hello
so I'm trying to get a maxwell animation going -- the maxwell scene files export from rhino fine; in maxwell render, I'm entering the frame series like so: "0001-0099," and this gives me what appear to be properly sequenced .png files, and mxi files; but the image file seems to rewrite itself, giving me a bunch of identical images for the output. When I render one of the individual scene files by itself, it works fine.
That program has really been the bane of many. I was playing with kerkythea and did more in 10 minutes with it than I could with Maxwell in 10 months. The Mac version of their software is a joke bordering on fraud. There were constant problems with file directories searching for c drive that don't exist on the Mac. It's too bad but luckily there are much better options out there such as VRay that work without a lot of troubleshooting and scratching your head. Even kerkythea will allow you to do animations with unbiased rendering. It works and doesn't cost a dime.
you need to setup a batch render--there's a new scripting functionality in 2.x that helps with the setup (there's even a batch render script). It can also be done with 1.7x when using network rendering (it can run on a single machine, so no need for a farm)
I use both the OSX version and the Windows version: they both work fine, most of the problems users experience are due to their error and/or transferring a file from the Windows version to the OSX version without changing the paths before sending a render.
rehiggins,
in 1.7x there's a field labeled "animation" where you can identify the frames that you want rendered (after selecting the initial frame/scene in the sequence, I assume). Is this what you mean by "batch rendering"? I've already successfully exported the sequence w/ a script...just having trouble getting render to output the images correctly
well, without being able to troubleshoot the files themselves, the only thing I can think of is that somehow the output path for each .mxs is the same.
Are you trying to render via the plugin, studio, or MXCL? I vaguely remember a checkbox in the Rhino plugin that automatically names the .mxs file output sequentially; I may be getting my releases mixed up though.
the "batch rendering" I'm referring to is accomplished by starting the render server and manager then adding the files to the queue. The server will render each file in sequence and save the output per the settings in each individual .mxs file. This may be the way to go since you seem to be able to get each individual file to render properly.
maxwell is a fantastic render engine, but I am not very familiar with it, I use vray and from what I know, I never had such a sequencing problem before. Are you sure there isn't any extra option there that says, "sequence" and you just supposed to click on it and it will take care of everything...
I'm using the manager/server network render option, on one machine. That's working fine. And I have a series of maxwell scene files, sequentially numbered, that when rendered individually give me correct images (appropriate to their position in the sequence). As soon as I do a batch, however, it renders the first of the series correctly, but then continues to render that same image, duplicated, but with a new file name, even though it shows the next maxwell scene file in the list as the current job...
for instance, the queue runs through scene.0001.mxs, scene.0002.mxs, and so on, but the output scene.0002.png is identical to scene.0001.png and so on
This is the kind of stuff that Maxwell blames users for. The program would crash randomly on my mac and many times, it would lock up after hours of rendering leaving me and others with nothing. I think some can get it to work. I wiped my OS clean and still no luck. Other programs are 100% reliable and they make beautiful unbiased renderings. I don't think users are the problem if they cannot get your software to work. Maxwell likes to blame users and I think that's a very poor business practice.
I have not had this problem with server/MXCL on either platform; though I'm on the testing team and may be doing something that appears obvious to me but might not be to other users. Are you a registered user on the Maxwell site? Which version are you using: 1.7x or 2.x? This is a big deal as the server was changed dramatically for 2.x. You're exporting from Rhino, yes? XP, Vista, or Win7? Are you using studio at all in the process? Are you running MXCL in GUI or command line?
If you want--email me through this forum and I can maybe help troubleshoot further if you don't mind giving me access to a few of the files (it would probably work with two or three files).
Nov 19, 09 1:18 pm ·
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maxwell animation
hello
so I'm trying to get a maxwell animation going -- the maxwell scene files export from rhino fine; in maxwell render, I'm entering the frame series like so: "0001-0099," and this gives me what appear to be properly sequenced .png files, and mxi files; but the image file seems to rewrite itself, giving me a bunch of identical images for the output. When I render one of the individual scene files by itself, it works fine.
any ideas? muchas gracias
That program has really been the bane of many. I was playing with kerkythea and did more in 10 minutes with it than I could with Maxwell in 10 months. The Mac version of their software is a joke bordering on fraud. There were constant problems with file directories searching for c drive that don't exist on the Mac. It's too bad but luckily there are much better options out there such as VRay that work without a lot of troubleshooting and scratching your head. Even kerkythea will allow you to do animations with unbiased rendering. It works and doesn't cost a dime.
I hear you. Unfortunately, I have grow attached to it, so I'm determined to find a way....
Here's an option, but with kerkythea.
http://www.kerkythea.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=76
you need to setup a batch render--there's a new scripting functionality in 2.x that helps with the setup (there's even a batch render script). It can also be done with 1.7x when using network rendering (it can run on a single machine, so no need for a farm)
I use both the OSX version and the Windows version: they both work fine, most of the problems users experience are due to their error and/or transferring a file from the Windows version to the OSX version without changing the paths before sending a render.
rehiggins,
in 1.7x there's a field labeled "animation" where you can identify the frames that you want rendered (after selecting the initial frame/scene in the sequence, I assume). Is this what you mean by "batch rendering"? I've already successfully exported the sequence w/ a script...just having trouble getting render to output the images correctly
thanks
LML
well, without being able to troubleshoot the files themselves, the only thing I can think of is that somehow the output path for each .mxs is the same.
Are you trying to render via the plugin, studio, or MXCL? I vaguely remember a checkbox in the Rhino plugin that automatically names the .mxs file output sequentially; I may be getting my releases mixed up though.
the "batch rendering" I'm referring to is accomplished by starting the render server and manager then adding the files to the queue. The server will render each file in sequence and save the output per the settings in each individual .mxs file. This may be the way to go since you seem to be able to get each individual file to render properly.
maxwell is a fantastic render engine, but I am not very familiar with it, I use vray and from what I know, I never had such a sequencing problem before. Are you sure there isn't any extra option there that says, "sequence" and you just supposed to click on it and it will take care of everything...
I'm using the manager/server network render option, on one machine. That's working fine. And I have a series of maxwell scene files, sequentially numbered, that when rendered individually give me correct images (appropriate to their position in the sequence). As soon as I do a batch, however, it renders the first of the series correctly, but then continues to render that same image, duplicated, but with a new file name, even though it shows the next maxwell scene file in the list as the current job...
for instance, the queue runs through scene.0001.mxs, scene.0002.mxs, and so on, but the output scene.0002.png is identical to scene.0001.png and so on
frustrating.
LML,
This is the kind of stuff that Maxwell blames users for. The program would crash randomly on my mac and many times, it would lock up after hours of rendering leaving me and others with nothing. I think some can get it to work. I wiped my OS clean and still no luck. Other programs are 100% reliable and they make beautiful unbiased renderings. I don't think users are the problem if they cannot get your software to work. Maxwell likes to blame users and I think that's a very poor business practice.
Good luck!
I have not had this problem with server/MXCL on either platform; though I'm on the testing team and may be doing something that appears obvious to me but might not be to other users. Are you a registered user on the Maxwell site? Which version are you using: 1.7x or 2.x? This is a big deal as the server was changed dramatically for 2.x. You're exporting from Rhino, yes? XP, Vista, or Win7? Are you using studio at all in the process? Are you running MXCL in GUI or command line?
If you want--email me through this forum and I can maybe help troubleshoot further if you don't mind giving me access to a few of the files (it would probably work with two or three files).
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