Unable to load VRayRT for batch playblast

V-Ray V-Ray for Maya Issues
1

Hi Chaos Group !

I can’t find the way to run a playblast in a subprocess and get the same result as an interactive playblast with VRay IPR.
The maya command cmds.playblast works well but the chosen renderer isn’t VRayRT in batch mode.

Here is a frame of each result:

1. Launch VRay IPR via UI button then running playblast script in interactive session

playblast_interactive.jpg
playblast_interactive.jpg991×504 8.58 KB

2. Running the same playblast script in subprocess

playblast_batch.jpg
playblast_batch.jpg991×504 8.77 KB

The Maya hardware renderer does not understand the VRay materials so a white constant appears.
With Lambert materials the meshes have color with both interactive and batch playblast.

I tried to force VRayRT renderer with

model_editor = cmds.playblast([COLOR=#aa4926]activeEditor[/COLOR]=[COLOR=#6897bb]1[/COLOR])
cmds.modelEditor(model_editor[COLOR=#cc7832], [/COLOR][COLOR=#aa4926]e[/COLOR]=[COLOR=#6897bb]1[/COLOR][COLOR=#cc7832], [/COLOR][COLOR=#aa4926]rendererOverrideName[/COLOR]=[COLOR=#a5c261]"VRayRT"[/COLOR])

or with openMaya

view = omui.M3dView.active3dView()
view.setRenderOverrideName("VRayRT")
view.refresh(True, True, True)

But these solutions are not working in batch mode.

So, is there a way to use VRayRT as playblast renderer in batch mode ?

Bonus question:
Using one of the script snippets above in an interactive session the VRay IPR starts well. But if I run the playblast without waiting the IPR is fully loaded, the Maya scene freeze.
Is there a callback I can use to launch playblast only when VRay IPR is ready ?

My setup :

  • centos 7
  • maya 2018.6
  • vray_for_maya 4.12.02

I also attached a zip containing my test scene and the full python script I used.

Thanks
Thibaud
vray_rt_batch_tests.zip (11.5 KB)

2

I’m afraid there’s currently no way to do this. I think the reason neither approach works is that there isn’t actually a modelPanel in batch mode/mayapy, and there’s also no M3dView, in your script printing M3dView.numberOf3dViews() returns 0.
But even if you find a way to start V-Ray IPR in Batch, there’s another problem, which is the cause for the “bonus question”: currently we start the render from an idle callback, which doesn’t happen until the script is complete in UI, and I think doesn’t happen at all in batch. We’ll have to change the way V-Ray IPR is started to adress this problem. I’ll log this as a bug report in our system and post here if there’s any progress on this.