Animator not rendering the sky with Vray after crash

[DarkParadise]

Hi everyone,

Sketchup crashed while I was trying to generate a clip with animator with Vray as renderer. After restarting sketchup, vray and animator, loading my file and launching the video creation process, animator doesn't render the sky anymore while vray is (both with the "Test image" button or the general "Generate Video" button). See screenshots attached.

Any idea ?

Help greatly appreciated !

Olivier

PS I'm speaking french as well.

[Dave R]

What version of SketchUp are you using? Your profile indicates a version that doesn't and never has existed. What version of Vray?

[DarkParadise]

Hi Dave,

profile updated !

Sketchup 22
Vray for sketchup 6.00.01


PC, Dell 7820 tower with Intel xeon bronze 3204 cpu @1.9 ghz, 48 GB Ram, 2 Nvidia Quadro P1000 graphic cards (4 GB GDDR5. Memory Interface. each)

Let me know if you need other infos.

Best regards,

Olivier

[fredo6]

Animator does not interact with the rendering settings of VRay. So, the problem might be in the VRay API. As you had a crash, it might be that some hidden processes are alive.

So, I will suggest that you reboot the computer and try again.

[DarkParadise]

Dear Fredo,

thanks for your reply.

Actually, I did restart my machine, but the issue persist this morning.

Any other idea ?

All the best,

Olivier

[fredo6]

What happens if you create a new animation from scratch and render it?

[DarkParadise]

The problem remain...

[DarkParadise]

Hi Fredo,

I still haven't found a fix to the problem... I'm getting

Is the setting of the sky in vray correct ? Should I try to re-install vray ? Could I send you the files so that you could do a test on your machine ?


Any help greatly appreciated,

Thanks in advance,

Olivier

[fredo6]

If you do a Natural render, do you get the sky displayed?

[DarkParadise]

Thanks again for your help Fredo...

Yes I do... so strange...

here is a comparison of natural vs vray render through animator...

natural vs vray.JPG

but within vray alone, everything works...

vray-only.jpg

[DarkParadise]

Hi Fredo,

I'm desperate... Do you think that a reinstall of Vray would change something ? Any other idea ?

Best,

Olivier

[fredo6]

This may be an idea. On my side, I am short of clues to understand how Animator could prevent things to happen (or not) in VRay....

[DarkParadise]

Thanks...

That's why I'm desperate, What other renderer would you use ?

I'll keep you posted for the re-install.

[ntxdave]

You might try Twilight Render. I have used it with Animator and never had any problems.

[DarkParadise]

Hi Dave,

thanks for the tip ! I'll give it a try with the hobby version... Are you aware of any limitation with this one ?

All the best,

Olivier

[DarkParadise]

Dear Fredo,

I also tried with a prior version to the crash and the problem persits. So it's not due to some file corruption of some sort.

I uninstalled Vray and re-installed it, and the problems remains as it is:

Vray vs vray and animator 20020113.JPG

It is so strange. Should I also try to uninstall/install Animator ?

thanks again for your support.

Olivier

[ntxdave]

Hi Dave,

thanks for the tip ! I'll give it a try with the hobby version... Are you aware of any limitation with this one ?

All the best,

Olivier

Not really. I have used it many times with Animator. They also have several tutorials and a good support team.

Let’em know I recommended them.

[DarkParadise]

Dave, hi again !

I've installed Twilight 2 in Sketchup. Rendering seems fine with the render engine from the software itself, but I can't see it in the Generation of Video in Animator.

twilight missing.JPG

Any way to fix this ?

Thanks again,

Olivier

[ntxdave]

I am having problems with my laptop so I cannot currently explore this for you, but Twilight Render should show up in the Generate Video toolbar. It has always been there for me. It has been quite a while so I cannot remember how to add it.

I would suggest you post in the Animator thread. Fredo is always pretty good at responding. You might also post the question in the Twilight Render forum.

Sorry I cannot run it to help you.

EDIT: I opened a thread on the Twilight Render forum that I hope will result in some help here. Here is the thread https://www.twilightrender.com/phpBB3/v ... hp?t=12617

[ntxdave]

Any resolution to your issue?

[fredo6]

I also tried with a prior version to the crash and the problem persits. So it's not due to some file corruption of some sort.

I uninstalled Vray and re-installed it, and the problems remains as it is:

Vray vs vray and animator 20020113.JPG

It is so strange. Should I also try to uninstall/install Animator ?

I don't think you need to uninstall Animator (the video management is in LibFredo6 anyway).

Likewise, if this happens with any model, I don't think this is useful to send me the model.

There must be a setting left in VRay which is used by the VRay API. So, I would recommend you post to the VRay forum, asking whether the API has a separate configuration versus the direct rendering within VRay.

[ntxdave]

Why isn’t Twilight Render showing up for him in Animator?

[DarkParadise]

Dear Dave,

Sorry for my silence, unfortunately no resolution yet. I'll try the vray forum as mentioned by fredo6 and will keep you both posted !

Thanks,

Olivier

[DarkParadise]

I also tried with a prior version to the crash and the problem persits. So it's not due to some file corruption of some sort.

I uninstalled Vray and re-installed it, and the problems remains as it is:

Vray vs vray and animator 20020113.JPG

It is so strange. Should I also try to uninstall/install Animator ?

I don't think you need to uninstall Animator (the video management is in LibFredo6 anyway).

Likewise, if this happens with any model, I don't think this is useful to send me the model.

There must be a setting left in VRay which is used by the VRay API. So, I would recommend you post to the VRay forum, asking whether the API has a separate configuration versus the direct rendering within VRay.

Dear Fredo,

the vray forum is locked unfortunately

vray forum locked.JPG

Am I missing something ?

Thanks,

Olivier

[ntxdave]

Did you ever get Twilight Render to show up?

[Fletch]

So basic SketchUp animation and some plugins do work with Hobby, like the standard SketchUp animation, but Animator requires something we call "external control". It allows Animator to actually execute Twilight Render calls. And that is limited to Twilight Render Pro.

I just downloaded latest available versions for LibFredo6 and Animator and Twilight Render is appearing for me as an option using Twilight Render V2 Pro.

This machine is using Windows 10/(actually 11), SketchUp Pro 2022

I had to restart SU a couple times during install of "LibFredo6_v13.6a.rbz" and Animator_v3.8a.rbz but they eventually worked properly.

Step 1 set up the animation with Animator
Step 2 Set up frame rate and other settings in Animator>Generate Animation dialog

-choose Images Sequence
-Twilight Render
-set F/s


Step 3 Open Twilight Render animation dialog (Extensions>Twilight V2>Animation Editor), set resolution and render settings to use for Twilight to render animation


Step 4 Inside Twilight Render animation dialog, open the "Advanced" pulldown menu and set up your animation FPS to match that of your settings for the Generate Animation dialog in Animator.
- set folder and name of animation sequence

Step 5 In "Generation of Video for Animator click the "Generate Video" button. It should start rendering using Twilight Render and placing the sequence of animated images in the "base image" folder you specified in Step 4.

We will see about creating a tutorial for this powerful animation plugin.

[Rich O Brien]

the vray forum is locked unfortunately

Am I missing something ?

Thanks,

Olivier

The official forum for vray hosted by chaos is open for business for licensed users

https://forums.chaos.com/forum/v-ray-fo ... hup-forums

[ntxdave]

You might try Twilight Render. I have used it with Animator and never had any problems.

I found out it requires the Pro version of Twilight Render before it will show up and work with Animator.

It does work good though.

[DarkParadise]

Dear Dave R, dear Fredo, dear (ntx)-Dave, dear Fletch and dear Rich,

many many thanks for all your support so far.

I realized many things in the course of this discussion:

-I should either get a pro version of Vray or twilight as it appears the test versions limit me to post question on forum (vray) or test the renderer with Animator (twilight). Not sure I can afford those for test purpose and artistic use that I practice as a hobby...
-As I'm thinking of creating an NFT Art Piece and given my PC and graphic cards capacity, I might need a pro with the right material to do the final rendering anyway (It takes me 1 min/frame for an 800*450 pix and if I wish to go that way, the resolution should be much higher). (@Fredo, if you know anybody willing to help me for that matter, speaking french, with experience in SU, Animator and Vray, let me know in private message.)
-I also had some discussion with a cabinetmaker and another woodworking professional that incite me to modify some part of my model (and hence redo the whole animation). I'll then be able to possibly retest the rendering part.

In any case, I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again for your inputs,

All the best,

Olivier

[ntxdave]

Twilight Render is only $99. At least it currently is not a subscription so the $99 is a one time charge

Not all that expensive if you plan to use it for more projects in the future.

Wish you luck in what ever direction you go.