ERROR - Unable to connect osl() error

[CiroCardoso3v]

Hi,

One of my collegues is having this weird issue. He can connect a bitmap, an image node to the Physical and Standard Shader. He can render and see the preview.

However, when he connects any OSL node to the base colour nothing happens.

No preview and it doesn't render. Computer was restarted, Arnold was updated. We tried on a new scene and nothing. I can open his file on my PC and is fine.

So, we picked the the Simple Tiles OSL node, copy the code, opened an OSL Map. Pasted the code, compile it and still nothing.

We switched to Corona just to double check and it works

So then checked the log and this stands out

[osl] C:\Program Files\Autodesk\<buffer>:1: error: error: could not find include file: C:\Users
athand\AppData\Local\Temp/bc2f-15da-ea72-f926
00:00:00  1463MB WARNING | unable to connect osl() to standard_surface(ba
se_color) - types are not compatible ((null) to RGB)

I also noticed that the Arnold Preview seems to have a watermark. We checked and he is using his autodesk account to use 3ds Max, which is fine.

Any ideas?

[Stephen.Blair]

Arnold Preview with a watermark is unrelated. That won't cause OSL errors

[CiroCardoso3v]

For me the thing that is weird, is how an OSL map that was compiled inside 3ds Max, doesn't work at all.

Also that folder bc2f-15da-ea72-f926 doesn't exist.

[Stephen.Blair]

Do you get that could not find include file for the OSL Bitmap Lookup?

I see that even Zap didn't have an idea (from last year: https://www.facebook.com/groups/stackthis/permalink/839556403057524/ )

[Stephen.Blair]

When you render with an OSL node in 3ds Max, 3dsmax.exe will write a file with a name like

C:\Users\Stephen Blair\AppData\Local\Temp\60cd-a92e-61e8-59c6

The file is deleted automatically.

I would run Process Monitor to see if there's a problem creating that file.

[CiroCardoso3v]

Just tested running 3ds Max as admin and it works. Although it makes no sense how a local user can't write on a local folder.

[Stephen.Blair]

@ Especially if the local user account can create files directly.
For example:

dir > %TEMP%\bc2f-15da-ea72-f926 

[Stephen.Blair · Accepted solution]

@

Can you get a Process Monitor log ? That might show us something.

• Download Process Monitor and extract it to a folder
  https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/processmonitor.aspx
• Start Process Monitor
• Start capturing events (CTRL+E or the magnifying glass icon)
• Try to render
• After you get the error, go back to Process Monitor and stop capturing events
• Filter the log (see this short video (use that general technique for 3dsmax.exe)
  https://www.screencast.com/t/6QeyXiZGsJt)
• Save the Process Monitor log to a .PML file
• Zip up the log and send it (or upload to a file sharing site like Dropbox or Google Drive)

[CiroCardoso3v]

@ I asked him to follow your steps and here is the log

https://we.tl/t-dbnqj0v7h5

Also, just as a side note. His name is Nathan, but Arnold or 3ds Max is trying to create a folder on this

1. C:\Users
   athand\AppData\Local\Temp/bc2f-15da-ea72-f926

   It should be C:\Users\Nathand and not C:\Usersathand.

[Stephen.Blair]

@ Looks like some code is evaluating the \N as a line break
3dsmax.exe does write out the file, but then tries to read in the wrong file

kicking an ass file doesn't do that

[CiroCardoso3v]

@ Ok, so is there a solution for that? It seems like a bug to me, like the \n needs to be "\n". Or otherwise no user that has a name starting with a N can use OSL shaders. Is this Arnold side or 3ds Max side? The weird bit is how he can still use OSL shaders with Vray or Corona.

[Stephen.Blair]

It's not Arnold because I can export an ass file and kick it

Maybe MAXtoA or 3dsmax, I can't tell right now

[CiroCardoso3v]

@ we have another user with a first name starting with N and he is fine.

[Stephen.Blair]

@ What's the Windows user name?

The [osl] log message you posted earlier certainly looks like a line break was inserted.

[CiroCardoso3v]

Nick and the other one is Nathan. Both start with N, but Nick can use OSL shaders with no issue. I checked the Arnold log and no error at all. We also tried to repair 3ds Max. It also happens with Max 2019 and he is using 2020-

[thiago.ize]

Are they both uppercase N user names? \n will be interpreted as a newline, but \N should go through unchanged.

[Stephen.Blair]

We think it is https://github.com/imageworks/OpenShadingLanguage/issues/866

Fix is either for Arnold to upgrade OSL or workaround the problem

[CiroCardoso3v]

@ Both are lower case \nathan and \nick

[CiroCardoso3v]

There must be a workaround because you can use the same OSL with Corona or Vray. Not sure what they do.

[Stephen.Blair]

They use a newer OSL or they use forward slashes to avoid the bug