Maya 2022: kick to render ASS files with XGen

[josephenry]

Hi,

I am trying to render a .ass file with XGen nodes with kick. The error I get is that `node xgenProcedural is not installed` which is normal.

There is a documentation page here: https://docs.arnoldrenderer.com/display/A5AFMUG/Using+kick+to+render+ASS+files+with+XGen

It says that S:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2020\plug-ins\xgen\bin; needs to be added to the PATH env variable but in my Maya 2022 installation there isn't a xgen folder in the plug-ins folder.

I tried with loading the xgen procedural libaries without success:

C:/PROGRA~1/Autodesk/Arnold/maya2022/bin/kick.exe -dw -dp -v 5 -l "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Arnold\maya2022\procedurals" -nocrashpopup -nostdin -o P:\la_mouche\assets\characters\big_fly\texturing_main\publish\v000\exr\render\masterLayer\la_mouche_characters_big_fly_texturing_main_publish_v000_render.0110.exr -i P:\la_mouche\assets\characters\big_fly\texturing_main\publish\v000\ass\main\masterLayer\la_mouche_characters_big_fly_texturing_main_publish_v000_main_masterLayer.0110.ass
00:00:00 75MB | log started Tue Feb 15 19:09:32 2022
00:00:00 75MB | Arnold 6.2.0.1 [903992ac] windows clang-10.0.1 oiio-2.2.1 osl-1.11.6 vdb-7.1.1 clm-2.0.0.235 rlm-12.4.2 optix-6.6.0 2021/02/09 10:40:42
00:00:00 75MB | running on i7-mk8-2017-38, pid=5332
00:00:00 75MB | 1 x Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700 CPU @ 3.60GHz (4 cores, 8 logical) with 32671MB
00:00:00 78MB | NVIDIA driver version 471.11 (Optix 60801)
00:00:00 78MB | GPU 0: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB @ 1708MHz (compute 6.1) with 6144MB (4733MB available) (NVLink:0)
00:00:00 78MB | Windows 10 (version 10.0, build 19044)
00:00:00 78MB | soft limit for open files is set at 2048
00:00:00 78MB |
00:00:00 79MB | loading plugins from C:\PROGRA~1\Autodesk\Arnold\maya2022\bin\..\plugins ...
00:00:00 79MB | alembic_proc.dll: alembic uses Arnold 6.2.0.1
00:00:00 79MB | cryptomatte.dll: cryptomatte uses Arnold 6.2.0.1
00:00:00 79MB | cryptomatte.dll: cryptomatte_filter uses Arnold 6.2.0.1
00:00:00 79MB | cryptomatte.dll: cryptomatte_manifest_driver uses Arnold 6.2.0.1
00:00:00 80MB | synColor_shaders.dll: color_manager_syncolor uses Arnold 6.2.0.1
00:00:00 84MB | usd_proc.dll: usd uses Arnold 6.2.0.1
00:00:00 84MB | loaded 6 plugins from 4 lib(s) in 0:00.09
00:00:00 84MB | [kick] command: C:\PROGRA~1\Autodesk\Arnold\maya2022\bin\kick.exe -dw -dp -v 5 -l C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Arnold\maya2022\procedurals -nocrashpopup -nostdin -o P:\la_mouche\assets\characters\big_fly\texturing_main\publish\v000\exr\render\masterLayer\la_mouche_characters_big_fly_texturing_main_publish_v000_render.0110.exr -i P:\la_mouche\assets\characters\big_fly\texturing_main\publish\v000\ass\main\masterLayer\la_mouche_characters_big_fly_texturing_main_publish_v000_main_masterLayer.0110.ass
00:00:00 84MB | loading plugins from C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Arnold\maya2022\procedurals ...
00:00:00 84MB | mtoa_ParticleInstancer_proc.dll: particleInstancer uses Arnold 6.2.0.1
00:00:00 84MB | mtoa_ParticleVolume_proc.dll: volume_particle uses Arnold 6.2.0.1
00:00:00 84MB | mtoa_ParticleVolume_proc.dll: implicit_particle uses Arnold 6.2.0.1
00:00:00 84MB WARNING | unable to load dynamic library C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Arnold\maya2022\procedurals\xgenSpline_procedural.dll: The specified module could not be found.

00:00:00 84MB WARNING | unable to load dynamic library C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Arnold\maya2022\procedurals\xgen_procedural.dll: The specified module could not be found.

00:00:00 84MB | loaded 3 plugins from 2 lib(s) in 0:00.02
00:00:00 84MB | loading plugins from . ...
00:00:00 84MB | no plugins loaded
00:00:00 85MB | [ass] loading P:\la_mouche\assets\characters\big_fly\texturing_main\publish\v000\ass\main\masterLayer\la_mouche_characters_big_fly_texturing_main_publish_v000_main_masterLayer.0110.ass ...
00:00:00 85MB ERROR | [ass] line 186: node "xgenProcedural" is not installed
00:00:02 95MB WARNING | node entry "thin_film" is deprecated, and may be removed in the future
00:00:02 95MB | [ass] read 167837747 bytes, 199 nodes in 0:02.44

I have "The specified module could not be found". What does it really mean? I am missing something here?

Thanks a lot

[Stephen.Blair]

You're missing DLL dependencies. Xgen depends on DLLs shipped with Maya

If you're using XGen in Maya, the plug-in must be there:

[josephenry]

Hi @Stephen Blair

Thanks for the answer, actually my Maya 2022 installation doesn't have any xgen folder in the plug-ins folder... I'll check tomorrow but it's strange because XGen works inside Maya.