Z-map Shadow And 2 Core

[ali]

I try to render light with z-map shadow in intel core2duo pc (with option -n 2 or -H localhost, localhost), but z-map is not generate.

What a solution?

Edited August 3, 2007 by ali

[Jason]

I try to render light with z-map shadow in intel core2duo pc (with option -n 2 or -H localhost, localhost), but z-map is not generate.

What a solution?

I don't believe that:

*/ H8 supports multiprocessed rendering of shadowmaps..

*/ Apprentice supports *any* multiprocessing by Mantra. (Or are you using Master)

If you're using Houdini 9 Master (well, any Non-Apprentice version), you might be encountering a bug. You could also try the -j0 to do genuine multithreading renders too.

I hope this helps a bit,

Jason

[Krakatuk]

I don't believe that:

*/ H8 supports multiprocessed rendering of shadowmaps..

*/ Apprentice supports *any* multiprocessing by Mantra. (Or are you using Master)

If you're using Houdini 9 Master (well, any Non-Apprentice version), you might be encountering a bug. You could also try the -j0 to do genuine multithreading renders too.

I hope this helps a bit,

Jason

I'm not so sure, because when there are textures in material in H8 and I render with -n 2 it comes into red renders, when I render the same with -n 1 - textures are seen.

Edited September 14, 2007 by Krakatuk

[symek]

I'm not so sure, because when there are textures in material in H8 and I render with -n 2 it comes into red renders, when I render the same with -n 1 - textures are seen

In H8 multiprocess is not supported whenever two processes are supposed to write to the same file (there isn't problem with accessing a files though). So generating shadow maps and photons or irradiance cache etc is not supported. But Mantra can use (read) them in many processes. Only rendering the final image is an exception from that rule - I suspect thanks to third mantra's process which manages this.

-n 1 mean single process.

Edited September 14, 2007 by SYmek

[Krakatuk]

In H8 multiprocess is not supported whenever two processes are supposed to write to the same file (there isn't problem with accessing a files though). So generating shadow maps and photons or irradiance cache etc is not supported. But Mantra can use (read) them in many processes. Only rendering the final image is an exception from that rule - I suspect thanks to third mantra's process which manages this.

-n 1 mean single process.

That's all nice, but how do I solve the problem of "mantra -n 2" and textures?

[symek]

That's all nice, but how do I solve the problem of "mantra -n 2" and textures?

Sorry, missed that point.

If so, you have a problem with a network paths. Mantra in "-n 2" mode works in the same way as with "-H" option - which is essentially network rendering. The difference is that process are supposed to be local. But underneath this is the same network dispatching engine. So be sure all your texture paths are "network save". No spaces, no back slashes, network meaning paths.

Personally I always work in $HIP centric way. All my assets are relative to $HIP: $HIP/textures. In basic setups and in case of few shots this works great. You can also use some global variables. There are many ways to go. One thing you should keep in mind:

./my_texture.rat

means nothing for network service like mantra. It is a separated process and doesn't inherit current directory from Houdini - so "./" means something else for it.

hope this help.

sy.

EDIT:

Check wiki page on this also:

http://odforce.net/wiki/index.php/MantraRemoteRendering

specially this:

On Windows, to use texture maps stored on network drives, the Houdini License Client service (aka hserver.exe) must be set up to run as a user with sufficient permissions to access those network drives. This is true even when using UNC paths (//machinename/mountpoint/maps/file.rat). For paths that use mapped drive letters (x:/maps/file.rat), the user that hserver runs as must also be logged in to the machine, and the network drives mapped in that login session. Thus UNC paths are recommended so that the remote rendering machines will work without having anyone logged in.

Edited September 17, 2007 by SYmek

[Krakatuk]

Thanks, $HIP way helped.

[symek]

Thanks, $HIP way helped.

This is not a magic, this variable is expanded to your hip file directory during saving to *.ifd file. This way paths in ifds (files which are sent to mantra) are absolute not relative.