Crazy Homeless Guy Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 ...anyone elsy having problem with it? we have come to rely on linking DWG files between FormZ and Max. we have never had a problem until release 9. now, DWG files linked into previous versions of Max do not want to update properly, and if you re-link to another DWG file, even if it has the same layer structure, it does not want to update properly. it only works correctly on the original DWG file, and only works correctly if it was set in Max 9. i understand that Autodesk is going to do an extension drop that will enhance the FileLink sometime soon, but this is frustrating me now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloaked_spectre Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 well, i know one thing......the new 'surfaces' created with ACAD 2007 translate like crap in tofile link manager.....so keep all of your modeling 'old skool' acad style.....or you'll be screwing around with it for weeks trying to figure out why "this damn rendering doesn't work"...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbarc Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 You are not alone.. We are also having some frustrating issues with it - halfway through a project, it suddenly stops updating from our dwg model file for no apparent reason. Also, we are finding detail such as chamfered edges are often lost when importing. As a result we've reluctantly reverted to max 8. I'm sure autodesk will be more than happy to give us our subscription back.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gfa2 Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 ...we've reluctantly reverted to max 8... I've had max 9 sitting on my shelf for months and I just can't bring myself to upgrade from 8. Plus the thought of updating 50 render nodes gives me the shakes. I think I'll hold out for version 10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted March 29, 2007 Author Share Posted March 29, 2007 I've had max 9 sitting on my shelf for months and I just can't bring myself to upgrade from 8. Plus the thought of updating 50 render nodes gives me the shakes. I think I'll hold out for version 10. we script our updates with bat files. it is reasonably painless. maybe 2 hours worth of work for 40 nodes. most of that is spent troubleshooting any problems that arise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Warner Posted March 30, 2007 Share Posted March 30, 2007 Is that bat file something you can share? We have the same problem with updating. I'd be interested to see what the bat file does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted March 30, 2007 Author Share Posted March 30, 2007 Is that bat file something you can share? We have the same problem with updating. I'd be interested to see what the bat file does. sure. i will post it tomorrow or saturday, along with a brief description of how i have it set up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Warner Posted March 30, 2007 Share Posted March 30, 2007 Sweet! Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parker1 Posted March 30, 2007 Share Posted March 30, 2007 I will be looking for it too...thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gfa2 Posted March 30, 2007 Share Posted March 30, 2007 we script our updates with bat files. it is reasonably painless. maybe 2 hours worth of work for 40 nodes. most of that is spent troubleshooting any problems that arise. hmmm....can't use that as an excuse anymore. I'm sure I can think of more reasons not to upgrade. How about I'll have to pay to upgrade my Finaltoon for max 9, yeah that's a good excuse. But I'd like to see that batch file too. I tried a batch file when I went from 7 to 8 and it totally screwed up our web based timesheet program on all the PC's that got upgraded...go figure?!?!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted March 31, 2007 Author Share Posted March 31, 2007 ok, back to the how to update a rendering farm with .bat files. a lot of this information is detailed in 3dsmax installation cd. i am not going to reproduce this information in detail. if you own 3dsmax, you have access to this information. at this moment i can not tell you exactly where it is, because i am at work, and our install discs are locked away in the IT room. i tweak our renderfarm setup on a regular basis in an attempt to make it run smoother and more more efficient. i am posting the basic outline of how i have it setup. when a new computer comes into our office, we setup an administrative 3d account. this is the account that will be used when logging the computer into the renderfarm. i launch a .bat file that runs my scripts. this bat file is contained in the attachment to this post. there are a couple of keys to this bat file that i setup to ease future updates. the first is, placing a bat file into the startup directory of the machine. this bat file launches every time the computer is logged into the network. this bat file contains only one line, and that line only launches a master bat file on the server. all the clients launch the same bat file, and install the same updates on the machines. this is how i am able to deploy update quickly. this file is included in the attachment to this post, and is called "start-update_master.bat". the line this file contains is.... "\\kadrive3\visual\renderfarm\batch_commands\initial_setup.bat" of course this will need to be customized according to your server name, and file names. so this file the launches the second bat file called, "initial_setup.bat". the initial_setup file contains the proper scripting to run a network deployment/update of 3dsmax. you can study it more in the attachments, but basically, the command line for running a setup of 3dsmax where no setup window is launched, and it does not require your input at all is... %Comspec% /c msiexec.exe /I \\kaldser\Packages\AutoDesk\3dsMAX9\adminimage\3dsmax9_win32.msi PIDKEY=###-######## LICENSETYPE=42 LICENSESERVER=MYLICENSESERVER INSTALLDIR=c:\3dsmax9\ /q the PIDKEY will need to be replaced with your information. there are a handful of other things that i have installing, including a update to windows installer, the latest version of direct X, and backburner. ...but the as you can see, this installs 3dsmax9 through a bat file on the server. this is the line i will change to run the 3dsmax9 service pack 1 update. the second thing i have setup in my bat files is a way to skip the install process if all the files are the machine are current. if you look at my initial_setup.bat file, you will see the first this under the INSTALLS area is.... IF exist "c:\3dsmax9\_ 2007 03 15.txt" goto current xcopy "\\kadrive3\visual\renderfarm\installs\misc\date.txt" "c:\3dsmax9\" /y /s rename "c:\3dsmax9\date.txt" "_ 2007 03 15.txt" basically, whenever i change something in this file, i change the first and third line in the quote above to the current date. when the bat file runs, if it sees a file on the computer with the date of the last update, it skips to the end of the install bat, and doesn't try to run anything. if it doesn't find the file with the date, then it creates one, and then runs the rest of the bat file to install the new updates. originally i tried to make the bat file look to see if the current version of everything exists, then skip that part of the install, but i was getting into some tricky scripting, with some work around, so i found this method to be cleaner. the third thing i have done to customize our renderfarm is reconfiguring how 3dsmax9 is setup. anyone who uses 9 knows that 9 runs out of you documents and settings directory. i changed this to work the way the previous version of max works, where everything runs out of your 3dsmax9 directory. to do this, you change the InitialSettings.ini file in the root of 3dsmax9. You want to change the line 'useUserProfile=0". now, everything is setup in a traditional method. i next opened the 3dsmax9.ini file, and reconfigured all of my plugin paths, script paths, and such to read from the server, rather than the local machine. the above step is not necessary, but i prefer it, i think it makes things easier. anyway, i didn't type this straight through, so i may have missed a few things, feel free to steal whatever parts you want, ask questions, or suggest improvements. i would also like to know how other people have their renderfarm setup. also, i included a file called, "initial_setting.bat__explained.rtf", that further explains each step of my bat file. as for bat commands, i keep these 2 links on hand for quick reference. http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/ntcmds.mspx?mfr=true http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/msi/setup/standard_installer_command_line_options.asp ts. 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Chad Warner Posted April 2, 2007 Share Posted April 2, 2007 So for the initial setup, do you have to make an installation image? I ask because of your file structure: "%Comspec% /c msiexec.exe /I \\kaldser\Packages\AutoDesk\3dsMAX9\adminimage\3ds max9_win32.msi" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted April 2, 2007 Author Share Posted April 2, 2007 So for the initial setup, do you have to make an installation image? I ask because of your file structure: "%Comspec% /c msiexec.exe /I \\kaldser\Packages\AutoDesk\3dsMAX9\adminimage\3ds max9_win32.msi" no. i didn't think about it, but that part does look confusing. the 'kaldser' server is a server that our IT dept uses to deploy software. i think autocad is deployed through a package. 3dsmax is in that directory simply because it is a autodesk product. you should be able to find the 3dsmax9_win32.msi install file on your install DVD. it should just as easily be on an server that all of your render nodes have access to. i can not remember off hand if the install will need other files off of the DVD besides the 3dsmax9_win32.msi. i can check tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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