Messages

1

[Max] I need help! / Re: Corona and Anima AXYZ crashes

« on: 2023-06-06, 09:15:41 »

Hi guys,

Thanks  for willing to take a look.
I can share the scene, but  guess it will be  a challenging one, considering its complex nature. Not really sure how can share the anima stuff though - it is anima file with at least 800 3d people.
Please advise.

In the meantime, noticed a strange app called "t" preventing windows to shutdown. Tracked it down and turned out to be " Logitech Options +". As use logitech mx mouse and keyborad, it was something installed some time ago. With the app  starting with windows, usually there was a strange issue when switching between any internet browser and 3ds max viewport - endless zoom out. Uninstalling the app and tried once again the very same file  with both UHD and Path tracing. So far the endless zoom out is gone and experienced only1 crash out of 4  attempts trying to  render the scene.Past week  managed to render the scene only one out of more than 30 attempts.

So, not really sure if it is related to the "Logitech " app, but obviously the latter influences whole windows and 3ds max experience.

2

[Max] I need help! / Corona and Anima AXYZ crashes

« on: 2023-06-01, 11:32:13 »

Hi guys,

Have a situation with a pretty big  project, which encompasses  quite big area.
Project initially done during the past year.  Corona Renderer version (v9) and  3ds max (2022) - have not been changed since then.
New comments landed,  one of which referred to presenting more 3d people in the scene. The tool used for this is Anima AXYZ (5.0.1  last year) and currently 5.1.1(Anima guys suggested)

The scene started behaving really  slow, loading (>15 minutes), navigating and constant crashes when try to render the Anima people inside.
Trying to cope with the issue applying different solutions - from switching to " Path tracer" as secondary solver in Corona to baking the Anima people, to reducing the people, reloading the Anima file, etc. Initially scene rendered fine with UHD used as secondary light solver, but ever since crashes started and experiments with settings, had lucky shot with switching to " Path tracer", but only  once. Strangely  Interactive works fine.
Currently, the only way to render the scene is to hide the layer with the people. If isolate the people in another file - they render fine, but in this particular scene - nada.
The  scene is rather complicated - there is "camera map per pixel" used for  some simple geometry  volumes, custom override settings and majority of settings are controlled via  Pulze Scene manager.

AMD 5950x, 128 GB ram(during rendering scene pages to disk  ~ 150-160 GB), windows 10Pro, OS 19045.3031, Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.19041.1000.0

3

[Max] Daily Builds / Re: Corona Renderer 8 for 3ds Max - Daily Builds Discussion

« on: 2022-04-10, 14:51:52 »

Hi Corona Team,

Currently using Corona 8 RC5. The parsing issue is still present  here. There was a suggestion, which indeed works, but the solution hides any Frame Buffer  and one can not apply any color grading/LUT, etc.
Hopefully you have managed to track down what causes the endless parsing issue.

I have sent a scene for investigation, but it is pointless to send another, as literally every single project has this issue  now.

4

[Max] I need help! / No License

« on: 2022-04-02, 13:59:20 »

As of today, Corona Renderer says that I do not have any license.

How do I fix this?

5

Hardware / Re: Corona and Apple Silicon

« on: 2022-03-25, 22:48:47 »

Does anyone know would a 5950x stack up to one of the latest M1 Ultra chips in terms of rendering performance?

There is the first M1 Ultra result  with Corona Benchmark - 00:01:14.48.  A drop in the water of benchmark tests.
Until we see more results, it actually is even slower  than AMD Ryzen 5900x and more likely to match  i7, latest 12 gen.
i9 12th gen and AMD Ryzen 5950x are definitely quicker than the M1 Ultra, at least when it comes to the Corona Benchmark results.

6

[Max] Daily Builds / Re: Corona Renderer 8 for 3ds Max - Daily Builds Discussion

« on: 2022-03-18, 13:55:52 »

Hi once again,

Loaded a scene with no FP. Moved to Corona  8  RC1 . Deliberately deleted FP, due to slow loading as well, which is another matter.

Pulze Scene Manager - batch render via it.

1st  view - 2 min parsing
2nd view - 10 min parsing, and could be more as switching between programs seems to trigger something.
3rd view - 13 min parsing as left deliberately browser

Test 1, 2nd view ->  https://drive.google.com/file/d/165IVGZjktodwCgki3DDFn4wetQxhECPp/view?usp=sharing
Test 2 , 3rd view-> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zGtnKBiOEcLovCU58CEhy1_iQOZ4Ub6A/view?usp=sharing

The issue is not present on the render node, which is different and much newer platform, but it does not have any other windows on top of 3ds max simultaneously.
The issue was not present  with 3ds max 2020, Corona 7 and earlier versions of Pulze stuff, at least here . Obviously FP is not the culprit.

As others have posted on forum - the parsing issue is present with Backburner as well.

I have archived scene which can send.

Edit:

Tried different kind of  windows stacked on top of each other, clicking also across 3ds max UI windows- pulze, viewport, etc:
Only clicking inside Corona VFB seems to fix parsing for me. Just a simple click.
Windows 10 latest Updates installed.


Edit 2:

Another problem appears as of today moving to Corona 8 RC1 with both machines.
A week ago this project rendered fine with Corona 7, despite the parsing issue mentioned.  As of today both machines use Corona 8  RC1.
Trying to batch render via  Pulze Render manager. If the workstation I am submitting from has the scene open, the render node, loads to scene but does  Not render it.
If close 3ds max  from the main workstation and   retry rendering  it via  Pulze Render Manager and the same render node -  scene loads and  renders fine. See attached files.
No issues with Corona frame buffer  and necessity of clicking anywhere .

Please do not tell us it is license related issue!

7

[Max] Daily Builds / Re: Corona Renderer 8 for 3ds Max - Daily Builds Discussion

« on: 2022-03-18, 12:45:36 »

Hi,

Corona  stuck on parsing, has been a constant companion to me, ever since updated to 3ds max 2022.3  and Corona 7.
I have written to both Corona and Pulze team about it and have sent a problematic scene to Corona team in beginning of February. As there were other issues, like flashing windows and crashes, the "stuck on parsing" issue was of a less priority.

The issue appears to be affecting Corona 7  and whatever goes under the hood with FP and Pulze.  I did not had this issue also prior to  moving to 3ds max 2022.

Initially noticed it while using Pulze Scene manager, as the  render node did render all fine, without problems, but the main workstation which sent the tasks, appeared to be facing this  stuck on parsing issue.
Since then I have reinstalled windows and tried the very same problematic scene. Same thing, regardless of batch render via Pulze Scene Manager or Using Render manager on the main workstation.

Tried out latest Corona 8, on one of the problematic scenes, and it rendered fine, but it could have been sheer luck. Going to try out the other one, which has been sent also to iToo team and Corona team for investigation in relation to slow opening when FP used.
Will post results later today  in relation to the stuck on parsing issue and see if it makes any difference here with and without FP.

8

Hardware / Re: 10Gbe setup

« on: 2022-02-02, 19:08:25 »

The switch is the only device which works at 80Gbit, as far as can understand from the setup.
If all PCs/servers use NICs with 1 port x 10Gbit, there is no way any device to be working at higher speed than these 10Gbit.

Maybe am wrong but here is how understand your setup -   10Gbit Server NIC -> 80Gbit Switch (8x 10Gbit trunked ports) ->10Gbit Workstation/Node NIC - so the speeds are capped 10 Gbit - 1250 MBps per each node. If 3 or 4 nodesconnect directly and simultanously - then it is normal to get 300-400 MBps for each node.

If you server configuration (SSD or NVMe storage setup) is capable of speeds above 1250 MBps, just try using the server NICs (if has more than 1 port) with link - aggregation activated. Thus You will get at least 20Gbit  from the server and it will teoretically increase speeds  to nodes if they are used simultanously. Still there is no way to have  all nodes transfering at 1250 MBps for all nodes simultanously unless, the server raid setup is capable of a speed of at least 5000-7000 MBps and if it has a NIC which has more than 4 x 10Gbit ports, used in link aggregation.

Once again, there are just general assumptions and pretty rough numbers.

9

[Max] Resolved Bugs / Re: 3ds Max Batch Rendering Stuck in the parsing of the scene

« on: 2022-02-01, 21:45:41 »

Something similar occurs with Pulze Render manager.
No issues with 3ds max 2020, but as soon as moved to 2022.3. the machine which submit the renders to is stuck on parsing.
The issue occurred not only with Pulze Render manager, but when batch render with Pulze scene manager.

10

Hardware / Re: Best SSD for file server/nas

« on: 2022-01-28, 16:26:09 »

Hi there,

Do you consider going for 1 or several drives? How many pc's are going to access it simultanously? Do you consider raid as option?

Have several 1/2 TB Samsung SSDs and  6 WD RED/Gold HDDwith capacity higher than 8 TB. Never had any problems with any of them. Several colleagues complained from Seagate drives, specifically Ironwolf ones. Believe it is  bit safer to bet on enterprise disks/ssd's than consumer ones.
Was recently testing several scenes in three different scenarios  with two way different workstations (old school Dual Xeon v4 and AMD 5950x) - HDD only( network mapped raid 10+SSD cache), NVME (Evo plus) network attached and local (980 Pro).
10 GB of data assets, one user access them at a time, 20 + FP objects, 60GB RAM at render time, in the nutshell typical exterior project scene.

From conducted tests - time for opening any scene from nvme drive is like  20-40 % less than  from the RAID 10 HDD combo and this in situation when all FP objects are deleted from the scenes. If FP objects were  left intact - opening of the scenes were like three times slower, regardless of the system and combo, which  literally gave the nvme around 15 % less time than the raid 10 hdd combo.  Considering that the all 5 ssd/nvme drives in the machines cost as much as the 4 HDDs, but with like 6 times less capacity, it is all down to put the priorities right, rather than if ssd/nvme or hdd. How many people, how much storage - 2-3 scenarios,  what price, and last but not least, can the available system  support the drive properly. For the dual Xeon v4, persoanlly had to to buy add-on card to support nvme at all. The more systems the tougher the equation.

Despite the good price for 870 QVO, the 72/78 GB cache which this drive has, actually is limitting one, or at least forcing to pay attention if cache is full, since the speed  drop is significant.

In your case, if there are max two machines in the  setup, I would just get 2 TB or maybe 4 TB nvme for assets, 2-4 TB ssd for projects and leave the available HDD  for backup.

PS - 10Gbit network

11

Hardware / Re: 10Gbe setup

« on: 2022-01-28, 15:55:04 »

Port trunking  is the other name for link aggregation.
If your switch has enought ports, sure, why not have several ports trunked.
But what is the point to use 8 ports, thus having potential 80 Gbit, whereas your nics could potentially reach 20Gbit (link aggregation), which is  bascailly limit of 2.5 GBps.

Maybe I am oversimplifing  equation :)

12

Hardware / Re: 10Gbe setup

« on: 2022-01-25, 10:04:22 »

Should not the speed of the  nodes be limitted to the potential network/drive speed? Meaning if you have  8 nodes each of them having potential speed of 300 MBps (megabytes, not megabits) while rendering, this gives approximate network saturation of 2500 MBytes, which is roughly 20Gbit network( 2x 10 Gbit used in link aggregation).  Even though your nvme network storage potentially could reach let's say 6000 MBps, there is no way to reach its full capacity, due to the network limitation.
If your disk storage/array for some readon is not that capable  in terms of speed and  reaches speeds of 1500 MBps, then it is what is limitting your speeds to the nodes.

What speeds do you get if You use less  nodes in distrubuted - like 2-3. Is it the same? I would personally test each node speed to the network mapped drive with a simple tool like Crystal mark  and see its potential speed to the network mapped drive.
Check all nodes and see if they behave the same way and get similar speeds to the network place. Hopefully you reach almost equal speeds from each nodes to the server. My experience is  bit different, despite the same  settings of  the NICs installed and same brand.

These rough numbers are withount bringing the software in the equation. Maybe someone else could help, but pretty sure that Network mapped drives under windows environment in conjunction with the Microsoft Defender limits already the crippled 3ds max network reading speeds. There are some claims of better speeds with 3ds max 2022, but the story is the same with big scenes with many FP and RC objects. Speaking from user experience.

13

Hardware / Re: 10Gbe setup

« on: 2022-01-24, 09:53:44 »

Maybe I am  wrong but isn't the intel x540-t2  only capable of 10 Gbe - max speed of 1-1 1.2 GBps and this under specific circumstances.
As far as can understand -  although the switch is usung  port trunk and showcases 80 Gbps  the speed to the Qnap is limitted from the intel nic, which supports only 10Gb, maybe 20 if both ports are used with Link aggregation, which is a story of its own.
Another colleague, living in different country had to switch from RJ46 copper cable to SFP.  Regardless of patch cables he tried (CAT6a, CAT7, even CAT8), he never managedto get  sustained speed with his  small 10Gb network setup. He eventually swapt  the copper NICs to  SFP ones and shares different experience.

Since You mentioned that rendering in DR does not actually engage the network in full capacity, think the  issue is within the file formats which are being transferred over the network  and the  software environment. Several hundred jpeg files with file size of up to 10 Mb  from random locations is overkill  regardless of system. Have you tested the setup and speed if you copy  single 1-5 GB file (psd, exr) from the Qnap to all computers simultaneously - do you get the very same network speed?

14

Hardware / Re: 10Gbe setup

« on: 2022-01-22, 12:53:55 »

The 10 Gbe network setup is bit more complex than many of us expected. :)

What type of disks do you have the Qnap populated with? Are all of them ssd's or hdd's?Do you use ssd cache in case of hdd? Are they in raid  or  each bay is used separately?
What brand are the nics - intel ones or asus/aquantia? Do you use the Qnap with the embedded 10GBase-T or you have dedicated card for the 10Gbit connection?
 Personally have the few Asus nics and experience inconsistent speeds to the server, which uses onboard CPU embedded 2 x 10GBASE-T. Would say that is not the best combo, because the speeds are achievable but inconsistent, probably due to overheating which force the nics and the embedded 10GBASE-T to throttle down and then speed drops from 300-350MBps  to 100-120MBps. 

15

General CG Discussion / Re: Crazy blinking UI

« on: 2022-01-20, 14:02:39 »

Hi,

I have the very same problem - blinking/flashing screens everywhere.
Corona 7 and latest 3ds max 2022.
Used to have similar problem with corona 6 and 3ds max 2020, which almost completely went away with proper  3d connexion drivers. The 3d space mouse  drivers was causing the issues with the flash screen back with version 2020, almost 2 years ago.
Working on  first project with version 2022 and latest plugins - the problem appears once again.
The issue occurs as soon as try to switch to another camera while IR  is working , at least here.

GPU  drivers or/and RAM issues are Not the culprit - using the latest nvidia drivers and within viewport of 3ds max and other 3d programs such as blender, all works fine. RAM is ECC and sufficient (128 GB)