2 GB limit

[Tango]

Hi,

We are facing an old Camera (or maybe Rama problem). We have long HD sequences to render for a documentary, as long as 28 sec. a piece. This is above the usual 2 GB size limit Rama will stitch. Rama reports a stitching error as it reaches 2GB. It is usually impossible to go back, break the rendered files in smaller groups and stitch manually.

We get around it by breaking the renders in sections but multi layers renders make it a pain to manage, specially that we have animated texture maps on some layers. We have to make sure we indicate a new in point for the maps in the different sections... It's prone to human errors.

Any idea on where EI stands on this issue, it's been around for a while now?

(maybe it's been fixed and I just don't know how to do it properly)

Thanks,

Christian

[Arketype]

Hi Christian,

You may consider changing your workflow, and render to sequentially numbered still image files.

This would provide a workaround since the 2GB file size limit on Image files would never be reached.

v8 has added PNG which may be a good choice for this.

Please let us know if this works for you.

Dave

[Tomas Egger]

Ola Tango,

Did you try your renders using .png sequence?

Go to Render Info Window / choose Format: PNG

If you render directly to your local camera, it will generate your animation in .png sequence frames. (with NO 2gb limit)

If you render your animation using Rama, Rama will stitch in a quicktime file (PNG codec), if am I not wrong, NO 2gb limit).

Thanks

Tom

Hi,

We are facing an old Camera (or maybe Rama problem). We have long HD sequences to render for a documentary, as long as 28 sec. a piece. This is above the usual 2 GB size limit Rama will stitch. Rama reports a stitching error as it reaches 2GB. It is usually impossible to go back, break the rendered files in smaller groups and stitch manually.

We get around it by breaking the renders in sections but multi layers renders make it a pain to manage, specially that we have animated texture maps on some layers. We have to make sure we indicate a new in point for the maps in the different sections... It's prone to human errors.

Any idea on where EI stands on this issue, it's been around for a while now?

(maybe it's been fixed and I just don't know how to do it properly)

Thanks,

Christian

[Tango]

Hi Dave,

I used to run Houdini on an SGI and numbered frames were the way to go. It is safer than quicktime in case of crash. I tried and failed to make it work in EI a long time ago. I am not sure what the issue may have been but I could not get numbered frames from it.

I just did a quick test and it rendered PIT frames to the Renderama Output folder, the folder where it picks-up the frames for stitching. Not sure why they are not where I told them to go. The test didn't make it to the end, it crashed at frame 20. Apparently a MCIO error no.4. That's a different story, I just don't get this one. I did a bunch of renders this morning, no problem. All I know is that I am using a shader and I have been experiencing tons of problems with scripts using shaders and plug-ins with v8. But I digress....

I will try a frame sequence again once I solve this new problem.

Thanks,

Christian

---

Hi Tomas,

You make an interesting point there. I always tried to do the numbered frame sequence render through Renderama. That would explain why it wants to stitch the files.

My problem is that we are rendering on an 8 core MacPro. I can get 8 Cameras running, a beauty to watch rendering, and that has to be done with Renderama.

Is there any way to get Rama to spit out numbered frames?

Thanks,

Christian

[Tomas Egger]

Ola Tango,

Please, when you finish, lets look togheter which shaders and plug-ins are giving us troubles.. to see if you have the latests updates or if we are really having problems with some of them.

Craig just found he was having crashs on Camera because of Psunami plug-in, I dont know exactly if its the plug-in or the Psunami shader.

About the PNG RAMA render, Did you see when you render using RAMA, can Rama stitch a PNG quicktime file bigger than 2GB limit? I will investigate too...

Thanks

Tom

Hi Dave,

I used to run Houdini on an SGI and numbered frames were the way to go. It is safer than quicktime in case of crash. I tried and failed to make it work in EI a long time ago. I am not sure what the issue may have been but I could not get numbered frames from it.

I just did a quick test and it rendered PIT frames to the Renderama Output folder, the folder where it picks-up the frames for stitching. Not sure why they are not where I told them to go. The test didn't make it to the end, it crashed at frame 20. Apparently a MCIO error no.4. That's a different story, I just don't get this one. I did a bunch of renders this morning, no problem. All I know is that I am using a shader and I have been experiencing tons of problems with scripts using shaders and plug-ins with v8. But I digress....

I will try a frame sequence again once I solve this new problem.

Thanks,

Christian

[Tango]

Hi,

The more I wrestle with my problems, the more convinced I am that v8 (for Mac) has an issue with plug-ins and shaders. I just restarted the same script turning off "aSEM" and rendering a PIT sequence. It's all going well, except that it is not the right look and I am not doing it with Rama.

We have a big project on the back-burner waiting for this one to finish. I may try completing it in v7 to check this theory. I have to be able to run plug-ins and shaders. I'll do more testing and get back to you on this one.

Christian

Ola Tango,

Please, when you finish, lets look togheter which shaders and plug-ins are giving us troubles.. to see if you have the latests updates or if we are really having problems with some of them.

Craig just found he was having crashs on Camera because of Psunami plug-in, I dont know exactly if its the plug-in or the Psunami shader.

About the PNG RAMA render, Did you see when you render using RAMA, can Rama stitch a PNG quicktime file bigger than 2GB limit? I will investigate too...

Thanks

Tom

[Tomas Egger]

Ola Chris,

Which is “aSEM”?

Thanksss

Tom

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

Hi,

The more I wrestle with my problems, the more convinced I am that v8 (for Mac) has an issue with plug-ins and shaders. I just restarted the same script turning off "aSEM" and rendering a PIT sequence. It's all going well, except that it is not the right look and I am not doing it with Rama.

We have a big project on the back-burner waiting for this one to finish. I may try completing it in v7 to check this theory. I have to be able to run plug-ins and shaders. I'll do more testing and get back to you on this one.

Christian

[Tango]

Hi Tomas,

It is one of a series of plug-ins by TripleDTools ( aEdge, aRamp, aRIM, aSEM, bFraktal and aStorm ). I have been experiencing problems using some of them and the venerable UberShape as well. I just can't use plug-ins or shaders anymore....

Christian

Ola Chris,

Which is “aSEM�

Thanksss

Tom

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

Hi,

The more I wrestle with my problems, the more convinced I am that v8 (for Mac) has an issue with plug-ins and shaders. I just restarted the same script turning off "aSEM" and rendering a PIT sequence. It's all going well, except that it is not the right look and I am not doing it with Rama.

We have a big project on the back-burner waiting for this one to finish. I may try completing it in v7 to check this theory. I have to be able to run plug-ins and shaders. I'll do more testing and get back to you on this one.

Christian

[Arketype]

If you are using Ubershapes, try exporting them as Facts and re-importing. (v8 has an auto re-import feature which makes this easy), then turn off the original Uber.

I am not sure I have any more suggestions off the top of my head right now, but please hold onto this project!

We would like the Beta team to have access to it if possible to see if there are any real bugs we can squash.

Tom and I will investigate rendering to numbered image sequence.

Please keep us posted on anything you figure out.

Dave

[Tomas Egger]

Ola Tango,

I think its important to contact TripleDtools (Gar Pretz and Mike Register) to see if they have a new build or to inform them your prb..

Lets make all our tools running smooth..

Your Ubershape Build, is the last one which comes with EIAS 8.0.0 installer?

Thanks

Tom

Hi Tomas,

It is one of a series of plug-ins by TripleDTools ( aEdge, aRamp, aRIM, aSEM, bFraktal and aStorm ). I have been experiencing problems using some of them and the venerable UberShape as well. I just can't use plug-ins or shaders anymore....

Christian

[Tango]

Hi Dave,

Since I can't open scripts using the UberShapes in v8, I had to open them in v7 and export from there. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the great auto-import v8 offers. I had to reposition the .fac to match the UberShape I replaced. I managed to do it once with v8 and it was great (that was before it started crashing).

The strange thing about this is that I can create new UberShapes, save the script and re-open without any problems. It feels like it looses connection wit the plug-in in older scripts. Could this have to do with the fact that I re-installed v8 during my trouble shooting. Most error messages complain about "System error and file path given", wether it is an MCIO or SCAL type error. It may be specific to the Mac version. I should try it on PC since I have a dual dongle. But not today, I have too much production to do.

My current scripts are large when collected due to large texture maps, I would like to send you a script but would need to post-it on an FTP server. Is there an email I can use to send the info?

Thanks,

Christian

If you are using Ubershapes, try exporting them as Facts and re-importing. (v8 has an auto re-import feature which makes this easy), then turn off the original Uber.

I am not sure I have any more suggestions off the top of my head right now, but please hold onto this project!

We would like the Beta team to have access to it if possible to see if there are any real bugs we can squash.

Tom and I will investigate rendering to numbered image sequence.

Please keep us posted on anything you figure out.

Dave

[FelixCat]

Hi, Chris.

I think, too, that there is some problem with plug ins and shaders. I had problems with MForge, the last build solved them but if I go to materials where I have a lot of them, each kind in a sub folder, EiAS 8 crashes (was never a problem in v.7). The problem is solved with no sub folder.

Weird. Hope you can solve your problem.

FelixCat

[Tomas Egger]

Ola felix,

EIAS 8 crash when you open Material window or material pallete?

Second, the correct preocedure is:

Have your main EIAS 8 with all latest Shaders and Plug-ins builds..

Search in your machine all prjs with collected files and delete old Shaders and plug-ins builds, because, if EIAS link them.. probably a prb can appear.

Particulary, I never collect shaders or plug-ins.

Please, do a carefull clean up in your machine..

When you finish this clean up and test if your main EIAS 8 (shaders & Plug-ins) builds are perfect.. copy them to your slaves.

You will have a really stable application.

Thankss

Tom

Hi, Chris.

I think, too, that there is some problem with plug ins and shaders. I had problems with MForge, the last build solved them but if I go to materials where I have a lot of them, each kind in a sub folder, EiAS 8 crashes (was never a problem in v.7). The problem is solved with no sub folder.

Weird. Hope you can solve your problem.

FelixCat

[Tango]

Hi Tomas,

In my case, either it refuses to open the script (if it has active plug-ins or shaders in it), or it crashes while rendering. And this is the weird part, it will do a different length sequence before the crash depending on the script (20, 40, 120, it seems to be multiples of 20). If done through RAMA, I can restart and it will crash Camera after the exact numbers of frames. So, I can get the renders done by restarting till it's done.

I did a complete clean-up of my MacBookPro over Christmas and even re-installed v8. It did not solve the problem. I ran a small test with Renderama this morning and got this message:

Camera Error : A system API function has returned an unexpected

error number. Library : MCIO Error ID : 4 Error number : -35

File : /Volumes/Tango_2?Applications/EIAS 8.0.0/

Renderama_Output.img

Then tried a straight render and got an Error ID : 17 Error number : -42 instead. Both errors are MCIO (Mac specific) and complained about "System error and file path given".

So, I wonder why does it crash after a number of frames and not right away? Why a different number? It reminds me of memory leaks we experienced when I was working with Houdini on SGIs. Could it be UNIX related? I have the same problem on another MacIntel and a PowerMac. Maybe I should test it on a PC.

We may have to switch back to v7 until it gets solved, I am just not entirely convinced the problem is on our side.

Thanks,

Christian

Ola felix,

EIAS 8 crash when you open Material window or material pallete?

Second, the correct preocedure is:

Have your main EIAS 8 with all latest Shaders and Plug-ins builds..

Search in your machine all prjs with collected files and delete old Shaders and plug-ins builds, because, if EIAS link them.. probably a prb can appear.

Particulary, I never collect shaders or plug-ins.

Please, do a carefull clean up in your machine..

When you finish this clean up and test if your main EIAS 8 (shaders & Plug-ins) builds are perfect.. copy them to your slaves.

You will have a really stable application.

Thankss

Tom

[Tomas Egger]

Ola my friend,

This path is a bit weird in my point of view:

File : /Volumes/Tango_2?Applications/EIAS 8.0.0/

why this “?” in the path?

Please, do me a test:

1) Bring the EIAS 8.0.0 folder to your desktop...

2) Do a render test

3) then come back to not loose your latest files paths..

only to see what happens.. I think something weird in your OSX paths are happening..

Probably will need to fix OSX permissions or re-name Tango_2 like Tango2

Thankss

Tom

Hi Tomas,

In my case, either it refuses to open the script (if it has active plug-ins or shaders in it), or it crashes while rendering. And this is the weird part, it will do a different length sequence before the crash depending on the script (20, 40, 120, it seems to be multiples of 20). If done through RAMA, I can restart and it will crash Camera after the exact numbers of frames. So, I can get the renders done by restarting till it's done.

I did a complete clean-up of my MacBookPro over Christmas and even re-installed v8. It did not solve the problem. I ran a small test with Renderama this morning and got this message:

Camera Error : A system API function has returned an unexpected

error number. Library : MCIO Error ID : 4 Error number : -35

File : /Volumes/Tango_2?Applications/EIAS 8.0.0/

Renderama_Output.img

Then tried a straight render and got an Error ID : 17 Error number : -42 instead. Both errors are MCIO (Mac specific) and complained about "System error and file path given".

So, I wonder why does it crash after a number of frames and not right away? Why a different number? It reminds me of memory leaks we experienced when I was working with Houdini on SGIs. Could it be UNIX related? I have the same problem on another MacIntel and a PowerMac. Maybe I should test it on a PC.

We may have to switch back to v7 until it gets solved, I am just not entirely convinced the problem is on our side.

Thanks,

Christian

[Tango]

Yes Tomas, the path is weird. My bad, it's a typo. It should be a forward slash. Also, I have been using underscores in names and paths without problems for as long as I can remember.

I tried the same script on a different Mac (different name) and crashed on the first frame rendering directly from EI.

I moved the EIAS 8.0.0 folder to the desktop and tried. Crash, it did not like that a bit. I thought that folder "had to be" in the Applications folder?.. Moved it back and did another test after re-entering my Unlock Code, I turned off the shader and it rendered a full sequence without a blink.

I still believe it has to do with paths, maybe some routine getting confused? Can you really get EI to run from the desktop? I may try it on a different computer but I have to make sure I have my Code with me....

Christian

Ola my friend,

This path is a bit weird in my point of view:

File : /Volumes/Tango_2?Applications/EIAS 8.0.0/

why this “?†in the path?

Please, do me a test:

1) Bring the EIAS 8.0.0 folder to your desktop...

2) Do a render test

3) then come back to not loose your latest files paths..

only to see what happens.. I think something weird in your OSX paths are happening..

Probably will need to fix OSX permissions or re-name Tango_2 like Tango2

Thankss

Tom

[Tomas Egger]

Ola Tango,

You can run EIAS anywhere, I tried on desktop too.. and you dont need to re-enter the code, because the code is stored in the EI resources folder.

So, its clear, your shader have prbs, is it aSEM from TripleDtools? is it UB? Please contact them.

I think we are suffering from incompablities with Shaders, Plug-ins and EIAS 8.

Im thinking further, Lets write some rules to have a clean and workable EIAS 8 without incompabilities?

Second, we can look all our third parties and write the latest build in our rules to every EIAS user compare.

Looking all prbs around with Rama and EIAS 8, like I helped Craig a few days ago, Rama was crashing because he was having prb with Psunami, I dont know if he have the latest build, btw.

so, after all this revision, we can take notes, if the latest build of some shader or plug-in really have a bug.

Thanksss

Tom

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

Yes Tomas, the path is weird. My bad, it's a typo. It should be a forward slash. Also, I have been using underscores in names and paths without problems for as long as I can remember.

I tried the same script on a different Mac (different name) and crashed on the first frame rendering directly from EI.

I moved the EIAS 8.0.0 folder to the desktop and tried. Crash, it did not like that a bit. I thought that folder "had to be" in the Applications folder?.. Moved it back and did another test after re-entering my Unlock Code, I turned off the shader and it rendered a full sequence without a blink.

I still believe it has to do with paths, maybe some routine getting confused? Can you really get EI to run from the desktop? I may try it on a different computer but I have to make sure I have my Code with me....

Christian

[Igors]

Hi, Christian, All

Camera Error : A system API function has returned an unexpected

error number. Library : MCIO Error ID : 4 Error number : -35

File : /Volumes/Tango_2?Applications/EIAS 8.0.0/

Renderama_Output.img

Then tried a straight render and got an Error ID : 17 Error number : -42 instead. Both errors are MCIO (Mac specific) and complained about "System error and file path given".

We've no intentions to hide/ignore bugs but any programmer needs to reproduce a situation to fix a problem. In other words we need your project and a small report. (just error description as you wrote + steps to reproduce). Please prepare such sample prj. We'll post more details (about how and where to upload) not momentary but soon.

Thanks