Ok, I'm back.. it's now been 11 minutes and no .png file.  I have yet to see in the log file that one has been written.   Do I need to wait longer?

If the interval is set at 5 (300), then there should be a png by now.

Open the reality_scene.lxs file with a text editor, e.g. notepad, and see if there is this line about halfway down:

  "bool write_png" ["true"]

The interval is in seconds, so it should be 300 for 5 minutes. So if the interval is literally set at 5, then there isn't enough time to write the pngs.

Quote - If the interval is set at 5 (300), then there should be a png by now.

Open the reality_scene.lxs file with a text editor, e.g. notepad, and see if there is this line about halfway down:

  "bool write_png" ["true"]

The interval is in seconds, so it should be 300 for 5 minutes.

is it the reality_scene.lxs or the reality_scene.lxm?  the lxs file only wants to open with Luxrender.exe

the lxm shows this.   I'm not seeing "bool write_png" ["true"]

Material list generated by Reality plug-in by Pret-A-3D.

Texture "RealityLight-LEDs_25::L" "color" "blackbody" "float temperature" [6500.0]

Volumes

Volume WorldVolume

Texture "RealityWorldFresnel" "fresnel" "constant" "float value" [1.000293]
MakeNamedVolume "WorldVolume" "clear" "texture fresnel" ["RealityWorldFresnel"] "color absorption" [0.0 0.0 0.0]
MakeNamedMaterial "RealityNull_9999" "string type" ["null"]

Material "metal_5"

MakeNamedMaterial "metal_5" "string type" ["glossy"]
  "color Kd" [0.7231422688876962 0.7231422688876962 0.7231422688876962]
  "color Ks" [0.028 0.028 0.028] "float index" [0.0] "float uroughness" [0.010000] "float vroughness" [0.010000]

Material "sheet_6"

MakeNamedMaterial "sheet_6" "string type" ["glossy"]
  "color Kd" [1 0.6867847776988689 0]
  "color Ks" [0.028 0.028 0.028] "float index" [0.0] "float uroughness" [0.010000] "float vroughness" [0.010000]

Material "plastic_black_8"

MakeNamedMaterial "plastic_black_8" "string type" ["glossy"]
  "color Kd" [0.001693549351263845 0.001693549351263845 0.001693549351263845]
  "color Ks" [0.001 0.001 0.001] "float index" [0.0] "float uroughness" [0.010000] "float vroughness" [0.010000]

Material "metal_black_9"

MakeNamedMaterial "metal_black_9" "string type" ["glossy"]
  "color Kd" [0.012612036140696658 0.012612036140696658 0.028991184322208867]
  "color Ks" [0.001 0.001 0.001] "float index" [0.0] "float uroughness" [0.010000] "float vroughness" [0.010000]

Material "metal-steel_10"

MakeNamedMaterial "metal-steel_10" "string type" ["glossy"]
  "color Kd" [0.4364284429863848 0.4591363097961129 0.554696150287269]
  "color Ks" [0.001 0.001 0.001] "float index" [0.0] "float uroughness" [0.010000] "float vroughness" [0.010000]

Material "rubber_black_14"

MakeNamedMaterial "rubber_black_14" "string type" ["glossy"]
  "color Kd" [0.0009854407950052571 0.001693549351263845 0.0022832273157174674]
  "color Ks" [0.001 0.001 0.001] "float index" [0.0] "float uroughness" [0.010000] "float vroughness" [0.010000]

glass_15

MakeNamedMaterial "glass_15" "string type" ["glass"]
"color Kr" [1.000 1.000 1.000] "color Kt" [1.000 1.000 1.000] "float index" [1.4] "bool architectural" ["true"] "float film" [4.085477603228314e-16] "float filmindex" [2.775680976910284e-17] # Material "metal-steel_16"
MakeNamedMaterial "metal-steel_16" "string type" ["glossy"]
  "color Kd" [0.4364284429863848 0.4591363097961129 0.554696150287269]
  "color Ks" [0.001 0.001 0.001] "float index" [0.0] "float uroughness" [0.010000] "float vroughness" [0.010000]

Material "plastic_black_17"

MakeNamedMaterial "plastic_black_17" "string type" ["glossy"]
  "color Kd" [0.001693549351263845 0.001693549351263845 0.001693549351263845]
  "color Ks" [0.001 0.001 0.001] "float index" [0.0] "float uroughness" [0.010000] "float vroughness" [0.010000]

Material "screen_18"

MakeNamedMaterial "screen_18" "string type" ["glossy"]
  "color Kd" [0.7231422688876962 0.7231422688876962 0.7231422688876962]
  "color Ks" [0.087 0.087 0.087] "float index" [0.0] "float uroughness" [0.010000] "float vroughness" [0.010000]

Material "metal_case_19"

MakeNamedMaterial "metal_case_19" "string type" ["glossy"]
  "color Kd" [0.000024366764805555065 0.000024366764805555065 0.00018292198664869778]
  "color Ks" [0.001 0.001 0.001] "float index" [0.0] "float uroughness" [0.010000] "float vroughness" [0.010000]

Material "plastic-white_20"

MakeNamedMaterial "plastic-white_20" "string type" ["glossy"]
  "color Kd" [0.6462349932825634 0.6531905029950944 0.7157888966019565]
  "color Ks" [0.001 0.001 0.001] "float index" [0.0] "float uroughness" [0.010000] "float vroughness" [0.010000]

Material "metal-black_21"

MakeNamedMaterial "metal-black_21" "string type" ["glossy"]
  "color Kd" [0.001693549351263845 0.001693549351263845 0.0029700811289470157]
  "color Ks" [0.001 0.001 0.001] "float index" [0.0] "float uroughness" [0.010000] "float vroughness" [0.010000]

Material "plastic-black_22"

MakeNamedMaterial "plastic-black_22" "string type" ["glossy"]
  "color Kd" [0 0 0]
  "color Ks" [0.001 0.001 0.001] "float index" [0.0] "float uroughness" [0.010000] "float vroughness" [0.010000]

Material "plastic-grey_23"

MakeNamedMaterial "plastic-grey_23" "string type" ["glossy"]
  "color Kd" [0.018987362416386787 0.021884056794836317 0.038305122461513366]
  "color Ks" [0.001 0.001 0.001] "float index" [0.0] "float uroughness" [0.010000] "float vroughness" [0.010000]

Material "metal-steel_24"

MakeNamedMaterial "metal-steel_24" "string type" ["glossy"]
  "color Kd" [0.32503695460380533 0.34935077175502205 0.4591363097961129]
  "color Ks" [0.001 0.001 0.001] "float index" [0.0] "float uroughness" [0.010000] "float vroughness" [0.010000]

Quote - Ok, I'm back.. it's now been 11 minutes and no .png file.  I have yet to see in the log file that one has been written.   Do I need to wait longer?

I have got the .lsx .lxs thins reversed a few time - I almost always have to make a new file name after as the .png did not write.

so name it reality_scene_b.lxs and reality_scene_b.png in the output tab and see if that works.

Not sure if the file gets curupted or what, but that fix worked for me.

Quote - > Quote - Ok, I'm back.. it's now been 11 minutes and no .png file.  I have yet to see in the log file that one has been written.   Do I need to wait longer?

I have got the .lsx .lxs thins reversed a few time - I almost always have to make a new file name after as the .png did not write.

so name it reality_scene_b.lxs and reality_scene_b.png in the output tab and see if that works.

Not sure if the file gets curupted or what, but that fix worked for me.

Ok so you put the .png in the "image file name, without the extension? 

I am trying that now, and will need to wait at least 5 mintues before I'll see the file.  I hope. 

if the does work, do you leave the.png there for future renders?

Quote - is it the reality_scene.lxs or the reality_scene.lxm?  the lxs file only wants to open with Luxrender.exe

Right-click the .lxs file, select Open With, then if Notepad isn't listed, select the 2nd option (Select a program from a list of installed programs), then Browse, and find Notepad (which is in C:Windows). Make sure the "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" is unchecked.

Quote - and will need to wait at least 5 mintues before I'll see the file.

~wink~ or turn your interval down.

EDIT: No you should need to write the .png

but it should not hurt if you do

Quote - if the does work, do you leave the.png there for future renders?

No, each new scene creates a png. That's why it is best to give each render a name, e.g. instead of reality_scene, you use your own title. So the first box will be e.g. MyRender.lxs, and the other box just My Render.

1am, time for me to go to bed. Maybe Arumbus will be your knight in shining armor :)

my armor is buckled and rusty I think!

I'm at 10 minutes and still no png file.  :(  

I've tired to open the .lxs files but I'm not giving any programs to open it with. When I click on browes it just takes me to Windows Explorer.  I'm using Win 7 64 bit OS. 

Sent you some emails with screenshots.

<------------ Proud owner of shiny new copy of Reality 2.2

now paolo.. this thing had better dial up my models, edit all the material, tweak luxrender and give me 400k s/s rendering speed right out of the box or I'm gonna have to start sending you nastygrams in your email.

amethst.. are you using luxrender rc2 or rc3?  if it's rc3 has it worked for you previously or is this your first render with it?  so far i've found a major bug with rc3 that i'm not happy with.  submitted it to lux and we'll see what gets done; but, with network renders; i've found that my slave computers stop sending file samples after the first send.  couple nights ago my laptop rendered for 45 minutes with no samples sent.

Respectfully takes the back seat to a more experienced driver :-)

Quote - amethst.. are you using luxrender rc2 or rc3?

I did not know it worked with any of the release candidates....

ohhh.. don't say i'm more experienced.. only been using reality/lux for a couple months... and even my 2-yr old tosses out bits of wisdom that makes adults ponder... a person with one day of 3d experience can have insight that even the most seasoned artist has overlooked

arumbus.. it took a bit of tweaking to get network rendering to work.. but it works like a charm.. being an experienced network admin helped a ton.  are you having issues with network rendering?

Quote - amethst.. are you using luxrender rc2 or rc3?  if it's rc3 has it worked for you previously or is this your first render with it?  so far i've found a major bug with rc3 that i'm not happy with.  submitted it to lux and we'll see what gets done; but, with network renders; i've found that my slave computers stop sending file samples after the first send.  couple nights ago my laptop rendered for 45 minutes with no samples sent.

I'm using Rc2.. it worked last night. I came home to do a test render and not getting a PNG file. 

This is what I see and it means nothing to me. lol

LuxRender scene generated by the Reality Engine by Pret-A-3D.

Camera Data

LookAt 1.450000 -3.700000 1.900000 1.446365 -3.691004 1.897581 -0.000906 0.002243 0.009703
Camera "perspective" "float fov" [30.137]  "float screenwindow" [-0.707269 0.707269 -1 1]

Lux Film Parameters

Film "fleximage"
  "integer outlierrejection_k" [5]
  "integer xresolution" [1080]
  "integer yresolution" [1527]
  "integer haltspp" [0]
  "bool premultiplyalpha" ["false"]
  "string filename" ["C:/Users/Kim/kimtest"]
  "float gamma" [2.2]
  "integer displayinterval" [300]
  "integer writeinterval" [3600]
  "string tonemapkernel" ["linear"] "float linear_sensitivity" [100] "float linear_exposure" [0.02] "float linear_fstop" [5.6]  "float linear_gamma" [1.0]
  "bool write_png" ["true"]
  "string write_png_channels" ["RGB"]
  "bool write_png_16bit" ["false"]
  "bool write_png_gamutclamp" ["true"]
  "integer reject_warmup" [128]
  "bool debug" ["false"]
  "bool write_resume_flm" ["true"]
  "bool restart_resume_flm" ["false"]
  "float colorspace_white" [0.314275 0.329411]
  "float colorspace_red" [0.630 0.340]
  "float colorspace_green" [0.310 0.5950]
  "float colorspace_blue" [0.1550 0.0700]
  "string ldr_clamp_method" ["lum"]

PixelFilter "mitchell" "float xwidth" [1.5] "float ywidth" [1.5] "float B" [0.3333] "float C" [0.3333] "bool supersample" ["true"]

Accelerator "qbvh" "integer maxprimsperleaf" [4]

Sampler "metropolis" "float largemutationprob" [0.40]

SurfaceIntegrator "bidirectional" "integer eyedepth" [16]  "integer lightdepth" [16] "string strategy" ["auto"]

WorldBegin
  Include "kimtest.lxm"
  Include "kimtest.lxo"
WorldEnd

I think I found your problem! Your write interval is 3600, which means the png won't be created until after the first 60 minutes :)  Change it in Reality to 600 (that's 10 minutes) or 300 for 5 minutes.

Quote - ohhh.. don't say i'm more experienced

LOL when I wrote it I did not know your had posted I meant DoctorJellybean - but you certainly qualify too.  

Quote - are you having issues with network rendering?

as a matter of fact yes. I could not get it to work and could not figure out why. I figured it was some security thingomobobby (as you can see I am not a network guy). Maybe sometime in the next week or so you can help.  I trust a simple home "network" from a dsl modem will suffice? We have most of the machines here are premium not pro.... so I think that mean we can only do a workgroup not true network - have no idea if that even matters.

Quote - I think I found your problem! Your write interval is 3600, which means the png won't be created until after the first 60 minutes :)  Change it in Reality to 600 (that's 10 minutes) or 300 for 5 minutes.

certainly looks like that should fix it

Make sure you stop the render and close LuxRender before changing it in Reality (Advanced Options) and restarting the render.

Ok I changed it to 300. we'll see if this fixes the problem.. I have no idea how that got changed. that is not a tab I go to.

I take it this is what you were looing for?  "integer writeinterval" [3600]

arumbus.. that's a seriously easy fix(at least for a network guy).  what luxrender does for a network render is for the master computer(the one that you start the render on) to be able to send all the texture files to the slave computers; and for those slave computers to be able to render your scene and then send a temp file of those compiled samples back to the master in order to be added to your scene.  In order to do that; the master computer has to have read/write permissions for the luxrender directory on each of the slave computers; and, for the slaves to have read/write permission to wherever it is that your scene is being rendered(the place where lux is writing all the files for the render.

it sounds more complicated that it really is.  are you using windows7?  if so, are you using the homegroup option for your home network or are you using an oldschool workgroup like i do?

Amethst25 Also hit save & exit when closing LUX or export as a tonampped Low Dynamic Range image to see an immidiate PNG. The problem I run into is if I uninstall the original version of lux in my program files I no longer get a PNG from the newer lux's I have Reality assosiated with. I need to have the original LUX installed in program files to get PNGs to show up with RC3. I am wadgering it has to do with some path thing...

amethst.. that's exactly what you/we are looking for and like i said in an earlier post.. no amount of eyes on a problem are too many

YES!!!! I now have a .png file!

Thank you all for you help!  And Doc... if we ever meet I am going to kiss you!!

Thank you all again!

something sort of OT.. anyone here have any experience with amazon's cloud computing service and if it will work with luxrender?  they charge like 34 cents per hour for server time on a massive server.  figured it might be worth a couple bucks to try it out.

Wow, went out for dinner and missed the whole crisis! Dang... =D

On a different note, has anyone running RC3 had issues with displacement maps crashing Lux? I finally put RC3 to work this afternoon and all went to bunk until I took out one teeny wheeny displacement map. Ran like a champ afterward.

Quote - something sort of OT.. anyone here have any experience with amazon's cloud computing service and if it will work with luxrender?  they charge like 34 cents per hour for server time on a massive server.  figured it might be worth a couple bucks to try it out.

I've heard of folks running cloud for rendering, not specifically Lux, but I do recall this came up once in the old daz forum. Let me ponder a moment and see if I remember who it was that talked about it.

Off the top of my head, I thought it was Mec4D, but that doesn' t sound 100% right.

Edit: Das Google-Fu: http://www.luxrender.net/wiki/index.php?title=Using_Amazon_Elastic_Compute_Cloud_%28EC2%29_To_Add_Rendering_Capacity

i found a tute for it(amazon's aws service) on lux's site.. but the tute is from the perspective of a linux user.  i have a wife, children, drink alcohol and don't live in my grandmother's basement.. therefore I have no use for linux.  amazon's support is pretty good so i'll see what i can do.. for low usage they do have a free option and you only pay if you go over their fairly generous free limits.

edit for your edit sbt.. that's the tute i saw earlier.. as i mentioned.. no linux to be found in this house

After reading a good bit of that page, it looks fairly complicated.

I'm still holding out for GPU+CPU hybrid mode!

Quote - i found a tute for it(amazon's aws service) on lux's site.. but the tute is from the perspective of a linux user.  i have a wife, children, drink alcohol and don't live in my grandmother's basement.. therefore I have no use for linux.  amazon's support is pretty good so i'll see what i can do.. for low usage they do have a free option and you only pay if you go over their fairly generous free limits.

 

edit for your edit sbt.. that's the tute i saw earlier.. as i mentioned.. no linux to be found in this house

Yeah, same here. My wife is the apple head, but I gave up the jobs-express after my iphone 3g turned into a bastard (I have a 12 gauge slug dedicated to its eradication from this earth next time I'm in the country). Not that the gates special is any better, but it works for me.

"I saw the news today oh boy"

MyMy My....things are about to get very interesting, & Paolo is going to be a busy man in the next few months ;-)

"Preview the ******* ********* Engine for ****** & *********"Well played good sir.

"I've seen The Future & It Will be.  I've seen the Future & it Works..."

see yelocloud.. dropping tidbits like that is just cruel.. right up there with using kittens for golf

sbt.. i was working as a saves rep for at&t wireless when the 1st 3 iphones came out.. as a saves rep they made my life hell.. but from what i could tell.. no one was complaining much about the phone.. they were just wanting to cancel their service so they could sell their phones on ebay for $800 to some chinese person and then try to get out of their early term fee

Quote - grandmother's basement.. therefore I have no use for linux.

I literally spit up my ice water laughing when I read this!

It does sound interesting - let us know your experience

Hey Sharkbytes, glad to see you on the 2.2 wagon. Hope you don't send me any nastygrams, I'm a nice guy :)

Quote - I think I found your problem! Your write interval is 3600, which means the png won't be created until after the first 60 minutes :)  Change it in Reality to 600 (that's 10 minutes) or 300 for 5 minutes.

That's very good debugging Doc, I missed that.

actually paolo.. you should see the comment i left on the little facebook interface on the reality product page here

A reminder for those filing bug reports in Lux (or really any program, I'm sure this will help Paolo with the Reality BTS too):

After hearing some complaints of bugs in RC3 in this thread, I took a quick stroll through our bugtracker (located at http://www.luxrender.net/mantis/ ). I found quite a few "fire and forget" reports. Bug reporting is a 2-way street. Sometimes the descriptions and backtraces in the first post are enough to find the bug, but a lot of the time they aren't. This is why there's a comments section on bug reports, so devs can ask for additional info, or scene files that reproduce the bug. There are quite a few reports though, that seem to have been filed and then forgotten about, and are now just sitting around awaiting feedback so there is enough info to try and solve them. Here are a few examples:

http://www.luxrender.net/mantis/view.php?id=1172

http://www.luxrender.net/mantis/view.php?id=1221

http://www.luxrender.net/mantis/view.php?id=1225

You can see all the reports you've filed in the "Reported by Me" section on the Mantis homepage when you're logged in. Give it a look over, if you have any open/unresolved reports, check the info and make sure we aren't waiting on more info from you.

Wow! I see. Well, thank you very much for the nice words. I just try my best :)

Much appreciated.

http://www.luxrender.net/mantis/view.php?id=1221

Damn, guilty as charged. Thanks for the reminder, J. I added an updated entry.

once again.. off topic.. but does anyone know why an object i created in 3ds and exported and an obj would be invisible when i imported it into studio?

Quote - once again.. off topic.. but does anyone know why an object i created in 3ds and exported and an obj would be invisible when i imported it into studio?

Check the scale, location or opacity.

Attached Link: Comment Here

I had a go at an old V3 scene I could never get quite right in Studio alone:

If the object is in Daz Studio's scene tree but not visible then it may be down to the scale you imported at, use the Frame Camera option to check it has loaded.

Back to the freebie lights, I may do some more floor lamps but here is what I've done so far. Hope you like them :)

They are made so Reality recognises the bulbs and puts them in the lighting tab, so all you have to do is re-name the group and adjust the wattage etc. 

Attached Link: Gotcha!

Im getting some reasonable render times on my i7 8G notebook. Thanks to Reggie &  discovering the use of Queue Rendering has been really practical for what I am doing with it.

problem solved.. checked the materials a dozen times or so and never check the opacity.. zeroed out on all materials