The troubleshooting guide does not handle some differences specific to Houdini rendering, this guide will focus on the specifics related to how Deadline runs Houdini renders.
To start we’ll need the error report, as that has the command we’ll need as well as the name of the render node we’ll be testing on. It’s important to test on the same render node that had the error. This way if the issue is related to the configuration of the individual render node we’ll be testing for it. You can find the name of the render node at the end of the task report on the line with “Worker Name:”.
Search that log for a line that contains the phrase “Full Command”, here is one taken right out of a task report:
2023-03-03 15:20:21: 0: INFO: Full Command: "C:\Program Files\Side Effects Software\Houdini 19.5.493\bin\Hython.exe" "C:\ProgramData\Thinkbox\Deadline10\workers\render_node1\plugins\60ccf1c4fe540a0470ff804c\hrender_dl.py" -f 1001 1006 1 -o "Z:/assets/farm_test.$F4.exr" -g -d /out/Redshift_ROP1 -tempdir "C:\ProgramData\Thinkbox\Deadline10\workers\render_node1\jobsData\60ccf1c4fe540a0470ff804c\0_tempzdETq0" -arnoldAbortOnLicenseFail 1 "C:/ProgramData/Thinkbox/Deadline10/workers/render_node1/jobsData/60ccf1c4fe540a0470ff804c/my_test_scene.hip"
Now strip the timestamp, and everything that isn’t the actual command:
"C:\Program Files\Side Effects Software\Houdini 19.5.493\bin\Hython.exe" "C:\ProgramData\Thinkbox\Deadline10\workers\render_node1\plugins\60ccf1c4fe540a0470ff804c\hrender_dl.py" -f 1001 1006 1 -o "Z:/assets/farm_test.$F4.exr" -g -d /out/Redshift_ROP1 -tempdir "C:\ProgramData\Thinkbox\Deadline10\workers\render_node1\jobsData\60ccf1c4fe540a0470ff804c\0_tempzdETq0" -arnoldAbortOnLicenseFail 1 "C:/ProgramData/Thinkbox/Deadline10/workers/render_node1/jobsData/60ccf1c4fe540a0470ff804c/my_test_scene.hip"
The next issue is that this command references a couple files in temporary locations that are more than likely gone at this point or have been copied to the render node by the Worker.
First we need the script that we pass to Houdini called hrender_dl.py. This is in DeadlineRepository10/plugins/Houdini. Copy it to the render node where it’ll be easy to reference. In this example we copy it to the Windows desktop of the user the Worker runs under, named ‘render’.
Second we need the path to the .hip file. You likely don’t need to move the file as it should be readable from where it is for rendering anyways. The exception is if the job was submitted with ‘Submit Houdini Scene’, in which case the path will be to a temporary location and will need to be copied to the render node.
Third we need to provide a temporary directory for rendering, the desktop will do for us here.
With those, our new command looks like this:
"C:\Program Files\Side Effects Software\Houdini 19.5.493\bin\Hython.exe" "C:\Users\render\Desktop\hrender_dl.py" -f 1001 1006 1 -o "Z:/assets/farm_test.$F4.exr" -g -d /out/Redshift_ROP1 -tempdir "C:\Users\render\Desktop\" -arnoldAbortOnLicenseFail 1 "Z:/projects/my_test_scene.hip"
There are steps you can take now that you’ve run the render externally. In some cases Houdini render errors are multiple lines long and this test will show all lines of the error where Deadline would have cancelled the task before everything was printed.
If the render still fails, then the issue would be either in the scene or in the render node itself. Try testing with a simpler scene, or on a different render node to identify which of the two is the issue.
Comments
0 comments
Article is closed for comments.