Transient render errors with RenderDocument()

Helper

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On 24/11/2010 at 07:41, xxxxxxxx wrote:

User Information:
Cinema 4D Version:   11.532
Platform:   Windows ;
Language(s) :     C++ ;

---------
Hello together,

i'm currently working on a command line plugin which is trying to render a document at some point. It's working fine until 32bit float images have to be created. The problem is, that the illumination channel looks brighter than it should in some cases. This happens unpredictable.

I guess this is because of my missinterpretation of the RenderDocument() method and/or the wrong use of the MultipassBitmap Class, so maybe someone can help me to get it correct.

Her comes some example code:

The rendering is started during the start-up phase of C4D:

Bool PluginMessage(LONG id, void *data)  
{  
  // only use functionality if c4d is started without gui  
  if (GeGetSystemInfo() != SYSTEMINFO_NOGUI) return FALSE;  
  
  // run on C4D startup  
  // normally comand line args are passed, skipped for demonstration  
  if (id == C4DPL_COMMANDLINEARGS)  
  {  
      // start rendering here  
      Run();  
  
      return TRUE;  
  }  
  
  return FALSE;  
}

The implementation of the exemplary Run() method:

void Run()  
{  
  // load document  
  BaseDocument *doc = LoadDocument(   "myscene.c4d",   
                                      SCENEFILTER_OBJECTS|SCENEFILTER_MATERIALS,   
                                      NULL    );  
  if (!doc) return;  
  
  // retrieve RenderData information  
  RenderData *rData = doc->GetActiveRenderData();  
  if (!rData) return;  
  BaseContainer *bc = rData->GetDataInstance();  
  if (!bc) return;  
  
  // prepare dummy bitmap  
  LONG x = bc->GetLong(RDATA_XRES);  
  LONG y = bc->GetLong(RDATA_YRES);  
  LONG depth  = MODE_RGBf;           // depth is hardcoded for demonstration  
  MultipassBitmap *bmp = MultipassBitmap::Alloc(x, y, depth);  
  if (!bmp)  
  {      
      KillDocument(doc);  
      return;  
  }  
  
  // start render  
  LONG result = RenderDocument(doc, *bc, NULL, NULL, bmp, RENDERFLAG_EXTERNAL, NULL);  
  
  // cleanup  
  MultipassBitmap::Free(bmp);  
  KillDocument(doc);  
  
  return;  
}

Helper

THE POST BELOW IS MORE THAN 5 YEARS OLD. RELATED SUPPORT INFORMATION MIGHT BE OUTDATED OR DEPRECATED

On 25/11/2010 at 03:59, xxxxxxxx wrote:

I am not sure if this solves your problem but it neccessary to set the render settings to 32 bit too to render 32 floats.

cheers,
Matthias

Helper

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On 25/11/2010 at 04:55, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Thanks for your reply, but it doesn't help to fix my problem.

I forgott to mention, that in the active rendersettings of the loaded document all nessesary values like bit depth, resolution, render path, ... are properly set.

There is no problem with rendering 32bit floats, this works fine. The problem is, that those images are not looking like they they do when rendered by clicking on the render button in C4D.

Heinrich.

Helper

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On 25/11/2010 at 04:59, xxxxxxxx wrote:

So far I can't reproduce the problem. If possible send me a scene where it is reproducable please.

cheers,
Matthias

Helper

THE POST BELOW IS MORE THAN 5 YEARS OLD. RELATED SUPPORT INFORMATION MIGHT BE OUTDATED OR DEPRECATED

On 29/11/2010 at 03:48, xxxxxxxx wrote:

I checked with the scene you send me but I can't reproduce the problem. I tested with R11.532 and R12 on Windows 7 64 bit.

cheers,
Matthias

Helper

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On 29/11/2010 at 04:12, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Thanks for your help so far. I'll check if I can get more clues about the problem and tell you if I find something.

Heinrich Löwe.

Helper

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On 01/12/2010 at 08:45, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Hi all.

I did some tests today on multiple machines, with different operating systems:

- Three of them are workstations with win7 64bit running. They all produced correct results.
- The rest was taken from our render farm, running winXP 64bit. Some of them produced wrong results, some not. After restarting them, the problems were gone and all images created by them looked fine.

Since you didn't mention any errors in my code, it looks to me like a memory initialisation problem. This would explain, that you couldn't reproduce the bug, because you are rebooting your system from time to time.
Now i could go out and restart all render machines, but i'm afraid it want help in the long term.

To narrow the problem i got some questions:

- Can you verify that my code is correct and there don't have to be more initialisations of MultipassBitmap, the call of RenderDocument() , ... ?

- Is it possible, that there is a bug in the internals of the RenderDocument() method, the allocation of the BaseBitmap class or somewhere else?

- Is there some kind of test i can perform on the (still running) error producing machines?

This issue has very high priority to us, cause it hits the core of a long term development project.

Thanks,
Heinrich.

Helper

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On 06/12/2010 at 07:08, xxxxxxxx wrote:

I did further tests today, and i recognized two facts:

- On the machines where the error occured, i removed all plugins, started C4D normally and rendered the test scene. The results where incorrect in the first place, but after restarting the application and rendering again everything worked fine. In short words: The error also showed up without any of my plugins active.

- While rendering the scene via the NET render client everything worked fine.

I'll think about more ways to investigate further an keep you up to date,
regards,
Heinrich

Helper

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On 13/12/2010 at 01:24, xxxxxxxx wrote:

There was no response for around two weeks, is there someone working on the problem?

Heinrich.

Helper

THE POST BELOW IS MORE THAN 5 YEARS OLD. RELATED SUPPORT INFORMATION MIGHT BE OUTDATED OR DEPRECATED

On 13/12/2010 at 06:32, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Sorry but as long as I am not able to reproduce the problem I can't be of much help. What I need is clearly reproducable example (code and scene file).

As for your example code it looks ok to me and I am not aware of any problems with RenderDocument.

I am sorry that I can't be much of assist but I really need a reproducable case.

cheers,
Matthias