Problem rendering a project

[Anonymous]

While working on a project I have been unable to render even a single frame despite the computer activity log indicating that Maya is running and using 100% of one of the 4 CPUs.

About the project:
It is made up of 12 100width*100length NURB plans that are 1000u*1000v. The tiles have been deformed with the "Sculpt Geometry Tool" using imported Attribute Maps of images that are 8-bit greyscale 1200*1200pixel with a resolution of 72pixels/inch. All the tiles are finished, though there is significant lag when doing anything, but there has been no luck rendering using: Maya software, Maya hardware, Maya Hardware 2.0, or mental ray. The model is a recreation of the Mediterranean. We have a render farm (Qube!) though we haven't had any luck getting mental ray satellite to work either.

Maya 2014 Educational Version

About the computer:
iMac 27-inch, Late 2013
Processor: 3.4 GHz Intel Core i5
Memory: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Software: OS X 10.9.4 (13E28)

Any thoughts on possible solutions to the render issues? Rendering each tile individually isn't viable as it is going to have multiple frames and stitching together 12 images per frame just isn't practical.

[n8skow]

Are you able to post the scene files?

Is there any information in your renderlog that indicates an issue?

[steve_r]

When you try with mental ray, what messages to you see in the log window, or in the mayarenderlog file ?

If Maya itself has a problem handling your scene it will affect mental ray for Maya as well.

[Anonymous]

n8skow: The scene is 46.8MB compressed so I can't upload it (it is 292.4MB not compressed). It doesn't create a log of the render attempts of the scene, it does for other projects though.

steve_r: Maya moves sluggishly when the scene is open, rotating the camera causes lag of several second or more and even changing tools causes lag.