Parallel evaluation mode issues...

[slimboJoe]

When will the Parallel mode / DG mode issues be fixed?

I have a scene where one object will not update properly in DG mode while another will not update in Parallel, so the whole scene is really hard to work in.

Sadly, this scene only has some cubes and some extruded text.  I have an animated camera with an animated aim constraint.  The extruded text animates into place as the camera does a fly-by.

The text will not GRAPHICALLY update in DG mode unless I select it.  When I select the transform, the transform is in the correct spot but the geometry is not.  Works fine in Parallel mode, but...

...the camera AIM constraint will not read the animation in Parallel mode.  So if I move the aim constraint locator, it stays in the new spot despite the fact that the animation should pop it back into place.

It is ridiculous that this happens. 

[sean.heasley]

Hi @slimboJoe

There are a handful of known issues with parallel evaluation that are on our dev teams radar to either be fixed with the next update for 2018 and/or with our 2019 release.

When you get a chance, can you please zip and attach the scene file here or via dropbox/google drive or another file sharing program so I can take a look at it? I'd like to confirm that the issue can happen on my machine and I could take your issue and add it to our known issue log to make sure it's fixed as well in the near future!

[slimboJoe]

Thanks, Sean.  I'll upload when I can.

[sean.heasley]

Hi @slimboJoe

Just wanted to check in to see how things were going. Are you still having this issue?

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

[slimboJoe]

Still an issue.  I have not had time to upload a sample scene since I am not employed by Autodesk to do trouble shooting.  I will gladly accept that job offer, though, as I often spend time trouble shooting.  Where can I apply?

[slimboJoe]

I do not mind REPORTING bugs at all.  In fact, a robust bug reporting system is crucial to getting software issues fixed.  There are no better testers than people that use the software all day long, whether they are professional, hobbyist, or even student.

I use Maya professionally, so I am often working with copyrighted or NDAed material, so creating a test scene from that usually involves making a whole new scene with those elements either changed or removed, which requires extra time that I'm not paid for.

Sean is awesome and he usually tests the sample scenes right away and accurately logs the issue if it indeed and issue.  I understand the need to have a specific test scene, as Maya is a complex program and issues can arise with unique or combined elements.

It's the part that comes AFTER Sean that saddens me.  The bugs reports seemingly bounce around in a rubber room for YEARS sometimes, fall on deaf ears, or otherwise go unchecked until a HUGE throng of users complain.  Like the UPDATE issue where is was taking hours to install new versions of Maya in a Windows.  After fed-up users started getting VERY vocal, the issue was addressed and fixed (?) rather quickly.

I have awesome skills as a de-bugger.  Autodesk would be wise to offer me a job.  I only complain here about things when I'm limited on time or extremely frustrated.  My wife and son do not care about the bugs (expect for the waste of my time), so this is my outlet.

[sean.heasley]

Hi all!

I sincerely appreciate your patience with issues like this and I wholly understand how frustrating they can be.

I couldn't say it last week but Update 4 has officially been released and there are a handful of Evaluation mode fixes that were shipped with it so it may be worth your time to update to see if this helps with your issue.

As for your scene files, I'd like to make it totally clear: we work with NDA files all the time from professional industries. By working at Autodesk(especially in support like myself) you are automatically signed into an NDA contract with all files we receive from customers. I bring this up because if you do have the issue happening on an NDA scene I want you to know that it can be sent to me personally in a private message or an email.

Now I do understand this can be a bit complex getting approval for depending on the company but I'd just like to make sure you know the offer is there for this issue and any future questions/problems.

Thank you again for your time and patience and thanks for the praise @slimboJoe. I'm always happy to do what I can to help everyone out as I've been in your shoes before(and often still am with personal projects) so I know how frustrating it can be when it feels like more and more bugs appear or ones you log don't get fixed etc. I wish there was more I can do but sadly I can't work in every department at once 

For now I just ask for your continued patience and diligence when it comes to working with Maya and being apart of this community!

[slimboJoe]

Thanks for the info, Sean.  I'll be sending that scene for testing.  That helps a TON!!!

[mikael.ovesson]

Hi there... So... There is still a ton of issues with evaluation, both DG, serial, and parallell... It's practically impossible to do an entire project and find one evaluation method that works for everything in it (we're on 2018.6 here, not switching to 2019 until at least SP5...).

We really don't need to be able to choose between evaluation methods. We just need ONE that works. I don't think that's too much to ask. Faster playback doesn't get our projects finalized quicker if they don't work. In fact, it gets them done immensely SLOWER. 

You're asking for our patience, but nothing is happening. We're waiting and waiting, and instead of fixing crucial showstopper bugs, we get little bells and whistles. Exactly how much patience do you expect us to have? 

So please answer me this: WHEN exactly can we expect at least ONE evaluation method that works as it should, so that we're able to animate without tearing our hair out and flipping our desks? 

[pavelR.]

I can't add much to it, the 'Hold channels' feature (excuse me this is a Houdini terminology, no clue what it is called in Maya anymore , switched my DDC application accordingly) is also affected by this. They might as well remove it from the docs, as it is unsupported when using DG evaluation mode (aka Parallel off)

Stuff from 2017, just going to update with the latest findings (or copy and paste the previous post and change the versions accordingly)

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/maya-animation-and-rigging/maya2018-u1-vp2-0-evaluation-mode-dg-time-...

I can understand that things like that can bother one, but at some point one must move on...to me it was too flaky to use parallel all the time and DG is broken since 2017...and there are other options out there.