[Darius]

I render my scenes from Maya. I was wondering is it possible to render a scene for a while, stop and save it then resume rendering from where it left off at some other time or day.

I have tried doing this by stopping the render after a few hours, saving it as an MXI file and then reloading the MXI file. I can get the image to reload in Maxwell but i dont know how to continue rendering from where it left off.

Does anyone know if/how i can resume the rendering process ?

[Mihai]

There are really two 'types' of MXI files. One contains data about the scene as well as lighting info, the other just lighting info in HDR format.

When Maxwell is rendering it will always save an mxi file. If you don't specify it's name and location before rendering, it will be called default.mxi and placed in the Maxwell install folder. This type if MXI file will be used when resuming a render. If you however save an mxi from MXCL after the rendering is done, you will get the image type MXI which cannot be used to resume the render. This type of MXI file can be used instead as an MXI emitter in a scene.

So to resume a render is easy, just specify an output mxi file before rendering. Then load the same MXS file in MXCL, check the box Resume in the Render options tab, and click Render. It will then continue the render from where it left off.

[JorisMX]

I've been using resume on networkrendings I had to stop and render on at a different time. Works great after you figure it out. Btw I havnt ever used any default output or anything, just the mxi which I chose a proper path and name for. So I have no clue whats up about Mihais technique ? Perhaps more maya related? I use studio most of the time for these setups, perhaps thats the twist.

[Darius]

I have just tried resuming a render by loading the MXI file which was placed in the Images folder with the Maya Projects folder by Maxwell. The MXI file loads up OK in Maxwell Render and the image displays however even though i have 'resume' and 'multilight' within the 'render tab' checked and click on render, nothing happens.

Why is the rendering process not resuming from where it left off?

I have attached an image below which shows the settings:

[Mihai]

You've loaded the image MXI (see my post above), try loading the mxs file instead, then check resume and render.

[Stinkie7000]

So to resume a render is easy, just specify an output mxi file before rendering. Then load the same MXS file in MXCL, check the box Resume in the Render options tab, and click Render.

Kinda confusing.

[Fernando Tella]

Think it this way: to resume you need the scene (mxs) and the image to be resumed (mxi).

[Hugh]

Perhaps the next update should address this unnecessarily confusing situation. I can think of no good reason why two different file types with completely different functions should have the same file extension (please enlighten me if there is one). I've been using Maxwell since the Alpha and I'll freely admit that this totally threw me when it first appeared. Actually had to re-render a few things from scratch that I'd thought could be resumed.

Please change this NL, yes it's easy to know with the benefit of hindsight, but i'd be surprised if every new user hasn't at least once made this mistake and had to start a render again..

[Darius]

I can find the MXI file - Maxwell saves it in the images folder within the Maya Project folder. Where does Maxwell save the MXS file so i can load it into Maxwell Render and resume the render with multilight functionality? NB I dont use Maxwell Studio. I just the Maxwell Maya plugin and Mawell Render.

[Mihnea Balta]

When you render from Maya, the plug-in writes the MXS file into a temporary location and deletes it after the render is finished. To use the resume functionality, you'll have to export to MXS using File->Export All and load the resulting file into MXCL.