Pink is the world !

[Seeda]

Dear mentalimages team !

After we could start reality designer , we start the RS and after some tweaks we get it run.

BUT the complete scenes were pink, we tried Max 2008 and Max 9, with Max 2008 it was complete pink and with Max 9 there were just some parts pink.

1. Why are there differences between Max 2008 and Max9
2. There is a list ( shader_rules.xml) where all mentalray shaders are written with there MSL twin. Now my question, if RS supports all this shaders, or lets say RD translate them to MSL why do we have problems. ?

The next thing is the speed , we all are using Quadro Graphiccards, but we think that a scene with a teapot and one light should run much more faster than some frames per second , topspeed were 7 f/sec), thats definatly to slow.

Would be fine to get some answers.

Thanks for your reply.

Regards Seeda.

[ardenpm]

Seeda,

Are you using GPU or CPU based rendering? If you are using CPU based rendering, do you have a suitable C++ compiler installed to compile the shaders?

The pink colour indicates that the shaders are either not compiling correctly or not loading. This could be for various reasons. The best way to diagnose the problem would be to review the log output of RealityServer for any error messages relating to the shaders.

Regards

Paul Arden

[Hammerbot]

I have the same problem. I used GPU. I got this message. Contains few errors

1 INFO export Welcome to RealityDesigner version 2.2.0.3
2 INFO export XML Template engine version 1.0.3.1
3 INFO export Script engine version 1.0.3.1
4 INFO export This RealityDesigner was tested with RealityServer version 2.2.0.37956
5 INFO export Copyright 2008 by mental images GmbH, Fasanenstr. 81, D-10623
6 INFO export Berlin, Germany. All rights reserved.
7 INFO export Starting RealityDesigner export
8 WARNING export Could not find a translator for shader Mi_ImageCollector|Effect of type max_base_ImageCollector
9 WARNING export Could not find a translator for shader Mi_GBuffer_Lens|Shader of type max_base_GBuffer_lens
10 INFO export RealityDesigner export complete

[ardenpm]

Seeda,

The RealityDesigner errors you mention are not a problem, they are simply warnings for shaders which we are unable to convert, however those two shaders are not needed for RealityServer. If you are rendering with GPU the problem is not compiler related. What model graphics card do you have and are you using the most recent drivers?

Regards

Paul Arden

[Hammerbot]

Hello Paul.

I am using 7900GT. I downloaded the latest drivers from nvidia and still have the same issue.


EDIT: Also double checked the versions and RD_HOME location. Everything seems to be in place.

I downloaded realitydesigner for 3dsMax and extracted the file. The folder name by default is "rd2203-ad-max" I copied this folder directly to my c: drive

So i made environment variable RD_HOME = c:\rd2203-ad-max

Everything should be correct according the quickstart manual.

The one thing i could not figure out was that in quickstart there was an 3D example file for max called cubes. But when i downloaded the realitydesigner for max i could not find any 3d sample file in it.

Thanks
Hammerbot

[ardenpm]

Your RealityServer log will likely report some errors if you are seeing pink in your images (since this means a shader is missing or failed to compile). Can you provide your RealityServer log output?

Regards

Paul Arden

[Hammerbot]

Hello Paul. I am sorry for this n00b question.

Where can i find RealityServer log output?

Cheers
Hammerbot

[ardenpm]

How do you actually run RealityServer? When you run it, a command window should pop up with lots of text in it. You can also redirect the log output to a file, this is documented in the 'Site Configuration' section of the RealityServer Javascript API documentation.

[Hammerbot]

log_file = ""

The name of a log file2.1 where RealityServer will write the complete message log as it would normally appear on the console. By default, no log file is written and log rotation has no effect.

So i opened the config file. I added

log_file = "log.txt"

When i run virtual server i see log text document appearing. But it is empty. As i understand all the text from console should go into there.

Am i missing something?

Thanks.
Hammerbot

[ardenpm]

You should see in the console running RealityServer something like:



1.0 LOG misc info : start logging to rs.log


The log file it written to periodically rather than constantly in order that the logging functionality does not adversely affect performance. The contents of the log will appear after a time, however it will not be updated immediately.

You do not have to log to a file and you can simply read the output directly on the console or alternatively use standard redirection in your shell to direct the output to a file.

Regards

Paul Arden

[Hammerbot]

Hello Paul.

Thank you for being so patient with me.

This is my log.




C:\RealityServer\bin>realityserver -root c:\realityserver\bin\test\site
0.0 SITE disk info : site configuration root directory: c:\realityserver\bin
\test\site
0.0 SITE disk progr: reading configuration file "c:\realityserver\bin\test\s
ite/config/sitemain"
0.0 MAIN main info : RealityServer(R) 2.2 Developer Edition (build 37956.287
9, 01 Aug 2008, nt-x86)
0.0 MAIN main info : The developer edition requires no license but has the f
ollowing limitations:
0.0 MAIN main info : - no network rendering
0.0 MAIN main info : - up to 16 cores
0.0 MAIN main info : - 32-bit executable only
0.0 MAIN main info : - maximum resolution is 640x480, limited offsets
0.0 MAIN main info : - no administration HTTP console
0.0 MAIN main info : - it may not be deployed for commercial production use
1.0 HTTP net info : preallocating 3 javascript runtimes
1.0 HTTP net info : HTTP server listens on 0.0.0.0:8080
1.0 API net info : HTTP server can send files below "c:\realityserver\bin\
test\site"
1.0 API net info : HTTP server can send files below "c:\realityserver\bin\
test\applications"
1.0 API net info : HTTP server can send files below "c:\realityserver\bin\
test\userdata"
1.0 API plug info : Session expire time set to 7200 seconds.
1.0 MAIN main info : RealityServer is ready for processing requests on 0.0.0
.0:8080
1.6 SITE disk progr: reading configuration file "c:\realityserver\bin\test\a
pplications\visualize\config\main"
1.6 SITE disk progr: loaded application "visualize"
1.6 ASSY db progr: loading assembly "visualize::the_scene" from file "c:\r
ealityserver\bin\test\applications\visualize\scene \the_scene.mi"...
1.6 SHDB io progr: Loading shader file c:\realityserver\bin\test\applicati
ons\visualize\scene\.\Shaders\environment.msl
1.6 SHDB io progr: Loading shader file c:\realityserver\bin\test\applicati
ons\visualize\scene\.\Shaders\rd_directionallight. msl
1.6 SHDB io progr: Loading shader file c:\realityserver\bin\test\applicati
ons\visualize\scene\.\Shaders\rd_simple_combi_mate rial.msl
1.6 SHDB rend error: Error in file 'c:\realityserver\bin\test\applications\v
isualize\scene\.\Shaders\rd_simple_combi_material. msl' line 20: imported file: "
mi_msl_shared.msl" contains errors
1.6 SHDB rend error: Error in file 'c:\realityserver\bin\test\applications\v
isualize\scene\.\Shaders\rd_simple_combi_material. msl' line 173: unknown functio
n: "mi_phong_specular"
1.6 SHDB rend error: Cannot compile. Shaders in c:\realityserver\bin\test\ap
plications\visualize\scene\.\Shaders\rd_simple_com bi_material.msl will be ignore
d.
1.6 IMI io error: Cannot find or open file "./Shaders/rd_simple_combi_mat
erial.msl" on given paths
1.6 IMI io warn : c:\realityserver\bin\test\applications\visualize\s cene\
the_scene.mats.mi, 31: photonvol options not supported
1.6 IMI io warn : c:\realityserver\bin\test\applications\visualize\s cene\
the_scene.mats.mi, 41: unknown shader "Rd_simple_combi_material", not declared
1.6 IMI io error: c:\realityserver\bin\test\applications\visualize\s cene\
the_scene.mats.mi, 81: assigned shader "Default Material|MtlProxy(material)|Texm
ap" is undefined
1.6 IMI io warn : c:\realityserver\bin\test\applications\visualize\s cene\
the_scene.geom.mi, 15: trilist's data is not supported and will be ignored
1.6 IMI io warn : c:\realityserver\bin\test\applications\visualize\s cene\
the_scene.geom.mi, 522: Approximation technique distance not supported.
1.6 IMI io warn : c:\realityserver\bin\test\applications\visualize\s cene\
the_scene.geom.mi, 522: Approximation technique angle not supported.
1.6 IMI io info : mi file parsing elapsed time 0.291043
1.6 IMI io info : mi file parsing elapsed time 0.000178528
1.6 ASSY db progr: loaded assembly "visualize::the_scene" from file "c:\re
alityserver\bin\test\applications\visualize\scene\ the_scene.mi", 11 elements
1.6 ASSY db info : assembly "visualize::the_scene": root "visualize::the_s
cene::SceneRoot|Group", camera instance "visualize::the_scene::Viewport01|Instan
ce", options "visualize::the_scene::SceneOptions|SceneOptions"
1.6 TRAV db warn : scene graph traversal: material "visualize::the_scene::
Default Material|Mtl" has no surface shaders
1.6 CPLG plug info : LOCALIZE Viewport01|Instance NOW
1.10 HTTP net info : allocating new javascript runtime
1.9 HTTP net info : allocating new javascript runtime
1.11 HTTP net info : allocating new javascript runtime
1.7 CPLG plug info : Initialize with oversamling rate: 2
1.9 CPLG plug info : Initialize with title: RealityServer(R) 3D Model Visual
ization
1.7 CPLG plug info : Initialize with world range: 103.42860412597656
1.6 CPLG plug info : Initialize with focal length: 42
1.10 RTRT rend stat : 1 objects, 320 triangles, 464 leaves, depth 7..17, avg
size 2.82543, build time 0.000911113 seconds

[ardenpm]

It seems for some reason that the mi_msl_shared.msl file in your installation has a problem. Can you confirm that the following file exists and is valid:



C:\realityserver\shaders\mi_msl_shared.msl


Assuming this file is ok, we may need to obtain your application (if it is small enough you can post it to the forum) to determine what the issue is.

I also noticed an RTRT message at the end of your log. When you exported the scene with RealityDesigner did you select the GPU option? You should use this instead of RTRT if you want to do GPU rendering.

Regards

Paul Arden

[Hammerbot]

Hello Paul.

Thank you for the support. I finally got this working. I dont know what was wrong but i decided to delete all and start everything from scratch. I did again everything that was in tutorial. This time the purple color is gone. Now my teapot is grey :)

Thank you
Hammerbot