Batch render is taking 18 seconds between frames to authorize network license

[amercier]

I am trying to render out a ~5500 frame animation (Maya 2020 / Arnold 6.2.1.1 / MtoA 4.2.4) at super low quality just for preview purposes (CPU render, Camera AA at 2, Diffuse at 1, Specular at 1, everything else at 0).

I have a 5950x (16 core, 32 threads), and the frame itself renders in about 1 second. However, when batch rendering, the frame will complete in the normal 1 second, but then Maya will hang for 18 seconds before moving onto the next frame. So I'm getting 3 frames per minute, when I could be getting more like 55-60 frames per minute if it wasn't hanging so long. I get the same results when GPU rendering as well (RTX 2060). My current scene has just a few pieces of relatively simple geometry and 5 lights. I have even tried creating a super simple scene with a sphere on a plane with 1 light and get the same result.

Attached is the log, where it appears that it's getting hung up for 18 seconds "authorizing with license manager".

At this rate, a 5500 frame animation will take about 1.5 hours of actual render time, and 28 hours waiting for the network license.

00:00:00   878MB         | log started Sun Aug 22 08:37:53 2021
00:00:00 878MB | Arnold 6.2.1.1 [fbf3b21a] windows clang-10.0.1 oiio-2.3.2 osl-1.12.0 vdb-7.1.1 clm-2.0.0.235 rlm-14.1.3 optix-6.6.0 2021/06/04 18:35:03
00:00:00 878MB | host application: MtoA 4.2.4 3c94e997 (fix-4.2.4) Maya 2020
00:00:00 878MB | running on KRAFTUR, pid=24544
00:00:00 878MB | 1 x AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16-Core Processor (16 cores, 32 logical) with 65444MB
00:00:00 878MB | NVIDIA driver version 471.68 (Optix 60801)
00:00:00 878MB | GPU 0: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 @ 1680MHz (compute 7.5) with 6144MB (931MB available) (NVLink:0)
00:00:00 878MB | Windows 10 (version 10.0, build 19043)
00:00:00 878MB | soft limit for open files is set at 2048
00:00:00 878MB |
00:00:00 878MB | [metadata] loading metadata file: C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Arnold/maya2020/plug-ins/mtoa.mtd
00:00:00 895MB | [mtoa] RGBA attribute file25.defaultColor has no alpha component: exporting as RGBA
00:00:00 895MB | [mtoa] RGBA attribute file26.defaultColor has no alpha component: exporting as RGBA
00:00:00 888MB | [AiMakeTx] maketx: no update required for "C:/Users/Dropbox/Projectsed/Products/Lower Extremity/models/textures/environment.tx"
00:00:00 888MB |
00:00:00 888MB | authorizing with license manager: network ...
00:00:17 888MB | [network] authorized for "87287ARNOL_2020_0F" in 0:17.53
00:00:17 888MB | [network] expiration date: 2022/03/01, in use: 2/200
00:00:17 888MB |
00:00:17 889MB | [color_manager] no color manager is active
00:00:17 889MB | [color_manager] rendering color space is "linear" with declared chromaticities:
00:00:17 889MB | r(0.6400, 0.3300) g(0.3000, 0.6000) b(0.1500, 0.0600) and w(0.3127, 0.3290)
00:00:17 900MB |
00:00:17 900MB | there are 3 lights and 10 objects:
00:00:17 900MB | 1 persp_camera
00:00:17 900MB | 3 quad_light
00:00:17 900MB | 2 image
00:00:17 900MB | 1 utility
00:00:17 900MB | 4 standard_surface
00:00:17 900MB | 1 driver_tiff
00:00:17 900MB | 1 box_filter
00:00:17 900MB | 1 gaussian_filter
00:00:17 900MB | 9 polymesh
00:00:17 900MB | 1 list_aggregate
00:00:17 900MB | 1 batch_progress_driver
00:00:17 900MB |
00:00:17 900MB | rendering image at 1920 x 1080, 2 AA samples
00:00:17 900MB | AA samples max <disabled>
00:00:17 900MB | AA sample clamp <disabled>
00:00:17 900MB | diffuse samples 2 / depth 1
00:00:17 900MB | specular samples 2 / depth 1
00:00:17 900MB | transmission <disabled by samples>
00:00:17 900MB | volume indirect <disabled by samples>
00:00:17 900MB | total depth 10
00:00:17 900MB | bssrdf <disabled>
00:00:17 900MB | transparency depth 10
00:00:17 900MB | initializing 26 nodes ...
00:00:17 905MB | creating root object list ...
00:00:17 905MB | node initialization done in 0:00.01 (multithreaded)
00:00:17 905MB | updating 27 nodes ...
00:00:17 906MB | /Lights/end/endShape: quad_light using 1 sample, 2 volume samples
00:00:17 906MB | /Lights/fill/fillShape: quad_light using 1 sample, 2 volume samples
00:00:17 906MB | /Lights/key/keyShape: quad_light using 1 sample, 2 volume samples
00:00:17 906MB | scene bounds: (-7153.06396 -7153.06201 -7153.06543) -> (7153.06201 7153.06201 7153.06299)
00:00:17 906MB | node update done in 0:00.00 (multithreaded)
00:00:17 906MB | [aov] parsing 2 output statements ...
00:00:17 906MB | [aov] registered driver: "defaultArnoldDriver/driver_tiff.RGBA" (driver_tiff)
00:00:17 906MB | [aov] * "RGBA" of type RGBA filtered by "defaultArnoldFilter/gaussian_filter" (gaussian_filter)
00:00:17 906MB | [aov] registered driver: "progress_driver" (batch_progress_driver)
00:00:17 906MB | [aov] * "Z" of type FLOAT filtered by "progress_driver_filter" (box_filter)
00:00:17 906MB | [aov] done preparing 3 AOVs for 2 outputs to 2 drivers (0 deep AOVs)
00:00:17 962MB | starting 32 bucket workers of size 64x64 ...
00:00:17 973MB | [accel] list_aggregate bvh4 done - 0:00.00 (wall time) - 9 prims, 1 key
00:00:17 978MB | 0% done - 25 rays/pixel
00:00:17 980MB | [accel] polymesh bvh4 done - 0:00.00 (wall time) - 17901 prims, 1 key
00:00:17 981MB | [accel] polymesh bvh4 done - 0:00.00 (wall time) - 138626 prims, 1 key
00:00:17 981MB | [accel] polymesh bvh4 done - 0:00.00 (wall time) - 400 prims, 1 key
00:00:17 984MB | [accel] polymesh bvh4 done - 0:00.00 (wall time) - 6653 prims, 1 key
00:00:17 988MB | [accel] polymesh bvh4 done - 0:00.00 (wall time) - 22487 prims, 1 key
00:00:17 990MB | [accel] polymesh bvh4 done - 0:00.00 (wall time) - 22487 prims, 1 key
00:00:17 990MB | [accel] polymesh bvh4 done - 0:00.00 (wall time) - 21195 prims, 1 key
00:00:17 990MB | [accel] polymesh bvh4 done - 0:00.00 (wall time) - 17901 prims, 1 key
00:00:17 991MB | [accel] polymesh bvh4 done - 0:00.00 (wall time) - 21195 prims, 1 key
00:00:17 991MB | 5% done - 6 rays/pixel
00:00:18 994MB | 10% done - 24 rays/pixel
00:00:18 994MB | 15% done - 19 rays/pixel
00:00:18 994MB | 20% done - 12 rays/pixel
00:00:18 995MB | 25% done - 8 rays/pixel
00:00:18 995MB | 30% done - 7 rays/pixel
00:00:18 995MB | 35% done - 8 rays/pixel
00:00:18 995MB | 40% done - 7 rays/pixel
00:00:18 995MB | 45% done - 6 rays/pixel
00:00:18 995MB | 50% done - 6 rays/pixel
00:00:18 995MB | 55% done - 5 rays/pixel
00:00:18 995MB | 60% done - 6 rays/pixel
00:00:18 995MB | 65% done - 5 rays/pixel
00:00:18 995MB | 70% done - 5 rays/pixel
00:00:18 995MB | 75% done - 5 rays/pixel
00:00:18 995MB | 80% done - 5 rays/pixel
00:00:18 995MB | 85% done - 5 rays/pixel
00:00:18 995MB | 90% done - 5 rays/pixel
00:00:18 996MB | 95% done - 4 rays/pixel
00:00:19 996MB | 100% done - 3 rays/pixel
00:00:19 996MB | render done in 0:01.131
00:00:19 996MB | [driver_tiff] writing file `C:/Users/Dropbox/Projects/Products/Lower Extremity/images/interior/SWOL_v003.1600.tif'
00:00:19   986MB         | render done

[Stephen.Blair]

Probably a slow network connection.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/client-management/troubleshoot-tcpip

Or maybe you have multiple license servers specified in ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE, and some of them are not valid. For example:

You could use Arnold License Manager to run a diagnostic test render, or better, the command prompt with FLEXLM_DIAGNOSTICS=3 (as shown above in my screenshot)

[amercier]

Thanks for the tips. I went into the license manager and changed the license type from Network to Single User and now there is 0 delay between frames. Appreciate the input!

[Stephen.Blair]

@

Do you have a single-user license, or are you using a trial?

I see you have 200 Arnold licenses on the license server.

[amercier]

Seems to be both. My company gave me access to their Arnold license server but apparently I have single user access as well, since it gave me the green light when switching from network to single user.