Arnold + max UI error

[Anonymous]

So once again I felt myself strong enough to test Max18.

This time I wanted to try Arnold but once again, I was so disappointed that I switched back to Max16 again...

The material samples in the material editor are even more useless than in VRay (that is amusing though...), but the biggest problem was that after a while the buttons disappeared from the UI while I was rendering so I couldnt cancel the test, hitting escape didnt do anything either I was totally cluless whats happening, after like 15 minutes it just finished and thats it. Totally non-interactive and stupid.

As you can see on the attachment, I had enough RAM, the scene is small anyway, the first few tests were fine, I was just adjusting light intensity in small steps and after a while, Arnold (or Max) decided to stop working properly. OK, it didnt crashed so I guess we can say that its stable in its own special way, but I never had problems like this in Maya. Even while it was rendering, the render window was blank, I couldnt see anything on it, it just reappeared when the render finished.

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous and welcome to the community,

Which update are you on for Max 2018?  Another thing to remember is that Arnold gets regular updates so you need to check the download page at SolidAngle to get the latest binaries.  It's updated very frequently and perhaps this issue has been fixed in the updated version.  (Or has another cause.)  Your comment about the material samples makes me think you are on an older version.  Can you please check that for me first?

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Latest Max18, Arnold was 1.1.859 (released on 27 Sept 2017). I've just realised that there's a newer version, I will test that again when I will have the time.

I guess I should just write about these problems to them then if they still exists...

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Thank you for trying that @Anonymous.  Feel free to write to them but I'll still do anything in my power to help you.  I just want to confirm you are on 2018 Update 3.  Thanks!

Do you use multiple monitors?  Is Max on monitor 1?  Someone else reported they were using Max on monitor 2 and the buttons disappeared, I thought I'd ask.  Thanks!

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

So I updated Arnold, tested the rendering both on the main monitor and on the second one, it's still unusable. The software is not responding, windows are blank or just blinking, can't cancel the render properly and the whole system is slowing down terribly.

Never experienced anything like this with VRay or Corona.

Also I downloaded the "official" material library from Solidangle (https://support.solidangle.com/display/A5AF3DSUG/Material+Library), just check the attached image. Thats their chrome shader and how it looks in the material editor with the background turned on, I did't change anything. I dont want to be rude, but I really think that it's just sad and disappointing. Basically everything with reflections is blue in the editor. When I can render someting, then these materials are correct and nice, so its just the editor, but this way its really hard to edit the materials.

[Alfred.DeFlaminis · Accepted solution]

Hello @Anonymous,

My chrome mat sample slot looks the same.  You're right, more work needs to be done there.  

What kind of system specs do you have?  Are you running out of RAM?  

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Its a HP Z440 workstation with Intel Xeon CPUs and 32 GB RAM. I know that its not the stongest thing in the world but its OK usually. The test scene I was using was really simple so the RAM wasnt a problem.

Well it seems the problems are with Arnold and not 3DSMax, hopefully it will get better and better with every update. I guess I will check it again in a few months.

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Thanks for the update @Anonymous, you're right the specs seem fine.  I've never seen the render window be blank during the render and thought maybe a RAM issue but it seems not.  If you continue to have those problems, maybe you can share a scene with me that displays them.  (You can replace the big objects with boxes or teapots, just curious.)  If not, no biggie.

Best Regards,