Overview

By generating the Arnold format render frames in advance (as opposed to Maya generating it for each frame as they are rendered), we can submit jobs to the Qube farm that don't involve Maya any further.

Process

A set of ASS (Arnold Scene Source) files are generated under Linux using the Maya plugin. Then using WranglerView, a job is submitted that points to these files. Qube then distributes and monitors the kick render processes.

Prerequisites

Arnold is used as the renderer
ASS files MUST be generated in Linux so all paths can resolve

File Pathing

All external reference files such as HDR and texture files should use paths relative to the project folder, or an explicit path in Linux format:

RELATIVE:    sourceimages/ibl/myibl.hdr
LINUX:  /escape/profiles/students/UG/bsummers/myDocuments/maya/projects/myscene/sourceimages/ibl/myibl.hdr
WINDOWS:  X:\myDocuments\maya\projects\myscene\myibl.hdr

The first one is relative to the project folder and will work in both Windows and Linux, the second will resolve in Linux only, the last will resolve in Windows only and will fail when submitting a job for network rendering.

Some file types, such as VDB files, may only work with full explicit paths, in the case of these they must be in Linux notation.

Spaces should be avoided in any part of the paths since these can cause issues, even if the render works interactively (i.e. by clicking Render within Maya).

In Maya under Linux use Window -> General -> File Path Editor to identify paths that need fixing ( https://tinyurl.com/filePathEditor ) or use our bespoke script to change the file paths en mass, info below.

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How to use the fileTextureName_replace.py script

For UG Students - Copy the script from /escape/shares/UG/assets/scripts/qube/
For SCMA Students - Copy the script from /escape/shares/SCMA/assets/scripts/qube/
Paste script into your personal maya/scripts directory
Open Maya
Open Script Editor and type in the script below which will load the UI for this tool
This will load this UI, where you can input a texture path and replace it with the Linux path

Generate ASS files in Linux

This process is a lot more simple than it might appear, after the first couple of times you will be able to get through it very quickly.

One point to note is that each file generated contains a full snapshot of shaders and geometry for that particular frame and so they can become very large. Currently they MUST be manually deleted after the render is successfully completed (or if they are no good and need to be regenerated). If they are not, your home directory will end up taking a lot of space and you’ll get warnings from IT about it. In the future we’ll streamline this process to make things more automated, but for now it is your responsibility to keep on top of things.

Log into the Linux desktop, and launch Maya ( Applications -> Autodesk -> Maya <version> )
Set your Maya project directory (it won’t carry over from Windows)
Use Render Settings window to set up everything as intended, and ensure it works as a local render under Linux - try to choose a frame which has the most elements to test, e.g. animations, alembics or lots of geo/textures on screen
File naming for output must be set to name.#.ext and NOT name_#.ext (dot must be either side of the frame number)
Ensure the correct camera is selected
If anything is not working, resolve any path issues, use relative paths to ensure they can resolve for both Windows and Linux
When using something that does not support relative paths, such as VDB files and UDIM tiles, the full Linux path MUST be used. ANY REFERENCES TO WINDOWS NAMING SUCH AS X:, U: or S: DRIVES WILL CAUSE RENDER FAILURES OR MISSING ELEMENTS
Make sure any dynamics are cached, otherwise the files can take longer to generate and mail fail entirely
Once ready to go, in Render Settings -> System change the following settings to the values shown.

In some cases you may also need to enable the "Expand Procedurals" tick box. On older versions, the Render Device option will not be present
Half Precision (16-bit exr) should be used unless there is a clear provable need for greater bit depth. If you’re not sure, use Half Precision since it should be plenty for all except the largest z-depth ranges and results in smaller files that are faster to work with in comp
Now using the Render menu set, use Render -> Batch Render (do NOT use Render Sequence, it works but it does not resolve the project folders correctly and the output will not end up where it should be)
The .ass files should end up in <ProjectDirectory>/data with one per frame, per render layer
Maya can now be closed as it is not needed for the rest of the process

Open Qube Wranglerview

In Linux, from the Applications menu, choose Render -> qubeWranglerView
If you cannot see the option shown above, right-click on the desktop, choose Terminal and then paste or type the following and press enter:
/usr/local/pfx/qube/bin/qube
Once open, select Submit -> Arnold Kick Render Job…

First Time Setup (once only per user)

You need to configure the job type first. Please see the following document for steps. If you do not have access, log in at https://escapestudios.ac.uk/portal and then try again. Do not request access using your personal gmail account as it will not be granted.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IO8OtUK_9HWajR0LiW3nsYV4gZToCDn73Y7nkAdqf5M/

Job Submission

With the defaults set, it should be easy enough to submit new jobs by only changing a couple of settings

Open Wranglerview under linux as shown earlier
As before, select Submit -> Arnold Kick Render Job…
Change the job name to something relevant
Set the frame range (e.g. 1-100 )
Click Browse next to Arnold Scene Source and choose one of the .ass files created earlier - these should be in the “data” subfolder of the project directory
Click “Submit” at the bottom right

Once the job is submitted, you can see its progress in either WranglerView or ArtistView but currently you must use WranglerView to submit

It is also a good option to right-click an old job (even if it didn't complete, but you know the reason why), and choose Resubmit. This opens a new submission, whilst copying all the parameters from the previous one but allowing you to change anything that needs to be amended.