XGen freezes Maya when I try to save a custom ptex color map

[ScruffyTheDeer]

Howdy! I've been attempting to create a custom color map for the root color using the aiHair shader for arnold in combination with Xgen. However, when I create a custom shader parameter in the Xgen "Preview/Output" tab, Maya freezes when I click the "paint ptex maps to the disk" button. It stays frozen for several minutes and when it unfreezes, its as if I never pressed the button at all. This is making it impossible for me to create custom ptex maps for the aiHair color. Is there some workaround, or perhaps a way to fix this?

[ScruffyTheDeer]

I really have to bump this. The "bake the ptex maps to disk" button is literally not even responding to clicks. The button won't even allow me to click it. Even when I hover over it, it doesn't show the "hover" state on the button. And the program freezes for 10-15 seconds when I try to click it, then nothing. This is really frustrating. It's the very last step of applying a texture map to xgen fur, and Maya simply won't let me do it. I think something is wrong with Maya itself.

I've attached an image of the button I'm referring to. I have deadlines approaching and this really isn't something I can work around because Xgen is the only fur system I know that looks as good as I need it to. Please, please help me.

[Michael_Todd]

What Maya units are you using? I ask becuase the surface area of the mesh has an effect on the size of the ptex maps being generated. If the mesh is very large the default texel density of 5 can produce very large ptex maps that can take a long time to generate. Also, if the mesh has any non manifold geometry, like unwelded points, then the ptex maps can fail to generate properly.

Does the Xgen Log give any info, or the Maya output window or script editor?

[ScruffyTheDeer]

Thanks for the quick response!

I went down the list: my current units are in centimeters. I used Mesh > Cleanup to check for any nonmanifold geometry and nothing is off. 

When I created a map for my custom shader parameter, I received this error as 3D paint tool opened: 

20:36:17 (2) Patch GiraffadileGEO_GiraffadileFur01Shape took 0.325 seconds.

20:36:17 (1) Description GiraffadileFur01 took 0.326 seconds to render 123710 primitives.

20:36:17 (1) Full render took 0.327 seconds to render 123710 primitives.

20:37:38     Runtime error while setting up paint tool  (C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2017\plug-ins\xgen\scripts\xgenm\ui\widgets\xgExpressionUI.py:965)

After clicking the button to bake ptex maps to the disk, the log did nothing. The button doesn't seem to do anything. The program doesn't even freeze anymore. It simply does nothing. All log levels are set to 5. 

[ScruffyTheDeer]

Well, I started fiddling, and as it turns out, its my fault. I don't know how it is my fault, but it is. I went through the process with a sample from the xgen library, and creating a ptex map from an image went off without a hitch. The button actually works, and no runtime error happened. I'm going to study the sample up and down, because even when I start from the ground up with groomable splines on a simple plane, I still get the runtime error and the bake ptex maps button doesn't work. I suppose I'm doing something wrong along the way, I just don't know what that is yet. I'm pretty much following the tutorials from solidangle religiously. 

[Michael_Todd]

There have been instances where other software using different python libraries can cause issues in Maya like the ones you've mentioned. I don't know the specific issues but I do know it has happened. It's not a lot of help, but there might be some other installed software that's causing a clash. Another possibility is an issue with the map expression.

Just out of interest, what OS and and Maya version are you running?

[ScruffyTheDeer]

I appreciate the help, Michael!

I run Maya 2017 on a Windows 10 Pro desktop.

However, as is tradition, as soon as someone comes around to help out, my problem seems to have miraculously resolved itself. I came back to the file today, without having done anything special to the file, and, while the "save ptex" button still seems to lag, it actually does something now. I feel bad for whoever is coming to this thread in the future with a similar issue. 😞

But yes, it seems I can make ptex maps for fur color mapping now. I promise I didn't even touch the file since I last posted. I didn't even get around to comparing it to the sample bear fur in the xgen library. I suppose testing it with the sample kicked it into gear. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Well, please enjoy my simple texture fur test:

Again! I appreciate your help. Wish the solution was a little more clear, however. Oh well. Here's to hoping the issue doesn't return.

[Michael_Todd · Accepted solution]

Well, one of the ways to get around the original problem, where windows would think the file was "in Use" so you couldn't save the file was to wait a few minutes, till windows released the file handles..

Its a gam of whack a mole, once we think we've fixed it then some change made somewhere esle, either in Maya or the OS and it crops back up. It's all down the fact that ptex files are actually containers for per face textures, which can number in the thousands or more, depending on your mesh...

Scruffy's Dragon looks cool!