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[SOLVED] Resume render after moving MXS and MXI to new disk
Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 3:15 am
by feynman
I had to move many MXSs and their corresponding MXIs after rendering to free up disk space on some SSDs. Now that they are on a different disk - with sufficient space - can I resume the renders in that new location? Thanks!
Re: Resume render after moving MXS and MXI to new disk
Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 5:33 am
by rusteberg
it's worth at least 2 minutes of your time trying it out.....
Re: Resume render after moving MXS and MXI to new disk
Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 11:13 am
by feynman
It ain't working, not a single render will resume :( hence my question :)
But, maybe there is some way for non-programmers to edit the MXS or MXI so they work in a different file location? It says in the manual that the file location is somehow embedded in the MXI if I understood it correctly? Or will I have to move the MXS and MXI back to the original file location for each render I want to resume and then remove them again to free up disk space for the next one?
Re: Resume render after moving MXS and MXI to new disk
Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 2:05 pm
by Bubbaloo
You should re-path the output (to the new folder) in the software you exported from, the re-export the MXS sequence. The new MXS files will still be able to resume the old MXI files.
Re: Resume render after moving MXS and MXI to new disk
Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 4:10 pm
by feynman
Thanks Brian; I'm a bit technically challenged though - could you explain what you mean by "re-pathing to a new folder" and "re-export the MXS sequence"? I should have explained better in my initial post what I did:
1. I rendered stills in a Dropbox folder (where colleagues render other stuff also) residing on an SSD at "C:\Users\username\Dropbox\Renderings"
2. The MXSs and the output MXIs and TIFs were saved just there
3. The SSD eventually ran out of space (too many ~0,5GB MXIs kept for resuming later)
4. I moved all content - each MXS, MXI and TIF - from the Dropbox folder at "C:\Users\username\Dropbox\Renderings" to an empty more spacious SSD at "K:\"
5. When I open the MSXs in Maxwell Studio, resuming cooperative network renders - in that new location - fails on each
In the manual, it said somewhere to "make sure the location of the MXS has not been changed between resumes" - which is what I had to do to free up that SSD...
Re: Resume render after moving MXS and MXI to new disk
Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 4:20 pm
by numerobis
can you render to a new mxi and merge it with the old one?
Re: Resume render after moving MXS and MXI to new disk
Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 4:33 pm
by feynman
Cheers, you mean to do a new render to, let's say, SL 5 and then merge that with the old one that came to SL 17 and by merging both I then get an SL 22 render or something?
Resuming in the new location would be easier, though. Maybe there's some kind of hack into the MXS to trick it into believing it originated in the new location?
Re: Resume render after moving MXS and MXI to new disk
Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 6:08 pm
by Bubbaloo
Open the MXS file, define the new path to the image output and MXI output and save the MXS. Now when you render, it should find the MXI and ask if you want to resume.
If it's a sequence of animation frames, then I was saying it would be easier to re-export new MXS files from your native 3d app (Max, Maya, etc.) with the new path defined so you wouldn't have to manually go through each MXS and define the new path.
Make sense?
Re: Resume render after moving MXS and MXI to new disk
Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 6:12 pm
by Bubbaloo
feynman wrote:let's say, SL 5 and then merge that with the old one that came to SL 17 and by merging both I then get an SL 22 render or something?
For the record, the sampling level doesn't progress linearly. It's more like exponentially. So S.L. 17 + S.L. 5 will probably equal close to S.L. 17.2.

Re: Resume render after moving MXS and MXI to new disk
Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 6:24 pm
by feynman
Thanks; yes, what you say makes sense. I'm rendering OBJ output from MATLAB, SurfaceEvolver and Alias via Maxwell Studio... no native app with a plug-in so to speak.
Oh, just SL 17.2 in such merges... well, have to build more render nodes then ;)
Re: Resume render after moving MXS and MXI to new disk
Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 6:43 pm
by numerobis
feynman wrote:
Oh, just SL 17.2 in such merges...
the resulting sl of two merged MXIs will be the same like resuming it and continue the render for the same time like the two separate runs
Re: Resume render after moving MXS and MXI to new disk
Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 7:10 pm
by feynman
Sure, I understand. Well, the i7-3930K is cheap now :)