mixing Windows and Linux on Maya2011 - paths dont translate

[digitalmaciek]

Hi there !

I'm stuck...

I have recently added Linux machines to our exisiting ( Windows only ) render farm. The linux machines render great with no extrenal references in the scenes, but when referencing a texture file in a different location it fails. The previous error was due to a mapped windows drive... I have since changed over to using UNC paths. I am still getting this error at the linux box, now with UNC paths...
I have the proper path conversion in the RR_config setup between windows and linux:
\\nazgul\VAULT /mnt/nazgul

Anyone doing similiar setup have a suggestion to automate this ? If you need any more info from me just ask !

old orig style error msg:
R 71| Warning: (Mayatomr.Shader) : sc09_033_nc:clubW:clothing_file:referenced texture file
"Y:/GRAPHICS/3d/02_Open/chars/sourceimages/buttonUpB_tex/buttonUpB.tga" doesn't exist, ignored

new style error msg:
R 49| Warning: file: /mnt/nazgul/RESOURCES/3D/_test_render/test_anim.ma line 6: Reference file not found. :
//nazgul/VAULT/JOBS/0810_01/GRAPHICS/3d/chars/dinW/dinW.ma


Anyone using Maya2011 with multiple OS and a central nas - Please advise on how you do your shaders and texture maps. Much thanks for any input

-Maciek

[schoenberger]

I found one information about a env variable called MI_RAY_SUBSTITUTE.
But I'm sorry, I do not have a format for that environment variable.
_________________
Holger Schönberger
Binary Alchemy - digital materialization

[digitalmaciek]

Hmmm.... So how do you co-exist running Maya with Windows and Linux that share a centralized network storage ?

The only way I could think of is to run the Maya scene file (.ma is text) and process any instance of unc reference to a local mount.... that makes it a pretty complicated process at that point and changes the scope of just being able to use the RR submitter gui from within a maya workflow.


If you know anyone using this scenario please let me know so I can pick their brains !

Thanks

cheers
-mK

[schoenberger]

I found a link of lamrug:
http://www.lamrug.org/resources/substitutetips.html

You could add this variable to the setenv/maya.sh file
_________________
Holger Schönberger
Binary Alchemy - digital materialization

[digitalmaciek]

Thanks Holger. So after I finally figured out how and where ... I tried it. But it didnt work either...

Here's what I did , in a nutshell... I added this to the maya.sh file :

setenv MI_RAY_SUBSTITUTE '/.dll$/.so/ /.obj$/.o/ /.lib$/.a/ /^[a-z]:// /^[A-Z]:// %\%/% % Y:/JOBS/%/nazgul/VAULT/JOBS/%'

and I still get these same exact warnings in the log file:
R 63| Warning: (Mayatomr.Shader) : test_anim:dWoman:01_body_file: referenced texture file "Y:/JOBS/0810_019/GRAPHICS/3d/01_dinner/chars/dinnerWoman/sourceimages/body/01_body.tga" doesn't exist, ignored

i also tried adding it to the orc users bashrc and bash_profile files as a variable...

still no luck, gots to be a way, i'm sure someone else is doing this exact process !?

i've opened up a case with autodesk, posted on their users forum "area" - but still no answers...

I appreciate all your help!

[bohdon]

Hey Maciek,
Had the same issue, but managed to use a command I used once called `dirmap` to fix the issue.
Dirmap is pretty straightforward, you basically assign a 'search' 'replace' style mapping of two directories. The directories don't have to be full path names, it can be as simple as one drive letter to another, Maya will take care of the rest. For windows to linux, you just specify the paths exactly as they are used in their environments, so it would be something like...

[digitalmaciek]

Thank You Bohdon !!!
However... I gave up trying to find a workaround because of crunch time and loaded up win7 on my render machine.... there is other bugs in maya2011 which make it unusable in our environment with unc paths and mixed OS
nevertheless, I will make sure I try out your solution once I get the chance and some down time ! You may hear from me again...

thanks again
cheers
-mK