[corneliu]

Hi Neil,

All Maya renderer modules are installed with an .xml script file that describes the possible command line switches.
Maxwell was registered to Maya with it's own xml script.
So my personal opinion is that vertex muster has predefined menus for each Maya renderer. This may give you the error message:
Warning: Renderer "maxwell" does not provide a command line interface.
Maybe because Muster has only predefined renderer build in.

If it would be possible to type in the -r maxwell switch in the Maya command that is executed by muster the rest should function right.
I mean to choose the default Maya renderer as you vertex muster option
and try to type in the -r maxwell switch. The rest of your maxwell settings should be read right from the project file.
I don't know if you can type additional commands into the muster interface.

By typing:
render -help -r maxwell
in the command prompt you get a list of all switches implemented through the xml script.

Sorry if this is not much help.

[Neil Evans]

Boris

I have trying you solution, can you tell me how you set the frame ranges please? I have put for example 500-600 but it doesn't seem to do anything.

Corneliu, thanks for the input, I tried it but VV still doesn't render it. No big problem as if I can fathom out how to set the frames Boris's solution works fine.

[Boris Ulzibat]

Boris

I have trying you solution, can you tell me how you set the frame ranges please? I have put for example 500-600 but it doesn't seem to do anything.

Corneliu, thanks for the input, I tried it but VV still doesn't render it. No big problem as if I can fathom out how to set the frames Boris's solution works fine.

Hmm... Strange...
I am doing it this way:
1 run MXCL -d
2 load the first MXS file of all saved sequence
3 set the frame range in the way you did like 1,3,5-10,12
4 set SL and time limits
5 set output image.
when i hit render, the first frame is loaded, and upon reaching the limit the mage is saved and the next frame loads...

[Neil Evans]

Hi Boris

Thanks for the quick reply, I'll give it another try... Is running it like this the same as just loading the maxwell server from the apps menu? What is the -d?

I can get stills to work no problem, it is just the animations?

[Boris Ulzibat]

Hi Boris

Thanks for the quick reply, I'll give it another try... Is running it like this the same as just loading the maxwell server from the apps menu? What is the -d?

I can get stills to work no problem, it is just the animations?

-d is to show the MXCL window on the computer.
I am using Mac...
So i don't know about the apps menu...
You can as well use command line option -a:(frame range)
like "mxcl -a:500-600"
I never tried network rendering with maxwell, i use another approach - i have a modeling/texturing/preview computer and a purely rendering one.
They are connected with "floppy-network" using usb-flash drive.
I was going to make that rendering computer my main working one later, but is suddenly broke down
Going to give it to the service...

[Neil Evans]

Hi Boris, I think I must be going mad, I cannot get you solution to work.. When I put for example 501-510 in the animation box I get an error message in the console saying


Reading MXS File: W:/mxs/anim5010501.mxs
Error: MXS file does not exists

When in reality the first file in the sequence should be 501.

Have you or has anyone else got any idea why this should happen please?

Cheers

Neil

[Neil Evans]

Corneliu, I have tried running the batch render with VV but it doesn't seem to work, never mind. I have another idea, could I just set up a command line render running from each node? and set the frames etc I want rendering. If so can you give me an idea of what to type. I am guessing it would be something like render -maxwell project mane filename frames? Is this correct? Sorry command line is not my strong point!

Cheers

Neil

[Boris Ulzibat]

Corneliu, I have tried running the batch render with VV but it doesn't seem to work, never mind. I have another idea, could I just set up a command line render running from each node? and set the frames etc I want rendering. If so can you give me an idea of what to type. I am guessing it would be something like render -maxwell project mane filename frames? Is this correct? Sorry command line is not my strong point!

Cheers

Neil

I have already mentioned the comand line in my last post, command line rendering is explained in detail in the Maxwell manyal, but the option you need is "a:501-510"

[Boris Ulzibat]

Hi Boris, I think I must be going mad, I cannot get you solution to work.. When I put for example 501-510 in the animation box I get an error message in the console saying


Reading MXS File: W:/mxs/anim5010501.mxs
Error: MXS file does not exists

When in reality the first file in the sequence should be 501.

Have you or has anyone else got any idea why this should happen please?

Cheers

Neil

Try to open the first frame, and then set up the frame range.
Also, on my system, the mxs frames are numbered like anim.0001.mxs, maybe the problem is with the mising dot?

[edit]Nope, this is not the problem. I checked it both ways, name#.ext and name.#.ext - both of them work. I guess that the problem is with the file numbers - you must opet the anim00001.mxs on each machine, no matter what the render region is.

[Neil Evans]

Ok, cheers I will try that. Sorry to hassle you!

[Boris Ulzibat]

Ok, cheers I will try that. Sorry to hassle you!

No problem!
It would be nice if i could help

[Neil Evans]

Finally sorted it. I have ditched the mxs idea and am now using the batch render feature built into maya. I can open up the cmd dialog and type the animation params etc then just set it going, using remote desktop I can control all my machines without buying a render manager...cool!

Just for reference this is how I typed the params :-

render -r maxwell -s [startframe] -e [end frame] -proj [project ] filename

I am still using the maxwell render dialog for still images. I find that coop is a little flaky so doing it manually by changing the seed on each machine and then manually merging the mxi files at the end works great.

Lets hope the new render manager in 1.2 works better.

[Boris Ulzibat]

Finally sorted it.

Lets hope the new render manager in 1.2 works better.

Congrats!

Lets hope most of the things in v1.2 will work better

[Neil Evans]

Yep, fingers crossed!!