[numerobis]

yes, i saw this. But there seems to be something different in the background even if you set them to the same percentages.
Sure, if you set them both to 100% it should be 100%. But who knows...

[gmenzel]

A couple of weeks back I ran into a similar issue that might be related. Whenever I used network rendering to do batch rendering of a row of mxs (single machine, not network), I noticed the following frustrating behavior:

I would set up the render cue in monitor, start the rendering and then leave the machine. Then, when I came back a couple of hours later, I often would find that many mxs that hadn’t yet started rendering when I left, had only rendered to a ludicrously low SL (usually below 5), while having each maxed out their allotted render time. I could only think of one possible reason: Some other process with a higher priority than Maxwell seemed to have maxed out all cores while I was away.

My first thought went to malware, maybe some bitcoin miner or something similar, that would wait until the screen saver went on before becoming active. So I disabled monitor-turnoff, opened the task manager with the ‘Details’ page open. After I waited for about 10 minutes, a new process suddenly appeared in the list: System, rundll32.exe with the command line ‘C:\Windows\system32\rundll32.exe invagent.dll,RunUpdate’. This process would max out one core while maxwell.exe went down to 0% CPU load.

Turns out this is a gift from Microsoft that found its way on my machine via a security update. What I can gather from the KB entry (KB2976978, https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/ ... wsignin1.0), they are ‘gathering telemetry’ in preparation of the Windows 10 launch. Thanks for that.

After I uninstalled and deactivated this specific update, the issue went away.

Still, why would maxwell.exe be reduced to near zero CPU usage by another process that maxes out only one core? That should not be happening.

[jfrancis]

Interesting.

Looks like for me it would be a different one:

KB 2976978 - A compatibility update for Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 which "performs diagnostics on the Windows system [..] to determine whether compatibility issues may be encountered when the latest Windows operating system is installed.

KB 3021917 - Does the same as KB 2976978 but on Windows 7.

http://www.sevenforums.com/news/367377- ... 7-8-a.html

[jfrancis]

Here is what I woke up to vs what it has reached now that I'm using the computer for other superficial things.

[jfrancis]

What I would like to know is how to set the priority to something higher than low WITHIN the batch script so that it gets passed along to every frame.

I thought unchecking "Low" in Maya plugin before mxs exports would do it. But that doesn't seem to get passed along.

[jfrancis]

Task Idle Conditions

A task can be handled in several ways when the computer enters an idle state. This includes defining an idle trigger or setting the idle conditions for when the task starts.
Detecting the Idle State

In Windows 7, the Task Scheduler verifies that the computer is in an idle state every 15 minutes. Task Scheduler checks for an idle state using two criteria: user absence, and a lack of resource consumption. The user is considered absent if there is no keyboard or mouse input during this period of time. The computer is considered idle if all the processors and all the disks were idle for more than 90% of the last detection interval. (An exception would be for any presentation type application that sets the ES_DISPLAY_REQUIRED flag. This flag forces Task Schedule to not consider the system as being idle, regardless of user activity or resource consumption.)

In Windows 7, Task Scheduler considers a processor as idle even when low priority threads (thread priority < normal) execute.

In Windows 7, when the Task Scheduler detects that the computer is idle, the service waits only for user input to mark the end of the idle state.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/librar ... 85%29.aspx

[jfrancis]

What I would like to know is how to set the priority to something higher than low WITHIN the batch script so that it gets passed along to every frame.

I thought unchecking "Low" in Maya plugin before mxs exports would do it. But that doesn't seem to get passed along.

...so if anyone knows how to specify "normal" priority in the batch script that would be great to know.

[jfrancis]

This is funny.

http://www.mousemove-app.com/

There is actually an iPhone app to move your mouse every so often.

[jfrancis]

I'm actually running Mouse Jiggler

https://mousejiggler.codeplex.com/

Streamed Jack Reacher on Netflix (was reluctant, but ended up enjoying it). Came back to a fast render.

[eric nixon]

Back in the day, (dos and win 95) we used to leave our mice upside down when rendering, because when you moved the mouse you could actually see the scanline renderer slowing down!

[jfrancis]

I'm actually running Mouse Jiggler

https://mousejiggler.codeplex.com/

Streamed Jack Reacher on Netflix (was reluctant, but ended up enjoying it). Came back to a fast render.

Seemed to work for the duration of a movie but I awoke to slow renders this morning. The cursor was still jiggling but somehow that didn't matter.

I came in to the room, shook the mouse myself and immediately saw some blue lights "wake up" on the computer case and on an external drive which I would have thought would have been on all along. I turned the power back on on my monitor, a Dell U3011, and it signaled USB that it was back on. And the render was at 1/3 speed.

Weird.

[jfrancis]

I can't find any mention in the scripting documentation about functions to set the priority of a render.

I imagine something like

Maxwell.setPriority( normal );

or

Maxwell.setPriority( 1 );

but there seems to be no such thing.

[rusteberg]

I think your pooter just misses you....

[jfrancis]

I think your pooter just misses you....

Then it should get on my good side by trying to impress me.

[jfrancis]

I can't find any mention in the scripting documentation about functions to set the priority of a render.

I imagine something like

Maxwell.setPriority( normal );

or

Maxwell.setPriority( 1 );

but there seems to be no such thing.

Turns out it's this:


For low priority add this: Scene.setPriority( 0 );
For normal priority add this: Scene.setPriority( 1 );