Can't Set Relative Texture Path

[MikeVerta]

There are plenty of tutorials on this online, and the process is dead simple, but for some reason, Maya will not set relative texture paths.  The project is set, and I've moved the assets to different places to see if that "wakes it up" but no matter where they are, they won't update.

Here's the catch, and maybe the issue: they're Renderman texture nodes, specifically pxrTexture nodes.  But all renderfarms require relative paths, especially for Renderman.  Is this it? Any ideas?

Thanks,

_Mike

[sean.heasley]

Hi @MikeVerta

Generally setting your project and then setting a texture like you tried should work but it is possible that this may be happening due to them being renderman texture nodes.

Can you try setting a texture for an arnold shader or a lambert and see if the same issue occurs?

Also, while it's a little old I've seen many users on use this texture manager that may help you out!

Please let me know if this helps or if you need any more assistance!

If one or more of these posts helped answer your question, please click Accept as Solution on the posts that helped you so others in the community can find them easily.

Kudos are greatly appreciated. Everyone likes a thumbs up!

[sean.heasley]

Hi @MikeVerta

I'm just checking in again to see if you need more help with this. Did the suggestion I provided yesterday work for you?

If so, please click Accept as Solution on the posts that helped you so others in the community can find them easily.

[Anonymous]

I have the same issue here. When I use 2Dfile textures in Maya the relative path is generated but for PxrTexture relative path doesn't get generated. I tried using the script you suggested to change the path, but as it seems the script doesn't run in Maya 2017 which is the version of Maya I am using. Is there any other way around this issue?

[Anonymous]

PxrTexture does not support relative paths. This is a recent feature request that hopefully gets implemented into R22.

RenderMan works best in centralized setups where relative paths are non-existent.

Cheers,
Mike

[Anonymous]

Please disregard, just did a render test and it seems to be working ok using .tif files.

______________________________________________________

I am having a similar issue with Arnold .TX textures as image sequences.

It is only accepting the absolute path and not the relative path.

If I use something like a .TIF, is Arnold still going to try to convert these files at render time? (that would be horrible!!!)

Thanks in advance!

Mitch

[Stephen.Blair]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Please disregard, just did a render test and it seems to be working ok using .tif files.

______________________________________________________

I am having a similar issue with Arnold .TX textures as image sequences.

It is only accepting the absolute path and not the relative path.

If I use something like a .TIF, is Arnold still going to try to convert these files at render time? (that would be horrible!!!)

Thanks in advance!

Mitch

---

You won't see the relative path in the Maya user interface.

MtoA gives the relative path to Arnold, and Arnold resolves the full path using the Texture Search Path.

Non-tx files are converted to tx by MtoA, before the render.

It would be awful to use non-tx, unless you're rendering trivial scenes with a handful of textures.

[adenne]

Because mentalray isnt in 2017 the script comes up with an error. 

I opened script and replaced all instances of 'mentalrayTexture' with 'psdFileTex'   then it should work

[nromick]

I'm having the same issue... only I am using VRay. This particular issue is happening with VRayMTL using UDIM. The issue isn't happening with other VRayMTL's... only the ones set to UDIM... which I need.

[nromick]

I'm having the same issue... only I am using VRay. This particular issue is happening with VRayMTL using UDIM. The issue isn't happening with other VRayMTL's... only the ones set to UDIM... which I need.

If i force the path to '/sourceimages/faces/bubbles/bubblesface.<UDIM>.jpg', it breaks the texture... If I manually choose it in the file window, it shows up as '/Volumes/VFX Backup/TPB_Animation/sourceimages/faces/bubbles/bubblesface.<UDIM>.jpg'.

Not sure the issue here, since all non-UDIM files work just fine when I sub out the absolute path for the relative path.

[rafaelsegnini]

It's almost September 2019, and this issue remains the same even with the last version of the software.

If you use multi tile textures, in ANY way possible, Maya will force the absolute path in the file node. And I just don't know why.
This is a total nightmare if you have to remote render scenes and your project is stored in a drive that is not lettered C, for instance.
If you delete the absolute path in front of "sourceimages" in the node to make it relative, Maya will give you an error saying it could not find the texture, because it won't recognize the UV Tiling mode flag (like <UDIM>) that was even put automatically by Maya when setting the texture. For me, this makes no sense.
Of course not taking into account the suffering Maya endures to preview multi tiled textures since it begun to be a thing.

It saddens me to see this problems long reported and nothing has been done to solve it. I know, there are A LOT of problems to be solved, but not as many are so primary and so project crippling as this one.
Hope in the 2024 version of Maya this could be a long passed issue.

[Anonymous]

using maya for 2 years already and i think i wasted weeks or months just to set ups passes, because of that........ hoping to switch to houdini soon. i cant stand this program......

[Anonymous]

Has there been any discussion at Autodesk about setting image paths to be relative to the scene file location? I seldom see artists set up Maya projects, and in a studio environment this process adds a cumbersome step when jumping from scene to scene or passing files over different machines.    

[Zero.One]

I'm having the issue too, UDIM non-UDIM, project is set, maya opens up the source images folder when I hit the folder icon, it just refuses to use relative pathing.

Could it be because I have sub folders within the source images folder that I'm sourcing from. Or the fact that I'm using the Windows file browser as my folder browser in maya? maybe