[deadalvs]

hi !

i have made a .mxm file with color/bump map. i referenced the textures to the M: network folder. the material editor can access the files without problem and render the preview.

but when i assign the .mxm in maya and hit render, the bitmaps are not accessed and a standard diffuse material is assigned to that specific geometry. even the .mxm is in the same folder as the textures !!

how does this work?
is there a better way with the source image folder? the whole project folder is on the same network drive, of course.

thanks for quick help !!

* * *

deadalvs

[deadalvs]

i just encountered the same problem again...

i have the textures just on my desktop and they are not exported from maya (.mxm) to maxwell... how can i solve this ??



* * *

deadalvs

[deadalvs]

are there no maya users that need .mxm materials all the time ?

*pleeeze*

* * *

deadalvs

[3dtrialpractice]

sorry wish i could help.. I too have my mxms and textures on a "L:" (library)drive.. on a network.. and i got no troubles.. usually the textures are inthe same folder.. but not always.. been using mxm's since m~1.0 so im not sure why it dont work for you..

sorry.. maybe its a plugin issue.. do you have the latest mayall w/ m!1.1 in there.. double sure?

dont know why it would not recognizer the textures.. sorry..

although i just read yourtroubles again... ARe you saving the files to open in Maxwell Studio?

I dont ever render in studio.. Iv only used and rendered via mayall.. never open studio

[DrMerman]

deadalvs, check your pm's

Cheers
Dr Merman

[deadalvs]

sorry.. maybe its a plugin issue.. do you have the latest mayall w/ m!1.1 in there.. double sure?
although i just read yourtroubles again... ARe you saving the files to open in Maxwell Studio?
I dont ever render in studio.. Iv only used and rendered via mayall.. never open studio

i'm triple sure...

i just tried with the computer on which the textures actually are shared from (folder defined as network drive)...
on this one it works perfectly... !

but my laptop seems not to find them anyway. but the drive is accessible !

* * *

to Dr Merman...

thanks for the PM... yes, i did it exactly like this. it can't find the textures. so it must be something about the network access... i am not a specialist in these things - which are the most important settings for win xp ?

i'll try some more... this can not be ! *damn*

but thanks very much up to now... !

* * *

deadalvs

[DrMerman]

Ok, here goes a long post The way that I set up my networked textures, was by doing the following:

*Select the folder/drive you wish to make available to all computers on your network (i.e the drive with all your textures in.) Right click and select properties.
*Click on the sharing tab, and select 'Share this folder on the network', then hit ok.
*In explorer go to tools > map network drive.
*Browse to find the folder/drive that you just shared, and then choose a drive letter for it (it can be any of the listed ones, and it does not matter which one you choose. Lets say you choose X.) Leave reconnect at login checked and hit finish.
*Now if you look in my computer, you'll see you have a new drive, which is essentially a short cut to the folder/drive you shared, with the added bonus that it is also easily available over the network.
*Now on the other computers on your network, repeat the map network drive process, but this time point it to the X drive we just created on your main computer. The important part is to make sure that you give the drive the same name on all computers. If its X on one computer, it has to be X on the others.

The benefit of this is that all of your textures are basically in the same place on each computer, the X drive. So when you create an MXM, add the bitmaps from the X drive, and when you share the scene between network computers, you don't have any annoyingly hideous access problems.

Saying this, there are MANY other things that XP can throw at you to stop you getting anything done. But have a look at the above and see if it makes sense, give it a go (its all reversible and can't really hurt anything as long as you are careful) and try the scene again

Cheers,
Dr Merman

[deadalvs]

oh boy.

yes, i do have my network drive just like this... exactly as You describe.

one problem i think could be the path itself like X:/../
i just tried the direct path with the IP address, but no luck yet..

more time, more time...

* * *

deadalvs

[deadalvs]

I too have my mxms and textures on a "L:" (library)drive.. on a network.. and i got no troubles..

can You also access the .mxms without troubles from another computer ?

because in my case the computer on which the folder is actually on has no problem finding the textures...

* * *

deadalvs

[3dtrialpractice]

ya.. i have all my machines mapped with a L network drive ..the acctual computer that contains the folder that is seen as "L" on other computers I never use as a render machine.. its just there as a file server and so I always am accessing that L drive form other computers ...

-here we got security and we must enter a password on machine bootup to remapp the L drive on our render computers.. so maybe you need to enter a password to see that network drive mapped? or do you see the files fine.. its just when maxwell tries to acces the network drive that it gets lost?

[deadalvs]

another hint i found...

when i hit the render button, the .mxs scene is of course generated in /RenderData in the active projects folder.

when i open this file in studio, the textures cannot be found either...

it seems that maya exports wrong/garbled .mxms... or something similar...

* * *

deadalvs

[deadalvs]

no passwords at my home

* * *

damn. i even have these problems on the laptop with mxms that i generated on the machine!

i'll reinstall all again !!!

damned!

* * *

deadalvs

[deadalvs]

I GOT IT !!! actually my brother had the brilliant idea...

problem:
i installed maya 7.0 on the sharing pc. on the other laptop, there was 7.01 installed.
since 7.0 worked, we removed 7.01 and reinstalled 7.0 .

next step: trying a shared .mxm and: it works !

yay !

* * *

deadalvs

[3dtrialpractice]

WOW bro im happy you got it!!

but damn what a weird reason that it was may 7.01 v 7.0

why would that effect the mxs files.. so weird.. but im happy to hear you can continu renderin!

[deadalvs]

WOW bro im happy you got it!!

but damn what a weird reason that it was may 7.01 v 7.0

why would that effect the mxs files.. so weird.. but im happy to hear you can continu renderin!

thanks dude... i already had two beers on that one... !

* * *

deadalvs