Backburner 2020

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

I was just wondering if/when/where Backburner 2020 may be made available?

The 2019 version seems to be all that is available from this link below, perhaps I am mistaken...

https://apps.autodesk.com/3DSMAX/en/Detail/Index?id=3481100546473279788&appLang=en&os=Win64&autostar...

Would appreciate any help, thanks so much!

[Paul1084 · Accepted solution]

I have just upgraded our servers to 3DS Max 2020, with a fresh install of backburner 2019... and it would appear to be compatible I've successfully sent a test job from 3DS Max 2020 to the render farm, and rendered on 3ds max 2020 nodes

[Anonymous]

Thanks buddy. I didn’t think that would work! Appreciate the share.

[blpjoel]

It is unreal that it doesn't install with Max by default ...and you have to hunt it down separately....  it doesn't even show up in my download center.  What's the deal with this?  There is literally no logic.

[hagen.deloss]

@blpjoel 

I would guess the reasoning behind this is that some folks don't use network rendering on their system, or choose to use a different network rendering tool (such as Deadline). Here is the full list of Installed components for 3ds Max 2019, I believe its similar, if not the same for Max 2020.

[Anonymous]

It is utterly ridiculous that Backburner doesn't install by default with 3dsMax 2020. I just wasted a bunch of time hunting for it on my PC and then reaching out online and finding a link from a user in a post rather than an Autodesk site.  Ugh.

[ehren.addis]

Utterly ridiculous is the Autodesk way.

[Anonymous]

So did anyone find a link for this or are we still waiting??

[blpjoel]

It seems Backburner 2019 is the same as 2020.

I installed backburner2019.0.0_5 and it works with 2020 fine.

Autodesk, really?  Just make it an option to install by default with max.  It's more useful than mental ray, and you force that on us.  A proper reply to this would be, "Okay great, we'll make sure to correct it in the next build." but instead we'll get crickets.

[hagen.deloss]

Hi everyone!

I can definitely forward your feedback to the development team! But it may take a little while for them to work any changes into the larger 3ds Max roadmap!

Just to make sure I completely understand the feedback, You all would like to be presented with the option to install Backburner in 3ds Max 2020, or you want Backburner to automatically be installed in 3ds Max 2020?

In the meantime, the best place to pass along feedback the development team will actually hear is on the 3ds Max Ideas page, and joining the beta program.

I'm sorry if this is causing any lost time for folks, I will pass this information along, and post back anything I hear. I really appreciate you all taking the time to help improve 3ds Max with this feedback! 

[blpjoel]

During install, when you have the screen where you can choose components to install, backburner should be there.   It should be a quick add as it is just piggybacking installers like it does for all the other components already.

thanks for responding! 

[Anonymous]

Yeah i aqree with the above, its an integral part of max for alot of users. Im not even sure where to find the standalone installer. 

[hagen.deloss]

@blpjoel 

Thanks for the clarification, I will include it in my notes 😄

@Anonymous 

The install for the Backburner plugin can be found here. Here is an article on the subject as well, and there are a few related articles regarding Backburner setup and common issues linked to that article as well.

[danny.austin]

We have moved to Deadline because of this issue. 

I have used Backburner with great frustration for 15 years.. this year I finally took the plunge and canned it. Backburner is now, in my opinion, non-functional and we recently paid £2k for Deadline. The cost is high but when I calculate the time that our team and I have saved, it is a no brainer. I took me a really long time to make the decision to change as we're a small studio and it's a big expense. I didn't want any additional functionality from Backburner.. I just wanted renders to complete without generic, unhelpful error codes.

Every Autodesk employee that I have spoken to over the years has told me Backburner isn't a priority to their users and no further development would be carried out. I'd like to repeat here again, this is incorrect. A basic, network render manager is absolutely a priority to most 3ds max users. Sorry for preaching. 

Also, for anyone having issues with Backburner and using Vray... I've just started submitting jobs from 3ds max as Vray Standalone (via Deadline). This bypasses 3ds max and renders only on Vray Standalone. Almost all of our network render errors are causes by 3ds max exceptions. Using Deadline fixed a lot of the errors but now we don't get any render failures using Vray Standalone.  

[Anonymous]

Agreed. Anyone worth their salt in this industry needs a network render manager that works. Theoretically thats everyone paying the (very high might I remind you Autodesk) license fee. You cant just decide what you think the users priorities are. I dont remember ever being surveyed.

[imagestud]

I'd love to see backburner fixed. Instead we get new interfaces that hog screen space. FiX BACKBURNER. They even state that it is not "officially certified to work under Windows 10 for 3d Max"

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-max/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Networ...

[photodave]

I agree with the majority! 3dsmax should have the option at the very least to install backburner. Ive been using 3dsmax since V1.0 and I was surprised after all these years after downgrading 😉 from 2018 to 2020 that Backburner did not install and there was not even an option to install. And like others have said, it is basically bull**** that users have to do a deep dive to search for an install for Backburner. I don't get why it seems that AD is trying to nuke BB out of the installs with no notifications to their users and then seemingly try to bury it deep so it is difficult to find. Come on AD! Its not a very big program but it is one that a lot of smaller studios rely on, so with our bloated licensing fees why don't you fix the dam app!

/rant_off

-dave

[Anonymous]

Hi, maybe this is a bit old, but, when you use deadline for rendering on Vray... We have about 20 render only PCs, and installed as Vray slaves - would this workflow work on render slaves ?

[mpowers]

I just installed 2020.3 on our renderfarm - Now all of my backburner jobs fail with this error:

ERR 3dsmax adapter error : Autodesk 22.3 reported error: Error writing to file "..."

Is anyone else experiencing this behaviour?

[imagestud]

I normally get that error when backburner does not understand a network location. I'm sure you've already checked to make sure your maps and output paths have correct network addresses, instead of local addresses. I've had issues with windows 10 updating and the computers can't see each other.