Syntax format of xgen for kick .ass

[markus.ng]

I'm running into an error on renders on kick jobs for xgen procedurals:

I've filled in the "arnold_auxRenderPatch" attribute in the XGen UI (Under Preview/Output tab for a XGen Description) and enabled it.

It's always finding an syntax problem with whatever values that I put in it. Whether it's just a base filename, a full path, or a ${desc}/<path>/some.abc.

None are accepted.

What is the required format of this field? It's not breaking my render because I have a default.abc file that is living in the same directory as the .xgen file (with the same basename.abc) so it finds that one and will use that one.

But if this AuxRenderPatch path is suppose to be an option, it'd like to know what the requirements are.

Thanks!

Markus Ng

markus.ng@jamfilled.com

Here's the errors that I get:

======error 1======

[34m09:47:34 XGen Stats(1): Setup for villagebridge_grass|lrggrasslawn_patch_a took 0.000 seconds. [0m

[31m09:47:34 XGen Error: Error in expression "lrggrasslawn_patch_a::arnold_auxRenderPatch". [/n/projects/grimm/gm01/production/vault/foliage/fol_villagebridgegrass/xgen_versions/villagebridge_grass.v081/v081_asset_fol_villagebridgegrass-density50__villagebridge_grass.abc]

Error: Syntax error near '/':

/n/projects/grimm/gm01/producti... [0m

======error 2======

[34m16:00:22 XGen Stats(1): Setup for villagebridge_tallgrass|smlgrasslawn_patch_a took 0.000 seconds. [0m

[31m16:00:22 XGen Error: Error in expression "smlgrasslawn_patch_a::arnold_auxRenderPatch". [v010_asset_fol_villagebridgegrasstall__villagebridge_tallgrass.abc]

Error: Prep errors:

Line 1: No variable named $v010_asset_fol_villagebridgegrasstall__villagebridge_tallgrass.abc

[Stephen.Blair]

Those errors are coming from XGen, which is trying to evaluate that string as an expression for some reason.

I've seen a few cases like this, sometimes the user says the render still works.

Let me do some testing, because it's been at least a year since that last time I looked into this...

[markus.ng]

Thanks Stephen,

Yes, the render will still work as long as I have the .abc that matches the xgen file name in the same directory.

Seems like It just mean that the auxRenderPath is not something that we can functionally use on the farm. I think.

[Stephen.Blair]

Seems to work for me. I still do get those Syntax error near ':' errors, which I suppose your render manager catches, and then cancels the render?

I don't have any abc file in the scenes folder. The only abc is in the alembic/cache folder, and I use that as the arnold_auxRenderPatch

I used Process Monitor to see what abc file was used, and I eventually figured how to see visually whether the auxRenderPath was used: