Render to Disk Focus Stealing (HtoA)

[valerio_viperino]

Hi!

I've noticed that when rendering via "Render to disk" in Arnold, the AdskLicensingAgent continuously steals the focus of my windows.. then it gives it back, and then it steals it again and gives it back again and again and again.. I'm on macOS 10.14.6, Houdini Indie 18.0.499 and HtoA 5.3.0_r233605f.

here's a gif showing the behaviour:

The python script checking the focus comes from here (https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/123730/is-there-a-way-to-detect-what-program-is-stealing-focus-on-my-mac)

It's incredibly annoying since it makes it impossible to do anything on your machine, even if you're running a quick render..

PS: on a related note, while rendering some of my frames are coming out with a watermark, even if I'm connected via ethernet and I'm pretty sure my connection doesn't have that many hiccups. Is there a way to understand/test why the license check is failing so often?

Thanks

Valerio

[Stephen.Blair]

Every frame is a separate license check out, and each license check out goes through the AdskLicensingService (for monthly single-user licenses). You should be able to use other applications on your machine, but the render is modal within Houdini.

No Ethernet connection is required for a single-user license (except for the once-a-month sign in requirement).

For license failures, start by getting Arnold log for each frame render, so you can check what error is logged. You may want to set the log verbosity to Detailed.

[valerio_viperino]

Hi Stephen!

Thanks for the reply. I’ll have a deeper look at the logs . Regarding the focus stealing: I might - on paper - be able to use the other apps, but the fact that the focus continuously switches makes it impossible and frustrating since you can’t type or even use the mouse for more than a second. My frames were taking 7 seconds each to render so it doesn’t feel like AdskLicensingService is only stealing the focus at the beginning of a frame. The fact that it’s modal should only mean that it steals the focus from my Houdini window, right? Not from other apps.

[valerio_viperino]

PS: technicalities aside, I think in the end it provides a very bad UX, if there was a workaround or a plan to improve on this aspect that would be great!

[Stephen.Blair]

I haven't switched over to a Mac to test yet, but there's no like that on problem on Windows.

[Stephen.Blair]

@ Ok, I can reproduce the problem on macOS, and I've logged a ticket.

As a workaround, could you use hython?
http://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/render/batch#hython-and-hbatch

[valerio_viperino]

Thanks for looking into that, Stephen.

I will use hython and check that I don’t have the same issue.

Can I ask the ticket number? Is there a way for me to check on the status of it?