Getting Composite to Render

[miketruly]

Once again banging my head against the wall that is 'Composite'.  (yes, I know it's another dead piece of AD software, etc.).

I can't get the silly thing to render.  I've got a simple comp setup and try to do a 'Foreground' render.  It acts like it's rendering by showing the progress bar but no rendered frames are on disk after it's done.

The 'render folder' is specified as a local folder.  During rendering, it makes a temp folder inside the local folder and then after rendering the folder is removed.  No rendered frames are created in the local folder.

Any idea how to get this to render?  Something so basic ought to be easy... but no.

Thanks!

[miketruly]

OK, I got it to render by resetting the 'Output' node. Not sure why it wasn't writing the images to disk but it's working now.

Any way to change the format of the <FrameNo> to use _0001 instead of .00001?

Thanks!

[miketruly · Accepted solution]

OK, still having a problem with rendering.

I use UNC paths for everything.  Since multiple slaves need to get the footage and write rendered frames, UNC paths are used.

I can make Composite use UNC paths to get the footage... but I am having difficulty getting the rendered output path to be UNC and using it.

For example, let's say the path where the rendered frames should be written is:

//PC18/G-Drive/directory/framename.<FrameNo>

or

\\PC18\G-Drive\directory\framename.<FrameNo>

It takes this path just fine but writes no frames to disk when rendering.  The progress bar acts like it's rendering but no frames are written.  With either of these, in the Render dialog it shows the destination as:

/directory/framename.<FrameNo>

Only when I change the path to be:

G-Drive/directory/framename.<FrameNo>

will the frames be written.  The destination then shows as 'G-Drive/directory/framename.<FrameNo>'.  And this will not work for network rendering... I need it to be a UNC path.

What is the proper format to make this work?

Thanks!

[Steve_Curley]

Hmm...
I just tried it and it worked 1st time.
Selected the Output node then the render tab.
Opened the Project Preferences and changed just the Render Folder entry to "//Aria-1/F/CompositeRenders" and OK'd the dialog.
The FileName I left as "<RenderFolder>/<Version>_<OutputName>.<FrameNo>". File > Render and at the top it showed the full expanded file name (correctly) - clicked Start and it worked.

If it's not working there then I would suspect a permissions problem, or you somehow didn't manage to get the paths changed properly.

[miketruly]

Thanks for the ideas Steve! I will try this again based on your steps. I have permissions, etc. but Composite certainly doesn't seem simple in how it deals with paths. I have crashed it many times by simply giving it different paths to try and use.

Thanks again.

[Steve_Curley]

It can be a bit touchy. Shame really because it's such a powerful package - especially given the price... 😉

[miketruly]

Thanks again Steve!

Touchy is a bit of an understatement.

The imported footage works fine using UNC paths.

I was able to get the writing of rendered frames to work by putting this in the Output>Render>Filename slot (per your screenshot... how would I have known to use <RenderFolder> given that it's not one of the button options?):

<RenderFolder>/<Outputname>.<FrameNo>

If I instead use:

<RenderFolder><Outputname>.<FrameNo>  (without the forward slash)

Composite crashes the second I try to open the Render dialog.

It's a real shame that the code is so flaky that a simple incorrect path syntax can crash the program.

Thanks again!

[miketruly]

Attached is a screenshot showing both the path setup in the Project Preferences>Render>Filename slot and the path as setup in the Output>Render>Filename slot.

The preferences filename slot has no forward slash in it and seems to work fine.  The Output render filename slot must have the forward slash or it crashes Composite2014 when trying to open the Render dialog.

I'm a bit confused as to why there is a Filename slot in the preferences if it will be specified in the Output>Render>Filename anyway.

[Steve_Curley]

You're confused????

The trailing "\" was a typo caused by copy/pasting - I edited it out yesterday. Why it should cause a crash, though, I've no idea. I'll have play some more, I guess 😉

[PiXeL_MoNKeY]

[quote]I'm a bit confused as to why there is a Filename slot in the preferences if it will be specified in the Output>Render>Filename anyway.[/quote]The Preference Value is what is used for any newly created output nodes, and is carried over between projects. The filename in the output node can be changed.

-Eric

[LyleHardin]

Render? I can't even import my videos I've just created with Max 2015. Avi, nor .mov.

Must be a codec thing, but I've tried several without any luck.

I'm trying to render a final movie from the stereo camera rig. 

It's my first time using Composite... I take it that Composite may be abandoned?

How am I to make my 3D movie?