Render Sequence rendering only first frame repeatedly

[Anonymous]

In Maya 2018, Arnold 5 renderer. I have animated a camera to move around an object. Looks right in playblast. But when I choose Render Sequence command, only the first frame of the animation is rendered repeatedly, creating the same number of identical frames as there is in the animation. I have chosen my moving camera as the renderable camera every place I can think of. Is there some setting that might account for this. I am new, for sure. And I have to think that if this is a bug, someone else would have commented on it by now. Appreciate any help. (On a 2013 MacBook Pro.)

[mspeer]

Hi!

Please upload the scene-file. (Only render camera and one reference object needed)

[Anonymous]

Thanks for looking at this. I've exported the scene, deleted all existing objects, and put a cylinder in as a proxy for those.

As a test, I did create a new project and scene, added a cube, animated it to rotate, added a camera and animated that to circle the cube. All of that worked fine. 

So, yeah, problem has to have something to do with this scene or something I'm doing wrong.

Look forward to your response.

[Anonymous]

accidental repost

[mspeer · Accepted solution]

Hi!

1. In Options for Render Sequence "top" is set as current camera, this should be "movingCamera".

2. There is a problem in your scene which prevents me from using Arnold inside Maya Render View.

Delete the 4 defaultArnold* nodes and save scene as...

They will be recreated when opening the new scene.

[Anonymous]

Hello mspeer,

Am uploading revised scene. Your suggestion about deleting the default nodes led to some progress. I can now see the render happening in the render view window.

Unfortunately, the render cam still doesn't budge.

Yes, I was always careful to set the correct camera in the render sequence options. That choice doesn't save with the scene. Quitting and restarting Maya always causes it to default to the perspective camera. (I can't say I understand why I should be choosing the renderable cam in both the render settings and the render sequence options, but I was certainly doing that.) One reason I'm painfully aware I was consistent there is that until the scene got simplified to the way it is now, I couldn't stop the renders with the escape key. Always had to force quit and thus always had to reset the render sequence options. (I saw some internet comment that stopping renders with the escape key is iffy on a Mac, but since I obviously have some sort of corruption here, I'm probably not a good example of that.)

If you can take another look at this version, I'll be grateful.

Best

[mspeer · Accepted solution]

Hi!

1. load the file

2. Set Current Camera in Render Sequence Option Window ("movingCamera")

3. Hit "Render Sequnce"

It renders fine (on windows).

You compared first frame with last frame, because at the beginning there are only slight changes for camera view and the rendered result.

(Or set Render By in Render settings to 20 for faster preview).

You also could try a reset of your preferences.
Rename the folder prefs in folder 2018 to something like prefs_backup, or to reset everything, the folder 2018 to 2018_backup (or even the maya folder to maya_backup). Maya creates new folders (don't copy preferences from previous Maya versions). Detailed at:
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Reset-May...

Maybe it's a bug for MAC version, i can't test this, maybe someone else with MAC can confirm this.

Please upload one of your rendered images or check on your own if it's maybe from an other camera

If this problem also happens in an new scene (Render Sequence ignores setting for Current Camera), report this problem (bug?) to Autodesk.

Help -> Speak Back -> Report a Problem

[Anonymous]

I am now watching my original scene render (each 20th frame -- great idea for testing) and I'm very grateful for your help.

A couple of notes: It is still the case that if I quit and later restart Maya, my render sequence options default to wanting to use the perspective camera. Were you telling me this is likely a bug and I should report it? A Mac related bug? Happy to do that but as someone pretty new to this, want to be sure I'm reporting the correct problem.

Forcing the maya folder in the library to rebuild itself causes Playblast to default to outputting a format called avfoundation. No idea what that is. It yields a green screen. I was expecting the default to be a movie file of some sort. So I reset that to "image" and it works. Just wondering why the Playblast default would be useless and if that, too, is a bug I ought to report. Might again be a Mac thing.

Also note that by deleting the defaultArnold nodes, my render settings want to make my image sequence to output as .exr files. The settings don't respond to attempts to change that to jpeg or png until I quit Maya and restart it. Then it's fine -- but, of course -- I have to then remember to go reset my render sequence camera.

Lastly, if you're bored, I posted another question on this forum some time ago regarding whether or not one can still create a PSD network with an Arnold Standard Surface shader. No Autodesk expert ever replied. If that's something you know about, I'd love to hear your response to this also: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/maya-shading-lighting-and/are-psd-networks-supported-in-maya-2018-usi...

Thanks again. I'm quite relieved that my modeling work doesn't have to be recreated.

[mspeer]

Hi!

1. "It is still the case that if I quit and later restart Maya, my render sequence options default to wanting to use the perspective camera. Were you telling me this is likely a bug and I should report it? A Mac related bug?"

The Render Sequence Settings seem to be a global Maya setting and will not be saved in the scene.

2. "Just wondering why the Playblast default would be useless and if that, too, is a bug I ought to report. Might again be a Mac thing."

Looks like an OS/system related setting.

3. "The settings don't respond to attempts to change that to jpeg or png until I quit Maya and restart it."

You have to close and then re-load the scene , Arnold can't work correct without these nodes

Delete the 4 defaultArnold* nodes and save scene as...

They will be recreated when opening the new scene.

[Anonymous]

Ok.

Thanks again.

[Anonymous]

i see you had the same issues im having with rendering the same frame over and over again. i was following this thread but i got lost in translation . would you please tell me how you got it to renderall frames and what steps you took. i pulling my hair out!!!

[Anonymous]

Hello brandiumx,

I did ultimately resolve the problem and it hasn't recurred recently enough for me to be able to walk you through what I did. If you can get your file to the administrator who helped me, mspeer, so he can examine it, that's your best bet. The only problem there was that he uses Windows and I'm on a Mac. He seemed not to have the same issues with the file that I did.

If you can't get in touch with mspeer, you might want to create a new, really simple scene -- maybe one object and an animated camera -- and see if that works. If it does, then you know the issue is some glitch in your working scene and not the OS or Maya in general.

If it does seem there is a hangup with your scene, then try the things mspeer suggested to me, deleting those default Arnold nodes (which I probably found in the node editor), quit and restart Maya, and then try a render that only does every 20th frame. Double check that the correct camera is chosen in both render settings and render sequence.

If none of that helps and you can tell me what part of mspeer's suggestions are getting lost in translation, I'll try to clarify. But ideally, you should see if there's a way to get his help as I'm pretty much a newbie myself.

Good luck.

[mspeer]

Hi!

@Anonymous made some good suggestions.

- Find out if it's scene specific or not.

- Deleting Arnold nodes

- Render only every nth frame to better see if there are any changes between frames and to reduce render times for tests

...

- Upload a scene-file

What i also want do add here and that's worth checking every time an animated Attribute does not work correct.

- Switch Evaluation Mode from "Parallel" to "DG" (in Preferences).

[Anonymous]

thank you for the reply i appreciate it!!! 

[Anonymous]

thank you for your reply, i think i understand what you mean i will test some of these methods and if i cant figure it out i would be forever grateful if you guys would work with me to resolve this issue! you guys seem very knowledgeable 

[Anonymous]

You're welcome, but all I did was restate what mspeer had told me. In fact I think I left out the part that if you delete the default Arnold nodes, you should do a save as command to your scene so the nodes get recreated. Meanwhile, mspeer has responded also and I think he's given you the option of uploading your scene for him to see. Stay in touch with him if you don't solve this. I'm only being a go-between. (And I can tell you that once I did get my scene to render, I decided I'd be trying a render service in the future. Unless you have a spare computer to dedicate to the process, it really takes a long time to DIY.)