Long Parsing scene - 50% ram and 50% processor usage

[rowmanns]

Hi,

I can understand the frustration here, but if we can't reproduce the issue it is really hard for us to fix it. Of the top of my head I don't have any ideas for optimisation, which is why a copy of the scene for max would be most helpful for us to identify this issue.

We can treat your scene confidentially if needed. For the most immediate response I'd recommend contacting the support channel as suggested by Maru and we'll do our best to find some solution.

Thanks,

Rowan

[Jak]

Hi,

I can understand the frustration here, but if we can't reproduce the issue it is really hard for us to fix it. Of the top of my head I don't have any ideas for optimisation, which is why a copy of the scene for max would be most helpful for us to identify this issue.

We can treat your scene confidentially if needed. For the most immediate response I'd recommend contacting the support channel as suggested by Maru and we'll do our best to find some solution.

Thanks,

Rowan

This is actually going beyond frustration...

Once again, I have an NDA signed, as well as I dont have time to waste to prepare my scene in order to send it to you guys and wait for a fix. I have a deadline on my shoulders and this came as quite the surprise as you can imagine.

I am rendering frame 103, and it is taking more than 25 minutes (!) to prepare the geometry now. First frame 2 and a half minutes, now its taking 25 minutes a 100 frames later! I had to force close the animation and will restart the computer now to see if I can continue from this point and get the 2.5 minutes like I had at the begining.

At this rate I will never finish this animation.

Not sure what to do now, but one thing is certain. Until this gets fixed I either cannot do animations, or have to switch my rendering engine.


Here is a screen dump as proof, so that people dont think I dont have better things to do than make things up:

[Jak]

After restart:

~2:00 parsing + preparing geometry (please find attachment) (one frame set to stop after 5:30 min mark).

Rendering 2 frames earlier from the moment I forcefully closed max and restarted the system.

RAM still @ ~60% as it is during rendering of every animation sequence of my current project.

[Jak]

Another update. The same frame that took 25 minutes (before force quit) before restart is now taking about ~2:30 minutes to get through preparing geometry:

[maru]

I think this thread is missing some vital information:
- Which exact version of Corona is used?
- Which Max version?
- Which Windows version? (it looks like Win 7)
- Are there some 3rd party plugins used? (iToo, Laubwerk, Siger, ......)
- Did you send your scene to us? Which upload method did you use, and what's the file name?
- Are any assets stored on the network? If so, does the issue persist if they are stored locally?

Some things that come to my mind based on the information we have right now:
1) It could be somehow related to textures - have you tried converting ALL textures in your scene to 3ds Max Bitmap or to Corona Bitmap? You can do this with the converter script (right click in any viewport > corona converter > then there are two options "Bitmap to CBitmap" and "CBitmap to Bitmap").
2) Proxies - what are your proxy settings? Are you using the "Store in RAM" option? Have you tried toggling it on/off?
3) Are you using the UHD Cache? (performance tab) If so, have you tried switching to path tracing only? (path tracing as both primary and secondary GI solver)
4) It could be some 3rd party app - 3ds Max, some other plugin, or antivirus/firewall doing some stuff in the background. This would be hard to diagnose.

To understand a problem and provide reliable solutions, we need to have as much information as possible, and it is best if we have the scene itself to reproduce that problem. Without it, it is really hard to help, and we can mostly blindly troubleshoot.

Also, did you start a support ticket? (by sending an email to support@corona-renderer.com or using this form https://coronarenderer.freshdesk.com/support/tickets/new)
I am asking, because I could not find it.

[Jak]

I think this thread is missing some vital information:
- Which exact version of Corona is used?
- Which Max version?
- Which Windows version? (it looks like Win 7)
- Are there some 3rd party plugins used? (iToo, Laubwerk, Siger, ......)
- Did you send your scene to us? Which upload method did you use, and what's the file name?
- Are any assets stored on the network? If so, does the issue persist if they are stored locally?

Some things that come to my mind based on the information we have right now:
1) It could be somehow related to textures - have you tried converting ALL textures in your scene to 3ds Max Bitmap or to Corona Bitmap? You can do this with the converter script (right click in any viewport > corona converter > then there are two options "Bitmap to CBitmap" and "CBitmap to Bitmap").
2) Proxies - what are your proxy settings? Are you using the "Store in RAM" option? Have you tried toggling it on/off?
3) Are you using the UHD Cache? (performance tab) If so, have you tried switching to path tracing only? (path tracing as both primary and secondary GI solver)
4) It could be some 3rd party app - 3ds Max, some other plugin, or antivirus/firewall doing some stuff in the background. This would be hard to diagnose.

To understand a problem and provide reliable solutions, we need to have as much information as possible, and it is best if we have the scene itself to reproduce that problem. Without it, it is really hard to help, and we can mostly blindly troubleshoot.

Also, did you start a support ticket? (by sending an email to support@corona-renderer.com or using this form https://coronarenderer.freshdesk.com/support/tickets/new)
I am asking, because I could not find it.

Seems I had missed this thread somehow.

Specs:

Win7 SP1, 3dsmax 2016, Corona version (previous stable build to Corona 5 - no daily builds), no third party plugins (other than bercon maps), UHD Cache (no path tracing if I remember correctly now).

I was using internal 3dsmax bitmap for pretty much most of the models, did not try switching to corona bitmap. The proxy store in RAM was unticked if I remember correctly now.

I was using libraries stored on my external SSD drive (connected through USB 2 not USB 3), which might have been a culrpit from what I have read.

No ticket, did not have time at that moment, now Im working on other works (stills), so dont think will make a ticket, since I dont have time ATM to try and make a similar scene with no NDA.

I had to extend deadline to finish the animation with increasing rendering times for each frames unfortunately but the job got done in the end.

Thanks for response, and sorry for my delayed reply.

[gabor]

Hi there,
I have the same problem. Constantly increasing scene parsing and preparing geomery times. Heavy scene, lots of proxies, geomerty and forrest pack objects (large grass areas). I realized this problem only after I started using Forrest pack.
Did you find a solution?

[maru]

Hi there,
I have the same problem. Constantly increasing scene parsing and preparing geomery times. Heavy scene, lots of proxies, geomerty and forrest pack objects (large grass areas). I realized this problem only after I started using Forrest pack.
Did you find a solution?

Are you using the newest versions of all software?
Can you send some more info? (such as those versions, and the scene itself if possible)

[gabor]

Newest Corona, newest Forrest Pack and max 2019. Unfortunately I can't archive the max file, it gives me an error code of 11, altough all the assets are available. I'm rendering this on 2 computers. My workstation is an intel i9-9900k, and the render slave is an amd TR2970wx. The inceasing "preparing geometry" is not the same. The i9 gets this much faster done. It starts with 0:14 seconds and with each frame it takes ca. 1 seconds more - which is acceptabe, since the camera is getting closer to the objects.
But on the threadripper it gets at least 10 seconds longer with each frame which is unacceptable in a one minute animation project. It starts with 0:21, then 0:42, then 0:53 and so on... I know, the threadripper needs more time for render preparations, since its not so fast on a silgle thread. I'm rendering with it since two weeks, and the rendertimes did not increased from one frame to the other this fast.
I've rendered this scene before, without Forrest Pack grass, and did not realize this problem.

[gabor]

Update: preparing geometry tales from one frame to the next longer and longer. But when I stop the rendering for example at frame 30 (where prep. geom. was 1:10 long) and I restart the rendering from frame 30, the prep. geom. needs again only 15 seconds.

[maru]

I am afraid we may not be able to help without having the problematic scene and trying to reproduce the problem on our side. If you can upload your scene, please do so (uploader is in my signature).
Other than that, I can recommend checking the various hints listed in this forum thread.
If you are using DR, you can also try the "Restart Max" option in the DR server, however this will add extra time for closing and re-starting Max, so I am not sure if it will result in a speedup at all.

[gabor]

I've opened a ticket, and uploaded the archive via dropbox.
I hope you can find a solution or a workaround, because with constantly growing rendertimes I can't keep the deadlines.
Thanks!

[mcnamex]

any news on this issue... I am having a similar issue here as well

[GeorgeK]

any news on this issue... I am having a similar issue here as well

Hi mcnamex, are you using forest pack or back-burner for batch rendering?

[maru]

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