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1

[C4D] Bug Reporting / render vanishing after denoise

« on: 2019-02-28, 10:37:53 »

Hi ,

so I encountered a strange and nasty issue this morning. I have left a render on one machine for a long time. This morning I saved it while it was still rendering as lately I had sveral crashes while denoising.
And fortunately I did so because after the denoise the render is GONE!
VFB is there c4d didnt crash but there is no render shown just black.
If I select a single light select in pass it shows up....so I switch to the LM pass and there is my render back again but its there only for a few seconds!!!
and when saved (while still showing it) it saves a empty black image!!!!

the saved .cxr opens in the image editor and has no issue as the one described above.So I do manage to save the render but its a big issue. saving .cxr files only to save the rendered image is overkill as the file size is huge.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/54nupryoxot6cq5/VID_20190228_102953.mp4?dl=0

this was rendered on a single machine no TR involved. Using Corona 3 hotfix version
It is a very nasty bug and along the numerous crashes on denoising makes work very unpredictable. Add TR not working to these issues and I wonder how this can be considered a working product.

:(

kizo

2

[C4D] Bug Reporting / Team render issues

« on: 2019-02-07, 13:28:23 »

Hi,

as some other users I also have issues with TR. The issues are clients disconnecting and difference in output plus other limitations like not being able to save crx format.

As beta will expire on the 21st Feb. we are trying to prepare the workflow but the TR issues just seem to prevent the production.At the current state I feel like the TR is totally useless, unreliable and in fact any node licences are worthless which is a shame for a newly released product. I love Corona and hope to keep using it. We have NO issues working on single machines but distributed rendering or using the full potential of our hardware is essential.
I have been trying to get some help from the official support but unfortunately it takes way too long to get any answer so I will try here.Maybe I will have better luck.



TEAM RENDER ISSUE: CLIENTS DISCONNECTING AND SLOW RENDER TIME

I have spent a lot of time testing things out. Im not a network specialist so its rather hard to understand whats going on and if the network itself is causing issues but I did a series of tests to identify the differences in settings and results obtained.But we used the same machines and network setup with Vray DR and Thea render distributed (CPU+GPU on the network) without similar issues.

We are running a 1Gbp/s network and have a dedicated range of fixed IPs for machines. I have adjusted all firewall setting , disabled bonjour and Im using IP adresses to conect. I have followed the cineversity series of videos on TR and made all adjustments.Corona license server running. Tests we made with the hotfix release.

I made all tests using 9 machines.

From the tests I made so far one conclusion is that the smaller the packet size I set in Corona render settings the less the nodes disconnect.

In fact with a size of 5 or 10 and interval always at 10s none of the nodes disconnected.With a size of 50 they start disconnecting and with 100,200 or even 500 they also disconnect and it seems sooner. The error that we get when the node disconnects is:  "Frame synchronization failed: Communication error" but if pinged or tested the connection the node is available so I can only assume that there were to many chinks at the same time, but Im not sure. Also if thats the case...having smaller chunks would mean a lot more of them at the same time .....but  when chunks are smaller no nodes disconnect at all.

A small chunk size seems to be OK for smaller resolution renders.The tests I made with a 1k square render and small packet size 10 and 10s interval  rendered without disconnecting nodes at all.The scene with all nodes would render to the noise level set in 5-6 min. (same scene on a single 2990wx took 19 mins)

On a 4k square render of the same scene some interesting facts are shown:

A) packet size =  10 mb // render time (stamped)=0:42:00 // no nodes disconnected

B) packet size= 100 mb// render time (stamped)=0:21:34// 4 nodes disconnected (3 almost at the same time some 3-4 mins after starting the render)

Test A took around 1/4th of the time only to collect all the chunks. So it finished rendering in 30 mins and it took 10 to get all the chunks.

Test B  the render finishes in 21min. Even tho 4 of the machines disconnected this is way faster but the issue is not all of the power is used.

I have tried many combinations changing the interval only, the packet size only or combined. Its a very time consuming process. In all my test  nodes disconnect with larger packages wile they dont with smaller ones but than rendering takes way too long.


PICTURE VIEWER OUTPUT DIFFERENT FROM VFB

In all the test made so far using TR trough PV (the only possible way) but single machine too,  there is a difference where the PV saved image is always darker.
The c4d project settings are set to linear workflow and sRGB

I also had a situation where the lights didnt match in the render saved as .jpg from the PV to the .jpg saved from the VFB. It seems VFB is showing and saving the lightmix while the PV the beauty pass.That would explain why the color and intensity of light was different.Please check the attached images.
 If the above is true how would one save a non layered format out of PV and have it match the VFB ?

RENDER TIME INCONSISTENCY

While testing I noticed different render times are reported for the same job.Im not sure why is that but makes it harder to know whats the real render time and estimate.Check attached example.

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It would be great to get any help from the support but Im looking forward to user input too. Anyone out there using TR without the above issues?

Must say Im rather disappointed with how network rendering works. I have 3 x Corona + 3 nodes licences  and one Corona + 10 nodes license along with 10 machines waiting to render.And Im now facing major slowdown in production and cant find a solution. Im not getting any help from the support too.
It feels like the beta stage should have lasted longer even if it was rather long.But making distributed rendering work should be part of a released product and unfortunately cinema Team Render doesnt seem to be the best choice for that.

Cheers
kizo

3

Gallery / Arscom Studio - kizo - gallery

« on: 2017-01-23, 16:58:48 »

Hello,

I will be posting some renders in this thread:


BROTHER project

Its my first post here and Im presenting  a commercial project we finished last year.

CIC Photographic ltd (http://www.ciconline.co.uk/) is the creative agency behind the project and
the client is BROTHER International.
The main goal of the project was to show the labels applied in real world scenarios.

The project was done using MAXON Cinema 4d in combination with Corona for Cinema 4D.

It was quite intensive as we had to deliver 30 final 6k images (plus variations) in one month.We used a lot of ready made models but also prepared a fair share of new ones.

Hope you like it

kizo

The Deli