Batch Render -- different issues?

[focus]

Thank you, I've tried out your solution with Maya 2.58q plugin because I've not found Maya 2.58m.
Batch Render seems to work, but these version of plugin doesn't recognize/interpret correctly my octane materials.
At the work I've also tested on another machine with latest releases of OCtane render and Maya plugin, the same issue - animation render from Maya doesn't work.

Having IPR render working fine, I make a conclusion that this is exclusively a plugin problem and we wait for its fast fix.

[JimStar]

Octane engine is integrated directly into plugin executable, the number of version of plugin is the number of integrated engine version. So, if you use 2.58 plugin - you use 2.58 engine, no matter what version of standalone is installed on the same machine.
This problem have appeared since 1.0RC3, and for current SDK version (1.02) it is still there (for all plugin versions which use these SDK versions) - so for these versions of plugin this issue appears for some users, not for all, a lot of users have no such problems on last versions of plugin. I have no problems with batch-render on my machines too, so can't reproduce it...
We should find what different is on your machines to catch the reason.

[mementomori000]

I can replicate the error on a workstation. If you have suggestions on what to test, I will try and do it.

- I tried to see if it was connected to the user privileges, but it is not.
- I am using an Evaulation version of Maya 2013.

[JimStar]

I can replicate the error on a workstation. If you have suggestions on what to test, I will try and do it.

- I tried to see if it was connected to the user privileges, but it is not.
- I am using an Evaulation version of Maya 2013.

The fact is that for batch-rendering Maya uses the different console-mode executable - mayabatch.exe, so when batchrendering, it tries to autorise from this process, not from main Maya.exe. So, the one more thing that may be checked - has the mayabatch.exe on your machines the same privileges as Maya.exe (e.g. for network access)?.. Perhaps some antivirus blocks it?..

[mementomori000]

So, the one more thing that may be checked - has the mayabatch.exe on your machines the same privileges as Maya.exe (e.g. for network access)?.. Perhaps some antivirus blocks it?..

I disabled the antivirus. I can see that both processes are launched with the same user credentials, and I tried with an admin and a normal user. I saw that only maya.exe was allowed to access the network, but even after adding mayabatch.exe the usual error appears.

The process is launched with the following settings:

"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2013\bin\mayabatch.exe" "-batch"
"-file" "C:/Users/XXX/Documents/maya/projects/default/scenes/ema_octane__3864.mb"
"-script" "C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Local\Temp\AST61E4356.tmp"
"-A" "XXXXXXXXXXX:7835"
"-proj" "C:/Users/XXX/Documents/maya/projects/default"

I can see a bunch of TCP Send/Receive to a remote computer.

I am out of ideas.

[focus]

It's just ridiculous. Those kind of solution: disable firewall, check permissions on mayabatch.exe
I've tried it out even before posting on this forum.
I've even disabled all non Microsoft services on my machine and all startup items from msconfig.exe. After reboot I've tried out batch render again. Unfortunately the result is the same.
And I'm sure that it will be the same if I install a fresh new copy of windows.

It would say that the issue has nothing of common with user's software/hardware configuration.
May be there are some problems with activation? Why does it say that OctaneRender is not activated?

///Error: OctaneRender is not activated!
Error: Scene E:/nee__5804.mb failed to render.///

Or may be I need to unplug one RAM chip?

[mementomori000]

It's just ridiculous. Those kind of solution: disable firewall, check permissions on mayabatch.exe
I've tried it out even before posting on this forum.
I've even disabled all non Microsoft services on my machine and all startup items from msconfig.exe. After reboot I've tried out batch render again. Unfortunately the result is the same.
And I'm sure that it will be the same if I install a fresh new copy of windows.

It would say that the issue has nothing of common with user's software/hardware configuration.
May be there are some problems with activation? Why does it say that OctaneRender is not activated?

///Error: OctaneRender is not activated!
Error: Scene E:/nee__5804.mb failed to render.///

Or may be I need to unplug one RAM chip?

Well I guess it's known DRM are evil, and this is a perfect showcase. However I am hoping for a solution, since I need to soon decide for either Octane or Mental Ray for a internal deadline and so far I was not able to do it.

[focus]

However I am hoping for a solution, since I need to soon decide for either Octane or Mental Ray for a internal deadline and so far I was not able to do it.

We have just to hope that the solution research become the main priority of the developers, because we are actually devoid of one of the mains abilities of the plugin. And it makes impossible any workflow.

[johnb4467]

However I am hoping for a solution, since I need to soon decide for either Octane or Mental Ray for a internal deadline and so far I was not able to do it.

We have just to hope that the solution research become the main priority of the developers, because we are actually devoid of one of the mains abilities of the plugin. And it makes impossible any workflow.

I guess this means the issue is still present...?
The batch rendering / increased rendering it should allow was honestly my sole purpose in buying the integrated plugin.

[mementomori000]

So guys I managed to make the batch renders test I wanted, but unfortunately I don't have a proper solution to offer you. My solution was simply to try on more machines until I found one that would work.

I tried on 4 different workstations:

1) (not working) With the first one, the plug-in would initially not load. Here I wrote a few details about the problem, which I think is not related to the issue at hand here. It will turn out that this is the machine I would use in the end for the batch renders, after upgrading the GPU to a 480 (from a 250) (working).
2) (not working) On the second one, the plug-in would load and render IPR shots, but the batch render would not work. No matter what I tried, it would not work here.
3) (Not sure) On the third one the plug-in would load, but rendering would not work. I guess the GPU (250) simply cannot handle it.
4) (working) On the fourth one, the most beefy of the office (with a 580), everything would work. I simply could not reserve that machine as others need it.

I have to say this was a very frustrating process that payed off only when I was almost giving up.

The only pattern I could see that "might" explain this nonsense is the installation/activation process. I noticed that on the machines where it would not work, I first installed both the standalone and the plugin, and then activated them. In the machines where it worked, I first installed the standalone, and activated it, and then the plug-in. To be honest the computer scientist inside me is screaming "that cannot be the answer", but this whole thing has been quite voodoo, so I am ready to surrender to anything if it makes it work. I also activated and deactivated everything a dozen times (dear devs, thanks for the enforced delays), so should the problem be on the server side, I might have solved it just by doing that.