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3DS Max point cloud rendering error

14 REPLIES 14
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Message 1 of 15
NPS_Ryan
12772 Views, 14 Replies

3DS Max point cloud rendering error

Trying to get Max Design 2014 w/ extension to produce a render of a Recap point cloud (currently rcp, but converting to a single rcs as we speak). The cloud has just under 1 Billion points in it. We trying to produce the render I have made sure that the Autodesk point cloud surface is applied, the nvidia mental ray is selected as the renderer, and I have put all the settings to the lowest quality/draft setting (thinking this may be a memory consumption issue).

Computer = 8 core Intel Xeon 2.66GHz; 16 GB DDR RAM; nVidia Quadro FX 4600

 

I keep getting the error in the attached screen shot.

 

Does anyone else have a similar issue, or know of any size limits to point clouds Max can handle? Or perhaps another point cloud format would work better? The cloud has actually been loading, in the sense that I can view it in Max, I just can not get a render to produce.

14 REPLIES 14
Message 2 of 15
NPS_Ryan
in reply to: NPS_Ryan

I was able to produce the properly colored rendering of the point cloud, however to do so in a timely manner all of the quality settings must be at their lowest possible setting, and all mentalray variables (light sources, shading, etc) must be turned off. Even with these low quality settings, and with a low aspect ratio, rendering a video takes a very long period of time. Is this something inherent in 3DS Max that is slowing it down?

 

Bentley Pointools seems to be able to render point clouds at a much faster pace while displaying a far higher density of points. My office was hoping that this new 'point cloud rendering' ability in 3DS Max would allow us to streamline things a bit, but it still seems to have a very long way to go for practical use in generating high quality rendered point cloud videos.

Message 3 of 15
atonic13
in reply to: NPS_Ryan

How you can render Point Clouds in 3ds Max 2015? I can see Point clouds in viewport, but when I try render it doesn't show up. I have tried with and without lights. I have tried Point Cloud shader and materials, but Point Cloud object doesn't show in renders. I have no other rendering problems. I have rendering enabled in object properties and in layers. I have tried find solution hours....can somebody help me? I have no clue what is wrong.

Message 4 of 15
NPS_Ryan
in reply to: atonic13

Try importing the cloud into a fresh file, then setup the view you want WITHOUT changing any lighting or materials settings and render a test image. For some reason when I would try to adjust the material or lighting from the default of the point cloud it would no longer render properly. I'm assuming you have the Extension installed to use point clouds to bring in the point cloud object (rcs or rcp)? This should get you an okay render, but 3DS Max still isn't really optimized to render point clouds. I could not get a high quality render of the cloud I was using. I could only render on the lower quality settings (which made the renders basically illegible). Try using Pointools by Bentley if you have that option.

Message 5 of 15
atonic13
in reply to: NPS_Ryan

I have now tried what you said...Still, I can't render Point Clouds. I have 3ds max 2015 student version and I have tried also 2015 trial. Maybe you can't render Point Clouds with them? They both have Point Cloud system build inside, so you don´t have to install extensions. I have followed 3ds Max readme Point Cloud tutorial...but no good results. I have also tried with two different pc and two different rcs-files. I can load them to Point Cloud object and I can see them in viewport, but I can´t render. I have tried render with Mental Ray. I believe I have some button somewhere what I have to press, but I have no clue...

 

Message 6 of 15
NPS_Ryan
in reply to: atonic13

Sorry. I may have been using 2014, and I had to install the 'Extensions' download (which they never explained was only available to subscribers, and I had to figure out on my own). I probably can't offer any other advice beyond what I described I got to work, they may have unecessarily changed some small thing for 2015.  (Or could you try downloading 2014 + Extensions? I currently have 3DS Max Design 2014 + Extension installed, and an un-adjusted rcs point cloud will render - see attached screen capture). This also may be a feature that doesn't work in student/non-professional versions of Max.

 

I have mostly stopped using Max, but wish you the best of luck in getting a responce from someone who actually works at Autodesk if you continue to have this issue.

Message 7 of 15
atonic13
in reply to: NPS_Ryan

I had change to test full version 2014 design + extension in my work, but it didn't work. Same problems. Can you show your render settings, object properties and material settings? I attached couple shots about my problem.

Message 8 of 15
NPS_Ryan
in reply to: atonic13

I changed nothing in Materials editor (did not even apply a material at all to the cloud). I also did not add any light source, and I believe I haven't altered the render setting either:

Check 'Elements Active' 'Display Active'

Uncheck everything under Processing

Global Illum. is on IBL; checked 'Enable Final Gather', everything else unchecked

Sampling unified/raytrace

 

Pretty much a clean file, imported point cloud and clicked render. Though I guess it could have preserved previous settings used, I do know that if you try to change the scene, add materials or lighting, it starts to cause the point cloud to act up (occasionally it would all be black for instance w/ a material - even the 'point cloud' material) or not show.

Message 9 of 15
atonic13
in reply to: NPS_Ryan

I can't get this work...but thanks for help. Maybe it is hardware/driver issue. I sent you message NPS_Ryan.

Message 10 of 15
atonic13
in reply to: atonic13

I'm interested if somebody else has problems rendering Point Clouds?

Message 11 of 15
matt_bj
in reply to: atonic13

Not working here either. Fully functional render farm (2014max sp5 w/extension) will not render point cloud (clouds2max plugin does work).

Message 12 of 15
atonic13
in reply to: matt_bj

I have got a new pc with 32 gb ram and now I can render Point Clouds with 3ds max 2014 + sp5 + extension. Last time I had only 8 gb ram and I couldn't render Point Clouds at all.

Message 13 of 15
JamesClarke3D
in reply to: NPS_Ryan

Is anyone succesfully rendering with point clouds in backburner? Just crashes for me here. Local rendering works (at least until it decides to crash), but crashes immediately when i submit to the renderfarm in BB. Max 2015, BB 2015.

 

backburner log shows:

2014/06/27 10:46:54 INF 3dsmax adapter : Executing command line : C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max Design 2015\3dsmax.exe "-_pipe:55451584" -server "C:\Users\filepath_002.max".
2014/06/27 10:46:54 INF [ServerMessage]ProcessStarted processId=3900
2014/06/27 10:46:54 INF Adapter returned unexpected code -2 for "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max Design 2015\maxadapter.adp.exe" "-o" "LaunchApp" "-l" "Info" "-j" "C:\Users\filepath_002.xml.details" "-a" "C:\Users\filepath_002.zip"
2014/06/27 10:46:54 ERR Application load error: 3dsmax adapter error : The pipe has been ended.

: 109
3dsmax adapter error : The pipe has been ended.

 

 

 

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Message 14 of 15
Chris999999
in reply to: NPS_Ryan

Just to add to the problems everyone else seems to be having; I have the same problems here.  I think it is possibly memory related as lower resolution renders chug along but high resolution render sequences crash after only 10 or 15 frames.  Please see attached for errors.

 

 

Any solutions yet?  This is driving me crazy.

Message 15 of 15
Chris999999
in reply to: Chris999999

Ok, so we finally ended up throwing another 32GB of Ram at the rendering computer (taking it out to 48GB total) and the problem has gone away.  By the looks of how much it is actually using if you want to render out a point cloud with ~65M points in 720p, you'll need a minimum of 20GB.

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