone available to edit the script so it doesn’t change the camera type back to standard? This is a link to it - http://usakhelo.github.io/batchcam/compiled/batchcamerarender\_1.9.22.ms

10

Ouch! sorry to hear that Neilg..

batchcamerarender is my go to script for batch renders try posting it the scriptspot forums, they are some mad skilled scripters there that I’m sure can help out.

Let us know if you get it working for 6x1 cam with batchcamerarender.

11

Have you tried this one?

I use this for everything, I havent used precalced IR map for a while, but I use this for precalced LC. It supports tags like %cameraname% so you can automate almost everything.

edit: think this is the newer version of that script

12

normally i always go the 1.x.x.x version.

2 was a rewrite, it works differently. and i would say not as well.

but if your having trouble i’d give it a go.

13

Really?

What issues have you had with ver 2? Ive not had any

14

I have plugged this one before RPManager About honestly can’t render anymore without it.

It will do what you need and then some.

15

I clicked on the batchcam2 in my initial search - didnt realise it was by the same guy. The images were down and the website gave a 404 so i moved past it, will take another look.

$200 for a node locked license, ouch.
I’m going to spend until around 2pm today trying some other options and then i’ll push for this.

16

Yeah it’s quite old now, but give it a go. Similar situation to you, I had to render 41 cube maps last night but this did it all in one click with automated naming of everything. Love it.

17

Working in vr is fun, but the logistics of it are worse than animation… at least on animation you can break shots up.

I got someone in our NY studio editing that script to let the 6x1 camera pass through

18

All solved!

This script does work - Batch Camera Render | ScriptSpot
A lot of settings need to be left as ‘undefined’ - if you check them on or off, there is no way to ever get them back to undefined again to pull settings from the regular vray setup. It saves them in the cameras too, so the only way to get another shot once you accidentally click the wrong box is to re-make the camera under a different name and start over.

19

Render pass manager isn’t free but then again neither is your time. Best 200 bucks you will ever spend.