[Gary]

Hello Fernando:

Yes, clean install of 1.6.0 and then update to 1.6.1

I am now able to create mxs from plug in. start mxcl, start mxs, stop mxs, turn on multilight and start render.

What I am not able to do is create a mxi that I can pause and re-start.

Needless to say, happy to be working and very frustrated that this is the state of affairs.

Gary

[Fernando Tella]

You have to specify a mxi file name before starting render in mxcl>render options tab or before launching render in your host application. The mxi's saved after render from mxcl> file menu only have image information and cannot be resumed.

Anyway when a render is launched it saves in a temp folder the mxs and mxi files and those should be enough to resume the render; so you should be able to launch the render from FormZ, stop, check the resume box in mxi option and hit render again with the expected results.

[Gary]

Hello Fernando:

I do not get the results you describe. I can launch a rendering from FormZ, stop it in mxcl, check multilight and relaunch. But I can not stop a rendering in mxcl and check resume, and then start rendering.

Gary

[Fernando Tella]

You can do multilight but not resume? I'll describe what happens here when resuming just to make sure:

-After launching render I wait for some SL to update to make sure it's resuming and not restarting;
-Stop render > in Render options tab all file path boxes get live (in mxi box there is a file displayed, of course)
-Check resume;
-Hit render > the screen blanks;
-In Console tab reads after "render finished succesfully":

Checking data
Loading Bitmaps & Preprocessing data
Starting Render

(no voxelitation)
-The first update starts from where it stopped before.

[Tim Ellis]

@Tim: Don't you find it easier to just open mxcl, load the file, specify everything there and hit render than writing all that commands? Just curious, I find the last kind of boring and with no visible benefits.

Yes, but for batch rendering, without using the network manager, server and mxcl all on one machine, it's a quick solution. I did mis-interpet Gary's 'command line' as that of a console, rather than Maxwell's plugin or MXST command line.

If you add the -nowait tag to the end of the command line I wrote above, you can queue up renders, using a batch file.

I have since started to use the network add job method, to queue up renders instead.

Start Manager on render machine.
Start Server on render machine.
Start MXCL on render machine.
Connect to network.
Select render machine from network list.
Add job and repeat.

Old school method was to write a batch file, which does still work.

Tim.

[juan]

Hi Gary,

But I can not stop a rendering in mxcl and check resume, and then start rendering.

Why you can't? What are the steps you are following?

- In mxcl if you stop the render, check resume and hit the render button again, it should continue in the same SL.
- If you close mxcl, then you restart it, you can go to menu->resume Mxi, select an Mxi file and continue the render.

Does it work for you?

Juan

[Gary]

Juan:

After testing here is what I have found on my system:

1. I am able to start mxcl
2. stop render, check resume & multilight
3. restart render with multilight active
4. quit mxcl
5. relaunch mxcl and select resume mxi
6. mxi loads BUT multilight check box is not selected for reloaded mxi (even though saved mxi has multilight turned on)
7. if I hit render a this point, mxcl returns: ERROR: -rende failed
8. if I recheck multilight box, render resumes properly.

So, yes I now am able to start multilight and create a resumable mxi.

I hope you can continue to help figure out why this is not a simpler process from form z plug in & why mxcl does not reload mxi with multi light active.

Thanks for everyones help.

Gary

[Gary]

Hello Juan:

now that the job I was working on is completed, is there any thing that can be done to troubleshoot why I can not launch mxcl from form z plug in with multilight. Is this a known and/or repeatable bug?

Thanks,

Gary

[juan]

Hello Gary,

Is this a known and/or repeatable bug?

It does not seem a or repeatable bug but for the next update we will add a checkbox to enable multilight so you won't need to type -ml in the command line field, it might be affecting how mxcl is launched in your system.

Regards,

Juan