Commandline Rendering keeps synchronizing and doesn't start rendering #62833

New Issue

Manuel Albert · 2019-03-22T10:18:22+01:00

Manuel Albert commented

2019-03-22 10:18:22 +01:00

System Information
Operating system: Windows 7
Graphics card: NVIDIA Quadro K5200
System Memory: 192 GB
CPU: 2x Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2640 v3 @ 2.60GHz

Blender Version
Broken: 2.80, 0bbff8a711, master, 2019-03-21 00:58
Worked: Tested a few different versions back to Blender 2.80, 790cb7799d, master, 2019-02-19 and all tested didn't work.

Short description of error
Commandline Rendering keeps synchronizing and doesn't start rendering. The console doesn't crash it just keeps synchronizing (after 12 hours I cancelled the process).

It works when started through Blenders Interface (Render Animation) and the scene preparation before rendering takes about 5-10minutes and then it starts and all renders as expected.

The file contains a large environment with lots of plants, rocks, trees, other assets linked in and a highpoly car model (windows shows: 1,76 GB [1.898.231.532 Bytes]) appended into the Set. The environment itself (without the car) is approx. 1.25 GB in size. The complete file size (as shown by Windows) is 3,02 GB (3.243.675.632 Bytes). It peaks around 13/14 GB during rendering and only CPU is used.

I attached two screenshots from console during start (-b -d options) and the system-info.txt

Exact steps for others to reproduce the error
Start cmd.exe, change into directory where the blender executalbe resides and use "blender -b -a"
Blender opens in background mode, opens the file and starts synchronizing (forever).

Because of NDA I cannot attach a blend file and the problem doesn't occure with smaller files. I hope that the information supplied is sufficient.

Thank you.

system-info.txt

**System Information** Operating system: Windows 7 Graphics card: NVIDIA Quadro K5200 System Memory: 192 GB CPU: 2x Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2640 v3 @ 2.60GHz **Blender Version** Broken: 2.80, 0bbff8a71138, master, 2019-03-21 00:58 Worked: Tested a few different versions back to Blender 2.80, 790cb7799dcf, master, 2019-02-19 and all tested didn't work. **Short description of error** Commandline Rendering keeps synchronizing and doesn't start rendering. The console doesn't crash it just keeps synchronizing (after 12 hours I cancelled the process). It works when started through Blenders Interface (Render Animation) and the scene preparation before rendering takes about 5-10minutes and then it starts and all renders as expected. The file contains a large environment with lots of plants, rocks, trees, other assets linked in and a highpoly car model (windows shows: 1,76 GB [1.898.231.532 Bytes]) appended into the Set. The environment itself (without the car) is approx. 1.25 GB in size. The complete file size (as shown by Windows) is 3,02 GB (3.243.675.632 Bytes). It peaks around 13/14 GB during rendering and only CPU is used. I attached two screenshots from console during start (-b -d options) and the system-info.txt **Exact steps for others to reproduce the error** Start cmd.exe, change into directory where the blender executalbe resides and use "blender -b <filepath> -a" Blender opens in background mode, opens the file and starts synchronizing (forever). Because of NDA I cannot attach a blend file and the problem doesn't occure with smaller files. I hope that the information supplied is sufficient. Thank you. [system-info.txt](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F6864355/system-info.txt) ![screenshots_02.png](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F6864361/screenshots_02.png) ![screenshot_01.png](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F6864360/screenshot_01.png)

Manuel Albert commented

2019-03-22 10:18:22 +01:00

Added subscriber: @ManuelAlbert

Philipp Oeser commented

2019-03-22 10:38:05 +01:00

Added subscribers: @Sergey, @brecht, @lichtwerk

Philipp Oeser commented

2019-03-22 10:38:05 +01:00

You say "forever", but screenshots suggest there is actually progress (synchronizing one object after the other).
So does this "stop" at a certain point (no more progress)?

Also it seems like this is already consuming ~20GB [see screenshot], are you possibly running out of RAM (leading to swapping)?
[not quite sure what could cause such a difference between rendering from the UI vs. from the commandline]

Definitely not easy to reproduce if we dont have access to the files, but maybe this rings a bell for @Sergey or @brecht?

You say "forever", but screenshots suggest there is actually progress (synchronizing one object after the other). So does this "stop" at a certain point (no more progress)? Also it seems like this is already consuming ~20GB [see screenshot], are you possibly running out of RAM (leading to swapping)? [not quite sure what could cause such a difference between rendering from the UI vs. from the commandline] Definitely not easy to reproduce if we dont have access to the files, but maybe this rings a bell for @Sergey or @brecht?

Manuel Albert commented

2019-03-22 10:41:23 +01:00

Yes, "it keeps progressing over and over" is probably better :). It doesn't stop.
I do have 192GB Ram of System Memory and it doesn't even get close to running out of memoy (uses around 40-50 GB in total).

And as stated above it renders just fine using the regular interface "Render Animation" option.

Yes, "it keeps progressing over and over" is probably better :). It doesn't stop. I do have 192GB Ram of System Memory and it doesn't even get close to running out of memoy (uses around 40-50 GB in total). And as stated above it renders just fine using the regular interface "Render Animation" option. ![screenshot_35-09-54_elapsed_01.png](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F6864529/screenshot_35-09-54_elapsed_01.png)

Philipp Oeser commented

2019-03-22 10:45:04 +01:00

So you see the same objects synchronized twice (or more)?

Manuel Albert commented

2019-03-22 10:47:42 +01:00

Actually I can't tell since there are 7,144 objects in the scene withouth the ones that get linked in. Hard to tell.

Brecht Van Lommel commented

2019-03-22 10:51:46 +01:00

We need a .blend file to investigate the issue, it's unclear what in this scene might be causing issues.

You can remove objects and materials, or replace them with dummies, turn off render settings, .. until you narrow down exactly what the problem is.

We need a .blend file to investigate the issue, it's unclear what in this scene might be causing issues. You can remove objects and materials, or replace them with dummies, turn off render settings, .. until you narrow down exactly what the problem is.

Manuel Albert commented

2019-03-22 10:56:45 +01:00

I am working on it right now. It may take some time, though.

Philipp Oeser commented

2019-03-22 11:02:08 +01:00

In #62833#646077, @ManuelAlbert wrote:
Actually I can't tell since there are 7,144 objects in the scene withouth the ones that get linked in. Hard to tell.

how about redirecting the output to a file blender -b <filepath> -a >foo.txt and search for double entries?

> In #62833#646077, @ManuelAlbert wrote: > Actually I can't tell since there are 7,144 objects in the scene withouth the ones that get linked in. Hard to tell. how about redirecting the output to a file `blender -b <filepath> -a >foo.txt` and search for double entries?

Manuel Albert commented

2019-03-22 11:33:52 +01:00

Okay, thanks for the hint. The linked in and instanced plants are syncronized several times of course since there are a lot of them. Other objects such as car, parts of the set and objects used by the particle system appear only ones in the log. So there's nothing obvious going wrong to my understanding. After 12 hours yesterday it seemd to be still synchronizing the plants as it seems to be in the foo.txt as well.

The foo.txt keeps growing quickly (after 15minutes approx. 160 MB).

Is there a way to supply a file to a developer non publicly?

Okay, thanks for the hint. The linked in and instanced plants are syncronized several times of course since there are a lot of them. Other objects such as car, parts of the set and objects used by the particle system appear only ones in the log. So there's nothing obvious going wrong to my understanding. After 12 hours yesterday it seemd to be still synchronizing the plants as it seems to be in the foo.txt as well. The foo.txt keeps growing quickly (after 15minutes approx. 160 MB). Is there a way to supply a file to a developer non publicly?

Brecht Van Lommel commented

2019-03-22 12:15:04 +01:00

You can send me the file privately (to my username @blender.org), however we still expect users to try to isolate the problem first.

If the plants are specifically the problem, try deleting everything else. If you set samples to 1, Simplify settings to 0 and set a material override to a simple material then rendering is usually quite fast.

You can send me the file privately (to my username @blender.org), however we still expect users to try to isolate the problem first. If the plants are specifically the problem, try deleting everything else. If you set samples to 1, Simplify settings to 0 and set a material override to a simple material then rendering is usually quite fast.

Manuel Albert commented

2019-03-22 13:01:05 +01:00

Thank you. I will do my best.

Manuel Albert commented

2019-03-25 07:55:31 +01:00

@brecht I have send you the file.

I tested on different systems as well:

Windows 7 (system-info is included in the zip-file)
The file renders when clicking Render Animation in the GUI.
The file doesn't render when run through commandline and keeps synchronizing.
Windows 10 (system-info included in the zip-file)
The file renders when clicking Render Animation in the GUI.
The file doesn't render when run through commandline and keeps synchronizing.
Linux Mint 19.1 (system-info included in the zip-file)
The file renders when clicking Render Animation in the GUI.
The file renders when run through commandline (faster than Blender GUI variant).

I also checked on each linked library and tested if they work - didn't notice anything that doesn't work.

Since the file renders fine when the rendering happens through blenders interface but not through commandline on windows 7 & 10, different pc configurations and also renders without any issues on linux mint 19.1 (either GUI and commandline),

I would think that even if it is caused by the linked in library there's something wrong on windows and it probably is supposed to work.

EDIT:
I started a rendertest in our companies renderfarm (windows 7 nodes with a lot of power) using deadline as a render manager [which also creates a simple command] and the job did not render but synchronize for 2 days 19 hours 32 minutes before canceled through user. The same file renders about two hours on a similar machine when rendering is done through blenders user interface including synchronization.

@brecht I have send you the file. I tested on different systems as well: 1) Windows 7 (system-info is included in the zip-file) The file renders when clicking Render Animation in the GUI. The file doesn't render when run through commandline and keeps synchronizing. 2) Windows 10 (system-info included in the zip-file) The file renders when clicking Render Animation in the GUI. The file doesn't render when run through commandline and keeps synchronizing. 3) Linux Mint 19.1 (system-info included in the zip-file) The file renders when clicking Render Animation in the GUI. The file renders when run through commandline (faster than Blender GUI variant). I also checked on each linked library and tested if they work - didn't notice anything that doesn't work. Since the file renders fine when the rendering happens through blenders interface but not through commandline on windows 7 & 10, different pc configurations and also renders without any issues on linux mint 19.1 (either GUI and commandline), I would think that even if it is caused by the linked in library there's something wrong on windows and it probably is supposed to work. EDIT: I started a rendertest in our companies renderfarm (windows 7 nodes with a lot of power) using deadline as a render manager [which also creates a simple command] and the job did not render but synchronize for 2 days 19 hours 32 minutes before canceled through user. The same file renders about two hours on a similar machine when rendering is done through blenders user interface including synchronization.

Manuel Albert commented

2019-03-29 09:15:21 +01:00

@brecht after seeing your commit (https://lists.blender.org/pipermail/bf-blender-cvs/2019-March/121596.html) I tested the scene again and it renders without issues. It renders just as supposed via commandline. So I guess this reports status can be changed to solved. Thank you very much.

Philipp Oeser commented

2019-03-29 09:24:14 +01:00

Changed status from 'Open' to: 'Resolved'

Philipp Oeser closed this issue

2019-03-29 09:24:14 +01:00

Philipp Oeser self-assigned this 2019-03-29 09:24:14 +01:00

Philipp Oeser commented

2019-03-29 09:24:14 +01:00

Thanks indeed @brecht [good to know printing to command prompt can have such a drastic impact on windows...] and glad to hear this is solved then.

Ricardo Drehmer commented

2019-09-13 04:17:31 +02:00

Added subscriber: @RDrehmer

Ricardo Drehmer commented

2019-09-13 04:17:31 +02:00

Sorry to bring this ghost back to life, @brecht , but I'm getting the EXACTLY same issue described here with v2.80 (stable) and 2.81 beta.

Although it doesn't take "forever", it takes almost double the time to render via CMD on Windows than on Blender itself. It seems to be the same issue: object synchronization (and printing to console).
My scene consists in about 2800 objects, all low poly, but linked from an Alembic file.

I think I could provide you some files, if you need. Please, let me know.

Sorry to bring this ghost back to life, @brecht , but I'm getting the EXACTLY same issue described here with v2.80 (stable) and 2.81 beta. Although it doesn't take "forever", it takes almost double the time to render via CMD on Windows than on Blender itself. It seems to be the same issue: object synchronization (and printing to console). My scene consists in about 2800 objects, all low poly, but linked from an Alembic file. I think I could provide you some files, if you need. Please, let me know.

Brecht Van Lommel commented

2019-09-13 08:16:20 +02:00

We don't reopen old reports like this, you can always report a new bug with all the required information if you want.

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Commandline Rendering keeps synchronizing and doesn't start rendering #62833