Rendering via Cinema 4D command line

[prettydamnsweet]

Hello - I am trying to render Octane scenes via our small in-house render farm. We use qube by PipelineFX as the manager/supervisor. We have 2 Octane-equipped workstations registered as workers. One is equipped with 2x 980 Ti's and the other 2x Titan X. Both are macOS machines running Yosemite 10.10.5.

I have been able to use the built-in Cinema "Team Render" feature just fine to spread an Octane workload between the 2 machines. Everything works great - but this feature is limited. I'd like to delegate the job of controlling the render to our qube Supervisor instead.

qube uses the built-in C4D Command Line renderer to render frames. I have all proper licensing for and can render CPU and Cycles 4d scenes without issue. I've also been very careful to ONLY install Octane on these 2 workstations so we don't have licensing conflicts.

Now, on to the actual problem

Rendering seems to hang after the project has loaded in without error. I can see that Octane is also loading up fine via the log, and in fact outputs an extra line when it would normally be showing the built-in rendering progress. All good signs. Unfortunately, it does not progress past this point. I've let it run overnight to no avail.

The log from Cinema is below. I get the same result even if I initiate a command line render job manually from the terminal. (I've edited some sensitive information out of and substituted with the word [REDACTED], sorry about that...)

Code: Select all

COMMAND: /bin/sh -c "/Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/Commandline.app/Contents/MacOS/Commandline" -nogui -frame 0 0 1  -render "/Volumes/[REDACTED]/2_SHOTS/OIL/_PROJECT FILES/C4D/Cres_OilStatic_012717.c4d" -oimage "/Volumes/[REDACTED]/2_SHOTS RENDERED/Cres_OilStatic_012717/Cres_OilStatic_012717_" -oformat TGA
Application start      : 03/09/17 at 01:28:26
Executable             : 64 Bit
Version / Build        : 18.041 / RB190167
Debugger               : not available
Memory model           : release
Startup path           : file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18
Application path       : file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/Commandline.app
Application executable : file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/Commandline.app/Contents/MacOS/Commandline
Resource path          : file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/resource
Module path(s)         : file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/modules
Temporary path         : file:///var/folders/1b/l7rdgqbn1h5d1qv0sk41bwfh0000gn/T
Prefs path             : file:///Users/pdsadmin/Library/Preferences/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18_50E4FAD5
Global Prefs path      : file:///Users/pdsadmin/Library/Preferences/MAXON
OS version             : OS X: Version 10.10.5 (Build 14F1912)
Processor              : 8(16)x Intel Core i7-5960X CPU
Computer name          : KITT
Thread Count           : 16
Cpu Speed (MHz)        : 2998.000
Application Type       : Modular
Command line arguments : "-nogui" "-frame" "0" "0" "1" "-render" "/Volumes/[REDACTED]/2_SHOTS/OIL/_PROJECT FILES/C4D/Cres_OilStatic_012717.c4d" "-oimage" "/Volumes/[REDACTED]/2_SHOTS RENDERED/Cres_OilStatic_012717/Cres_OilStatic_012717_" "-oformat" "TGA" 

Loading file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/modules/c4dplugin.xlib with module(s) net.maxon.c4dplugin net.maxon.c4d.c4dplugin
Loading file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/modules/crashhandler.module.xlib with module(s) net.maxon.crashhandler
Loading file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/modules/crypt.module.xlib with module(s) net.maxon.crypt
Loading file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/modules/drawport_general.module.xlib with module(s) net.maxon.drawport_general
Loading file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/modules/drawport_opengl.module.xlib with module(s) net.maxon.drawport_opengl
Loading file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/modules/drawport_selector.module.xlib with module(s) net.maxon.drawport_selector
Loading file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/modules/glclvk_trace.module.xlib with module(s) net.maxon.glclvk_trace
Loading file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/modules/gui.module.xlib with module(s) net.maxon.gui
Loading file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/modules/image.module.xlib with module(s) net.maxon.image
Loading file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/modules/math.module.xlib with module(s) net.maxon.math
Loading file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/modules/mesh.module.xlib with module(s) net.maxon.mesh
Loading file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/modules/misc.module.xlib with module(s) net.maxon.misc
Loading file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/modules/network.module.xlib with module(s) net.maxon.network
Loading file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/modules/opencl.module.xlib with module(s) net.maxon.opencl
Loading file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/modules/opensubdiv.module.xlib with module(s) net.maxon.opensubdiv
Loading file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/modules/render.module.xlib with module(s) net.maxon.render
Loading file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/modules/shaderbase.module.xlib with module(s) net.maxon.shaderbase
Loading file:///Applications/MAXON/CINEMA 4D R18/modules/triangulation.module.xlib with module(s) net.maxon.triangulation



OpenGL root context initialized
    Vendor        : NVIDIA Corporation (2)
    Renderer      : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti OpenGL Engine
    OpenGL version: 4.1 NVIDIA-10.5.2 346.02.03f09
    Driver version: Unknown
OpenGL root context initialized
    Vendor        : VMware, Inc. (5)
    Renderer      : OSMesa - Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.9, 256 bits)
    OpenGL version: 3.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 11.0.3 (git-)
    Driver version: 11.0.3 (git-)
Error: plugin (liboctane.dylib) doesn't return c4d_main ptr. symbol 'c4d_main' is missing. error: dlsym(0x7fcb8ba70340, c4d_main): symbol not found [osx_dll.cpp(126)]

Error: plugin (libtbb.dylib) doesn't return c4d_main ptr. symbol 'c4d_main' is missing. error: dlsym(0x7fcb8ba70c70, c4d_main): symbol not found [osx_dll.cpp(126)]

Loaded Octane DLL:OctaneRender 3.05.3  version:3050300

Octane Render for Cinema 4D 3.05.3
Octane Render SDK version: 3.05.3

X-Particles running on Command Line Render.

 

----------------------------------------

X-Particles particle system successfully loaded

X-Particles Build 3.5.0391 Release

Thu Sep 15 11:40:31 2016

Copyright (c) INSYDIUM LTD



Registered To : [REDACTED] 

----------------------------------------

 

Cycles 4D Build 1.0.0163

Cycles Core 1.7.8

Thu Dec 15 16:04:09 2016

Copyright (c) INSYDIUM LTD

Registered To : [REDACTED] 


Cycles 4D Loaded.

msg: override output format to TGA

Loading Project: /Volumes/[REDACTED]/2_SHOTS/OIL/_PROJECT FILES/C4D/Cres_OilStatic_012717.c4d

Rendering frame 0 at 
Rendering Phase: Setup

Progress: 0%

 


FRAME 0 fps:30 camMb:0 objMb:0

--------------------------- EXPORT LOG ---------------------------

Random specs of our setup:
Cinema 4D R18.041
qube 6.9-1
Latest Octane
macOS 10.10.5 Yosemite


I hope I've provided all of the details I need to, if not please let me know and I will add it to this post

Please let me know if there are any relevant details I've left out - this is my first time troubleshooting a 3rd party rendering solution like this, and I'm dealing with two of them here (qube and Octane) so I'm not entirely sure what is relevant. Hopefully rendering via C4D's command line is supported. I'd rather not delve into Octane's built-in command line renderer, as qube does not seem to support it and I'd have to do a lot more finegaling in order to get that to work in qube.

[aoktar]

Thanks for detailed information! After some trys here what i found. There's nothing special on our side for commandline. Only possible problem shall be a wrong order between plugin activation procedures. Other than this the rendering by commandline is simply same procedure as it's done in Picture Viewer.

These are working:
"CINEMA 4D.exe" -render d:\work\octane\tests\2.c4d -frame 0 10 1
"CINEMA 4D.exe" -render "d:\work\octane\tests\2.c4d"-oformat JPG -frame 0 10 1


But this not:
"CINEMA 4D.exe" -render -frame 0 10 1 d:\work\octane\tests\2.c4d

[BCres]

pds,

From the manual it states...
"Example: "c:\programs\MAXON\Cinema 4D\Commandline.exe" -render "c:\scenes\hajopei.c4d" -frame 100 150 10

This command will render every 10th frame from frame 100 to 150. If 150 and 10 were not included in the command line, only frame 100 would be rendered. This command will override any scene settings.

Maybe try it without the -frame 0 0 1 and just make it -frame 0 to see if that works.

[aoktar]

pds,

From the manual it states...
"Example: "c:\programs\MAXON\Cinema 4D\Commandline.exe" -render "c:\scenes\hajopei.c4d" -frame 100 150 10

This command will render every 10th frame from frame 100 to 150. If 150 and 10 were not included in the command line, only frame 100 would be rendered. This command will override any scene settings.

Maybe try it without the -frame 0 0 1 and just make it -frame 0 to see if that works.

I tried to show that change order of keywords not numbers. Note it's just a test scene from me

[BCres]

Right, my response wasn't intended for you, I was responding to the OP.

Your numbers would work but 0 0 1 from his code may not. That's stating every 1 frame between 0 and 0.

It was just a thought before I went to bed and I didn't test it. I was just trying to help.

[aoktar]

Right, my response wasn't intended for you, I was responding to the OP.

Your numbers would work but 0 0 1 from his code may not. That's stating every 1 frame between 0 and 0.

It was just a thought before I went to bed and I didn't test it. I was just trying to help.

Sorry i haven't notified who posted messages. I've spent much time for answers at this weekend. Confused!

[BCres]

No problem. I always wondered how you could answer so many question and find the time to code, too. Amazes me.

[frankmci]

More than a year later for this thread, and I find myself having a very similar problem. With the advent of Octane 4.0 Final, I decided it was ready for prime time, and have been trying to test it with various render managers (our go-to for the last two years has been Deadline). It seems C4D Octane doesn't like running via the command line, though. I get a very similar error to the previous poster:

Error: plugin (liboctane.dylib) doesn't return c4d_main ptr. symbol 'c4d_main' is missing. error: dlsym(0x7fce04a0ed30, c4d_main): symbol not found [osx_dll.cpp(150)]

CRITICAL: Stop [ge_container.cpp(755)]
Loaded Octane DLL:OctaneRender Studio 4.00 version:4000021
Octane Render VR for Cinema 4D V4.00 built for:190 C4D vers:19068
Octane Render SDK version: 4.00

eventually hanging a few lines farther with:

Rendering Phase: Setup
Progress: 0%
FRAME 1 fps:30
--------------------------- EXPORT LOG ---------------------------

At which point everything just stops.

The same C4D scene files will render just fine on the same machines using either the full C4D app, the Render Queue, or Team Render (lame as TR is, it at least will render).

This is happening on each machine I try with a variety of different cards and drivers, although they are all on Mac OS 10.12.6, C4D R19.068 and Octane 4.0.

I did find this over on the Thinkbox Deadline forums:
https://forums.thinkboxsoftware.com/t/c ... ine/9979/9

Where one of the Thinkbox staff had this to say:
"When we analyze the log here, it looks like there is an issue when there is no monitor present, which causes it to die pretty badly. I would check with the folks at Octane and see if this is something they can rule out when a network, command line render is happening."

Any suggestions for my next steps to resolve this would be much appreciated.

- Frank

[BCres]

Frank,

I'm on a PC so I don't know how this will translate to Macs...but have you tried a simple commandline like:

"C:\Program Files\MAXON\CINEMA 4D R19\Cinema 4d.exe" -nogui -render "Z:\Path to c4d file\your scene.c4d"

Just set up all the particulars for Octane inside the C4D first. And eliminate all the other switches and Deadline until you get that working. If the project is setup the way you want you really don't need all those switches anyway. To test at least.

I live and die by commandline rendering with Octane and this has worked for me for two years (incl. V4). Only once did the remote boxes quit responding and aoktar added a "Bind all" gadget and it has all worked since.

BC

[frankmci]

Thanks for the suggestion BC, but yes, I've tried rendering straight from the command line. That's how I figured out it was the C4D command line renderer in conjunction with Octane that was the source of the problem, not the render management software. The errors I posted previously were copy/pasted right out of the terminal.

Looks like I'll have to bump this up to an official support issue.

- Frank