Chris,
well, I wasn't implying that the bug I found is the cause for every
reported Arnold-related crash... :-) But all tests indicate that it is the
cause for our specific scenario.
As a test I've removed all xsirtcompound files from actual copies of a
couple of our production workgroups and can happily switch between them
without a single crash. This is of course not an option/workaround for
actual production - but solid proof for my theory, I would guess.
To answer your questions:
1.) I repro'ed this with three different versions of Arnold and 3delight.
In addition I asked a friend of mine to repro with VRay as well. So I'm
very confident in claiming that this is NOT a renderer-specific bug.
2.) I didn't state this specifically - but of course the crash is not
happening when no custom renderer is installed. If a custom renderer is
installed, but at a different location (e.g. in the user dir or in a
different workgroup) the crash also does not seem to happen.
Cheers, Martin
--
Martin Chatterjee
[ Freelance Technical Director ]
[ http://www.chatterjee.de ]
[ https://vimeo.com/chatterjee ]
On Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 2:39 AM, Chris Chia <chris.c...@autodesk.com> wrote:
> Hi Martin,
> We seem to have some customers complaining about XSI crashes with Arnold
> plugin. I am not too sure whether this is the cause.
>
> Thanks for the repro steps! I will take a quick look!
>
> Which specific version Arnold and 3delight are you using?
> And since you felt that it might be because they were in your workgroup
> and unloading them causes crashes, have you brought them out of the
> workgroup and tried whether it still crashes?
>
> Chris
>
> On 15 Aug, 2012, at 12:05 AM, "Martin Chatterjee" <
> martin.chatterjee.li...@googlemail.com<mailto:
> martin.chatterjee.li...@googlemail.com>> wrote:
>
> Hi list, hi Support,
>
> as many other studios we've been suffering from fairly regular crashes
> when trying to switch workgroups containing custom renderers in an open
> softimage UI session.
>
> I've made several attempts to work around this issue in the past with
> mixed results.
>
> However this time I've been in a particularly stubborn mood and I think
> I've finally isolated the bugger! (Repro steps further down in this mail)
>
> Cheers, Martin
>
>
> --- Description ---
>
> Softimage UI will crash reliably on workgroup unload when this workgroup
> contains a custom renderer and at least on .xsirtcompound file
>
>
> --- Background Details ---
>
> When switching between jobs we are dynamically unloading the old job
> workgroup and then loading the new job workgroup in an open Softimage
> session without restarting the software.
>
> This has worked reliably for years - until we started to regularly
> install a custom renderer into these job workgroups (in our case Arnold -
> but I've verified that this bug is not Arnold related).
>
> Right now our workgroup switching leads to a crash in roughly 50% of the
> cases in a UI session... :-/
>
> BUT: the same workgroup switching code works on our farm absolutely
> flawlessly.
>
>
> --- This is what I think happens ---
>
> A workgroup unload will crash Softimage reliably if...
>
> 1.) a custom renderer is installed in this workgroup
> 2.) at least one .xsirtcompound file is part of this workgroup (either in
> /Data/RTCompounds, or as part of another addon)
> 3.) the Render Tree window was opened at least once in the UI session
> BEFORE the workgroup gets unloaded
>
> I think that when the Render Tree window gets displayed it refreshes its
> list of available shaders and rtcompounds.
>
> If this refresh gets executed before the attempted workgroup unload it
> will crash. You will achieve the same effect if you open the Preset Manager
> window.
>
> Please note that it already is enough to display the Render Tree window in
> an empty scene - the offending xsirtcompound must not be seen or used for
> the crash to happen.
>
>
> --- A few more remarks from my side ---
>
> 1.) I've run "unit tests" on my side (scripted UI sessions unloading a
> workgroup, loading a workgroup, rendering a preview frame, ... 50 times in
> a loop) without a crash. The minute I let the same test script also display
> the Render Tree window it crashes reliably. Removing the offending
> xsirtcompound file results in the same 50 loops of testing to finish
> reliably again.
>
> 2.) It is not important what xsirtcompound file it is - as long as it is a
> legal one. For my tests I just put a standard Mental Ray factory phong node
> into a compound and exported it into /Data/RTCompounds.
>
> 3.) We've seen this with many versions of Arnold - but to understand if
> this is a Softimage or Arnold issue I also tried this with the free version
> of 3Delight - same behaviour.
>
> 4.) I've tested this on Softimage 2012.SAP (x64) and 2013.SP1 (x64) - both
> on XP and Windows 7.
>
>
>
> --- Repro Steps ---
>
> 1.) Create an empty workgroup
> 2.) Install a custom renderer addon into this workgroup (e.g. 3delight)
> 3.) Place a legal .xsirtcompound file into Workgroup/Data/RTCompounds. (I
> just put a standard factory MentalRay phong node into a compound and
> exported it...)
>
> 4.) Start a fresh vanilla Softimage session and connect to this workgroup.
> 5.) Disconnect the workgroup again. --> This works
> 6.) Connect the workgroup again
> 7.) Disconnect the worgkroup again --> still no problem
>
> 8.) Now connect the workgroup once more
> 9.) Display a Render Tree Window
> 10) Now disconnect the workgroup again ---> crash...
>
>
> [ Repro'ed with Softimage 2012.SAP and 2013.SP1 (both x64) on both Windows
> 7 and Win XP64. ]
> [ Repro'ed with multiple versions of Arnold and 3Delight. ]
>
>
>
>
> --
> Martin Chatterjee
>
> [ Freelance Technical Director ]
> [ http://www.chatterjee.de<http://www.chatterjee.de/> ]
> [ https://vimeo.com/chatterjee ]
>
>
