Five seconds crash / windows seven

[Xtaz]

SOLUTION IN THIS POST

 

Hi friends ...

 

sometimes (50-50) when I use Render Mode ( Q ) the A:M freezes exactly on the 5 seconds of rendering .... sometimes it back but mostly I need to kill the proccess. This happens in both version V15 (home) and V16 (office) in two distincts computers ( both running windows 7/Nvidia ).

someone else ?

[robcat2075]

I hadn't noticed a specific 5 second event yet but on complex scenes I often find a progressive render will give up or a Q render will quit and return to a shaded view.

[Xtaz]

Here is the curse in course

5sec.mov

[robcat2075]

That looks like what I get too. I just tried it on a TWO scene with lots of hair and it stopped at 5 secs.

 

If the area is small or simple enough to finish in less than 5 sec it's OK, but more than 5 is a problem

 

Shift-Q renders have the same problem but dont' seem to actually crash A:M.

 

I hadn't noticed the 5 seconds before but that does seem to be the limit.

[John Bigboote]

That is strange. I will watch out for it, but I think I can say NO- I am not experiencing that. It's mostly weird that it is so 50-50... (?) Could it have anything to do with your render settings? (toon) just spitballing...

[robcat2075]

I have an NVidia card. How about you guys?

[Xtaz]

I hadn't noticed the 5 seconds before but that does seem to be the limit.

at least it isn't a Brazilian curse

 

Could it have anything to do with your render settings? (toon) just spitballing...

It happens with all kind of render settings

 

Here is another shot .. now using V15 ( at home ) ...

Very simple scene .. no hair, no particles .. just two balls and the same curse

 

...it freezes in the 5 seconds too but the system restoring is faster

5sec.mov

[robcat2075]

I've found something...

 

If I close all other windows that are open on the computer, the renders will finish.

 

No other window, even a directory window, can be open. Don't even have the PWS or any other A:M window open in a separate window.

 

Try that...

 

 

EDIT: they have to be closed, not just minimized.

[robcat2075]

I'm finding it can still fail even with the above precautions, but not nearly so often.

 

Always use a Shift-Q render as those are easier to abort and restart.

[Xtaz]

Robert .... seems to work here too

 

let's report it ?

[robcat2075]

I've put a report in, #5939.

[Shelton]

Same thing here but mine usually stops at 9%

 

Steve

[NancyGormezano]

It happens with all kind of render settings

 

Very simple scene .. no hair, no particles .. just two balls and the same curse

 

...it freezes in the 5 seconds too but the system restoring is faster

 

I have not really noticed ever hitting a wall like that, but I don't do 16 pass renders. Nor do I close other windows in A:M usually (timeline, properties, pose sliders, pws, model, workbook mode - all open).

 

My A:M windows are all docked, 1 monitor, nvidia 8600gts,256, screen res = 1162x864. You guys probably have a gigantus screen res?

 

I can not get it to happen on my system (16ver32 bit). I have 2 simple decaled balls in scene, default lighting and do a "Q" render - 16 pass. finishes in 25 secs

 

Do you really want to do 16 pass render? I always do something less, especially with complicated scenes, set it to 3 pass, then the Q render won't take so long (same scene took 2 secs), as it uses the camera settings (if you have it set for that)

[NancyGormezano]

Always use a Shift-Q render as those are easier to abort and restart.

 

Yes they are, however - Shift-Q renders are "semi-final" renders - some properties, eg hair (depending on settings), "render to line", and others will not look the same as in a final render. The Q render gives a better prediction of the final render.

Edited June 2, 2011 by NancyGormezano

[robcat2075]

I wouldn't do 16 passes on a Q render but even with 1 pass or non-MP it doesn't take much screen area for the render to exceed 5 seconds and freeze.

 

You can look at the screencam movie in my AMreport to see how small an area will trigger it.

 

 

My A:M windows are all docked, 1 monitor, nvidia 8600gts,256, screen res = 1162x864. You guys probably have a gigantus screen res?

 

I have my PWS on a second monitor as an undocked separate window.

[NancyGormezano]

I wouldn't do 16 passes on a Q render but even with 1 pass or non-MP it doesn't take much screen area for the render to exceed 5 seconds and freeze.

 

You can look at the screencam movie in my AMreport to see how small an area will trigger it.

 

 

My A:M windows are all docked, 1 monitor, nvidia 8600gts,256, screen res = 1162x864. You guys probably have a gigantus screen res?

 

I have my PWS on a second monitor as an undocked separate window.

 

I did look at yours in AMreports - that's the scene with lotsa hair, particles - that's an exceptionally taxing chor, and something weird is going on in that chor. And you are using 64 bit?

 

It's marcos render that is more confusing with a simple scene (2 balls) that it gets hung up on so easily (he was doing 16 pass, 64bit also?). And as for Steve - I wonder if his is doing ambiant Occlusion (64 bit?)

[robcat2075]

Hair was off when I did mine.

 

It's not that chor that only has that problem. Anything that runs more than 5 seconds will freeze.

 

I think it's related to Win 7 or Aero some how.

 

What video card to you have Nancy?

[Xtaz]

64bit also?). And as for Steve - I wonder if his is doing ambiant Occlusion (64 bit?)

64 bits ... doesn´t matter if AO is on or off

 

 

It's not that chor that only has that problem. Anything that runs more than 5 seconds will freeze.

I think it's related to Win 7 or Aero some how.

this is my bet too ... I don't remember to have this problem in XP

[Xtaz]

I set the visual effects of windows for a better performance instead of a better appearence (in the practice I turned off the aero). The problem seems gone.

Can you check this Robert ?

Control Panel -> System and Security -> System -> Advanced System Settings -> Advanced Tab -> Performance settings -> Visual effect .. Adjust for best performance

[robcat2075]

I set the visual effects of windows for a better performance instead of a better appearence (in the practice I turned off the aero). The problem seems gone.

Can you check this Robert ?

Control Panel -> System and Security -> System -> Advanced System Settings -> Advanced Tab -> Performance settings -> Visual effect .. Adjust for best performance

 

That take the appearance of the of the screen back to about 1995 but it does seem to fix it.

 

there's probably one of those "Custom" setting s that is the culprit and the others could still be on.

 

There is a situation with simulating cloth where you need "aero" to be on to see the simulation (hence the "dont' turn off "aero" " checkbox in Options).

[NancyGormezano]

What video card to you have Nancy?

 

My A:M windows are all docked, 1 monitor, nvidia 8600gts,256, screen res = 1162x864.

 

I am also running xp pro sp3, and I have my Control panel/system/advanced settings/advanced tab/Performance settings/Visual Effects/ Adjust for best performance. I have never had it be anything else. (ie, no other boxes for "eye candy effects" are checked)

[robcat2075]

Hey, Xtaz... if you can, re-edit the title of this thread to point people to the post with your solution. I bet lots of people have run into it.

 

 

I am also running xp pro sp3,

 

I think the XP is the key. I didn't have this problem either when I was on Win2000.

 

Some detail of the Vista/Win7 display is a problem for A:M.

[Xtaz]

Hey, Xtaz... if you can, re-edit the title of this thread to point people to the post with your solution. I bet lots of people have run into it.

Done ...

 

Robert .. did you update report ?

[robcat2075]

Robert .. did you update report ?

 

yup!

[robcat2075]

"Use visual styles on windows and buttons" seems to be a feature that causes the problem. There may be others.

[dblhelix]

There is a situation with simulating cloth where you need "aero" to be on to see the simulation (hence the "dont' turn off "aero" " checkbox in Options).

oi!

please elaborate? in another thread? what situation?

[robcat2075]

When running a lengthy cloth simulation, I found the screen would stop updating even though the simulation was still running.

 

Generally you want to watch the simulations so yo can stop them if they start to go off the rails.

 

 

0005776: Cloth simulation freezes on mouse click

Description This PRJ can finish it's cloth simulation only if *nothing* is done on the computer while it is working. If the mouse is clicked anywhere or if another program is brought to the front, the cloth sim stops and A:M freezes.

 

The sim didn't really stop, you just couldn't see it running.

 

The solution was to make A:M not turn off Aero at start up when you are planning to run cloth sims. (you have to live with the bounding box draw problem while you have this setting enabled)

[dblhelix]

what a pearl.

you've probably just added days to my life. thanks!

[pierrotsc]

I have major issues when I switched to a Dell E4310 with an integrated Intel HD video card. AM is very hard to use now. I am running win 7 and also have XP virtual machine. the symptoms appear on both OS.

All the visual modes are turned off.

When i click a shortcut key, the button in the toolbar gets depressed but nothing works when i try to use it. For example, if i press T, i cannot turn. If i go and press the T button, then it works.

Also, the screen does not refresh when you go from one view to another. Not everytime.

Sometimes, when you try to rotate, scale...nothing is happening. You do not see any feedback but if you switch view, it indeed worked.

Do not know if there's a fix for that. It is a pain in the butt.

I am running 15 but it happens in earlier version too. I know it has to be the computer.

P.

[robcat2075]

I have major issues when I switched to a Dell E4310 with an integrated Intel HD video card. AM is very hard to use now. I am running win 7 and also have XP virtual machine. the symptoms appear on both OS...

 

...I know it has to be the computer.

 

I have v11, 13,15 and 16 on my Win7 PC and they seem to operate normally. I often hear people here say to not get a computer with integated video but that's just because those are slow.

 

There are probably more current drivers for that video card none-the-less. That would be my first guess, find the appropriate latest drivers and install those. (And of course you have a way to revert your computer back to its original state just in case you mess something up when you do this.)

 

Win 7 i supposed to look for updates automatically, but look anyway.

[pierrotsc]

Well, after i posted I did go to the dell web site and updated the bios and video driver. I also removed a KVM driver that controlled multiple computers. Anyway, it looks like now it is indeed working. I knew it had to do with my computer because i search the forum and did not see any reports.

Thanks for the input...

P

[robcat2075]

It's odd a how a computer can appear to be completely functional with outdated drivers and stuff... until you get A:M on it and then it damn well better be up to date!