'Building scene' - Indigo freezes

[Bosseye]

Hi all. Odd problem with Indigo 2.4.10 and Sketchup which I've been using with no issues for a couple of months now.

I've been making a scene in sketchup and test rendering every few minutes to check my lighting etc - scene is just a small toilet cubicle with 2 textures in at the moment. All fine for an hour or so, modelling, test rendering etc, then I hit to render again and suddenly Indigo is taking over a minute to open after I click render and then it hangs at the 'BUILDING SCENE' stage. And just sits there not doing anything.

Previous tests were taking maybe 10 seconds to export and then 5 or 6 seconds to build and start rendering, now its done nothing in the last 10 minutes

Whats gone wrong? I've tried removing the latest textures and meshes I put in to see if one of them has screwed it up, but nothing.

[Bosseye]

If it gives anyone any clues, after Indigo hangs and I shut it down its not being dropped as a process in Windows Task manager - ie if I try and render 5 times and it hangs at building scene 5 times and i shut it down 5 times, I still have 5 Indigos running as a process but not an application in task manager.

Seems to be just this model, others seem to render fine. I've tried starting the model from scratch and again it will render fine for a few times then simply hang at building Scene. Seems to be the issue only occurs once I've dropped in my meshes I want - is it likely to be something to do with one of these? I've tried dropping them in one at a time but theres no rhyme or reason to it - I can get it to render with everything present and then it suddenly won't.

Any help guys, I 'm using this commercially and the deadline is tick tick ticking....

[Bosseye]

Oh and I've tried re-installing indigo to no avail.

Edit: Have installed 2.4.13 but still the problem. So must be something in the sketchup model surely?

[CTZn]

System wise, make sure that there is enough available physical RAM (Indigo may run in virtual memory ?) and that the hard drives have sufficient space.

In case you added or edited geometries right before rendering, remove them to see if they are not the direct cause for this. Go ahed with reducing the scene to narrow the issue down to a mesh or material. You can navigate down to the "Render Log" section of the UI in case there would be a hint.

Are you using displacement or subdivisions ? If so check the settings, then may be wild.

If the issue is persisting after a scene cleaning and system reboot, please pack the scene (Tools > pack Indigo Scen) and send the PIGS to: support@indigorender.com.

Also experienced SketchUp users may have a solution for you ...

edit: check also that there is no Indigo process going underway. Under some quitting circumstances the Indigo process keeps running and using ressources even though the UI disappeared. Usually, if one forced Indigo to quit through the UI during scene building.

[Bosseye]

Hi Hi, thanks for that.

Have just done the following and I'm hugely confused - have started another brand new sketchup model and into that have dropped one by one every single mesh and texture thats in the model that won't build. After I copied something in, I rendered to check - all working fine. Now the new model has identical stuff with identical settings and renders fine, the old one simply won't.

I've rebooted the entire system twice now.

I'll just have to start all over again (for the third time) and see if the issue rears its ugly head again. I just don't understand why it was all rendering fine and then simply fell over.

[CTZn]

I'm not a SketchUp user myself but I seem to remember that I heard about that issue, and about the very same fix

No worries Bosseye, I'm glad that your scene is up and running again !

[Bosseye]

Ok, spoke too soon!

The problem has spread to even brand new sketchup models. Literally just started a model, theres only one emitter in there, the only custom material - the scene should take literally seconds to build (it takes seconds to open indigo) but its hanging on:

Building Scene | 0.00000 samples / second (1.#INFO micro-seconds / sample)

Renderlog here:

Executing 'C:\Documents and Settings\adown\Application Data/Indigo Renderer/default.igs --settings <width>1280</width><height>1024</height><super_sample_factor>2</super_sample_factor><image_save_period>60.00000</image_save_period><save_igi>true</save_igi><info_overlay>false</info_overlay><watermark>false</watermark><gpu>false</gpu><bidirectional>true</bidirectional><metropolis>true</metropolis><halt_samples_per_pixel>-1</halt_samples_per_pixel><halt_time>-1</halt_time> --thread_priority belownormal'
Indigo Renderer v2.4.13, Windows 32-bit build.
Licence verified, licence type: Indigo 2.x Full, licensed to '<John Laundon>'
Scene file path: 'C:\Documents and Settings\adown\Application Data/Indigo Renderer/default.igs'
Sky zenith luminance: 3387.09519 cdm^-2
Processing included XML file 'C:\Documents and Settings\adown\Application Data\Indigo Renderer\default-meshes.igs...
Light luminous flux (geometry name=ACD - WC LIGHT): 1.750E+003 lm
Light luminous flux (geometry name=EnvSphereGeometry): 9.116E+009 lm
Building Object Tree...
2 objects.
calcing root AABB.
AABB: (0.512257, 0.180721, 0.000000), (6.519057, 7.537842, 2.300000)
max tree depth: 4
reserving N nodes: 2(16 B)
total nodes used: 1 (8 B)
total leafgeom size: 2 (8 B)
Finished building tree.
AutoFocus: setting camera focus distance to 2.12778 m.
Num buffer layers: 1
Master buffer size: 60.847 MB
Auxiliary buffer size: 140.443 MB
Settings:
Image width: 1280 px
Image height: 1024 px
Internal image width: 2576 px
Internal image height: 2064 px
Verbose: false
Display period: 10.00000 s
Image save period: 60.00000 s
Frame upload period: 120.00000 s
Splat filter: FastBox
Downsize filter: mn_cubic, blur=0.60000, ring=0.20000, support=2.00000px
Render region: false
Supersample factor: 2
Metropolis: true
Bidirectional: true
Hybrid: false
Aperture diffraction: false
Post-process diffraction: true
Auto setting number of threads to 2.
Finished initialisation (Time Taken: 0.48203 s)
Time to render thread start: 0.48301 s.
Starting threads... (num threads: 2)
Starting render thread. (RNG seed=1)
Starting render thread. (RNG seed=2)
------------------------------------------------
Total render time elapsed: 9 s
Done 0k samples (0.00000 samples per pixel)
0.00000 samples / second (1.#INF0 micro-seconds / sample)
------------------------------------------------
Total render time elapsed: 20 s
Done 0k samples (0.00000 samples per pixel)
0.00000 samples / second (1.#INF0 micro-seconds / sample)
------------------------------------------------
Total render time elapsed: 30 s
Done 0k samples (0.00000 samples per pixel)
0.00000 samples / second (1.#INF0 micro-seconds / sample)
Render thread terminating.
------------------------------------------------
Total render time elapsed: 36 s
Done 0k samples (0.00000 samples per pixel)
0.00000 samples / second (1.#INF0 micro-seconds / sample)
Render thread terminating.
------------------------------------------------
Total render time elapsed: 36 s
Done 0k samples (0.00000 samples per pixel)
0.00000 samples / second (1.#INF0 micro-seconds / sample)
------------------------------------------------
Total render time elapsed: 36 s
Done 0k samples (0.00000 samples per pixel)
0.00000 samples / second (1.#INF0 micro-seconds / sample)
------------------------------------------------
Total render time elapsed: 36 s
Done 0k samples (0.00000 samples per pixel)
0.00000 samples / second (1.#INF0 micro-seconds / sample)
------------------------------------------------
Total render time elapsed: 36 s
Done 0k samples (0.00000 samples per pixel)
0.00000 samples / second (1.#INF0 micro-seconds / sample)
------------------------------------------------
Total render time elapsed: 36 s
Done 0k samples (0.00000 samples per pixel)
0.00000 samples / second (1.#INF0 micro-seconds / sample)
------------------------------------------------
Total render time elapsed: 36 s
Done 0k samples (0.00000 samples per pixel)
0.00000 samples / second (1.#INF0 micro-seconds / sample)
------------------------------------------------
Total render time elapsed: 36 s
Done 0k samples (0.00000 samples per pixel)
0.00000 samples / second (1.#INF0 micro-seconds / sample)
------------------------------------------------
Total render time elapsed: 36 s
Done 0k samples (0.00000 samples per pixel)
0.00000 samples / second (1.#INF0 micro-seconds / sample)

Note it seems to be trying to render and doing 0.000 samples. I stopped the black screen at 36 seconds in but its still trying to do something beyond that. Remember, this is a scene with literally 4 walls and 1 emitter. No materials beyond that, so as basic as it gets.

Seriously, wtf is going on? I switched to 2.4.13 to see if that helped, but nope.

[CTZn]

Nothing fishy that I can see in the log, but it's definitly in the scene.

Typically this happen when Indigo detected ligh(s) in the scene, but that for some reason it can't make it to the camera. Light is emitted and camera is standing by, waiting for a first sample.

Are you using displacement or exit portals ? Is there an opening btw ?

At this point I would warmly recommend that you share the scene with us. You can:

• apply the same debugging scheme as earlier
  change the camera and/or lights position(s) drastically
  pack the scene with Indigo and post it here (best)
  post wires
  post a skp file, but then do so in the SketchUp Exporter forum to hit your target (good pick)
  look for similar topics in the SketchUp forum where the issue was solved

The camera may be outside a portal enclosed volume (room), eaten by an over-displaced object, or lights may be in such situations (coplanarity: respect a minimal distance between surfaces). Any other light-blocking scenario may apply. It may happen either by an exporter or user mistake.

I can't tell about SketcUp specific issues or workflows.

[Bosseye]

Thanks for the tips - I also had a thought that maybe my camera was in a wall or something which wasn't obvious in the scene but which was causing it all to glitch but it wasn't. No exit portals, no openings, no displacement or bump maps present. Its an entirely closed volume. Very odd considering it was rendering fine then suddenly wouldn't

However! Seems to be fixed for no obvious reason. Have downloaded indigo 2.4.13 again, also the latest Skindigo and updated to Sketchup 8. Had the same issued intially which made me pound my head on the desk in despair, but suddenly for no obvious reason it all appears to be rendering ok.

Following your thinking I narrowed things down the problem appearing when setting the background to black and turning off the sun. 9 times out of 10 if I switched the sun back on and chose a different view it would render. Maybe a random glitch with the skethup scene tab or some bug with the sun off. Who knows!

Very bizarre, but thanks for your replies - very much appreciated.

[Soup]

Glad you managed to get it working, but inconsistent bugs like that may turn up again
If the background is black, with no sun, it is possible the emitter is not working properly. If it happens again, send us the scene and we'll have a look for you.

[Meelis]

Indigo 2.4.13 64bit
I get same error with SSS material using <rgb> <scattering_coefficient_spectrum>
Building scene | 0.00000 samples / second ( 1.#INFO micro-seconds / sample)

Total render time elapsed 18 m, 10 s
Done 0k samples.

All is black.

Material is on 1M poly model, it worked on preview scene but not with 10x higher rgb coef scattering.

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<scenedata>
	<medium>
		<name>Milk</name>
		<precedence>5</precedence>
		<basic>
			<ior>1.34</ior>
			<cauchy_b_coeff>0</cauchy_b_coeff>
			<absorption_coefficient_spectrum>
				<rgb>
					<rgb>10 30 130</rgb>
					<gamma>2.2</gamma>
				</rgb>
			</absorption_coefficient_spectrum>
			<subsurface_scattering>
				<scattering_coefficient_spectrum>
					<rgb>
						<rgb>11.873 13.293 14.589</rgb>
						<gamma>2.2</gamma>
					</rgb>
				</scattering_coefficient_spectrum>
				<phase_function>
					<henyey_greenstein>
						<g_spectrum>
							<uniform>
								<value>0</value>
							</uniform>
						</g_spectrum>
					</henyey_greenstein>
				</phase_function>
			</subsurface_scattering>
		</basic>
	</medium>
	<material>
		<name>Milk</name>
		<specular>
			<transparent>true</transparent>
			<internal_medium_name>Milk</internal_medium_name>
		</specular>
	</material>

</scenedata>

[CTZn]

Code: Select all

                  <g_spectrum>
                     <uniform>
                        <value>0</value>
                     </uniform>
                  </g_spectrum>

should be

Code: Select all

                  <g_spectrum>
                     <uniform/>
                  </g_spectrum>

That's one thing.

[Meelis]

Code: Select all

                  <g_spectrum>
                     <uniform>
                        <value>0</value>
                     </uniform>
                  </g_spectrum>

should be

Code: Select all

                  <g_spectrum>
                     <uniform/>
                  </g_spectrum>

That's one thing.

Doesn't work, i get error with that

Error: Error while loading materials: could not find element 'value'. (In element 'uniform', around line 26, column 29)

I found out that only path tracing works with that kind of SSS materials like:

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<scenedata>
	<medium>
		<name>Milk</name>
		<precedence>5</precedence>
		<basic>
			<ior>1.34</ior>
			<cauchy_b_coeff>0</cauchy_b_coeff>
			<absorption_coefficient_spectrum>
				<rgb>
					<rgb>10 30 130</rgb>
					<gamma>2.2</gamma>
				</rgb>
			</absorption_coefficient_spectrum>
			<subsurface_scattering>
				<scattering_coefficient_spectrum>
					<rgb>
						<rgb>118.73 132.93 145.89</rgb>
						<gamma>2.2</gamma>
					</rgb>
				</scattering_coefficient_spectrum>
				<phase_function>
					<henyey_greenstein>
						<g_spectrum>
							<rgb>
								<rgb>0.75 0.714 0.681</rgb>
								<gamma>2.2</gamma>
							</rgb>
						</g_spectrum>
					</henyey_greenstein>
				</phase_function>
			</subsurface_scattering>
		</basic>
	</medium>
	<material>
		<name>Milk</name>
		<specular>
			<transparent>true</transparent>
			<internal_medium_name>Milk</internal_medium_name>
		</specular>
	</material>

</scenedata>

[Meelis]

My milk material absorption was wrong (correct is 1.533 4.6 19.933), checked over the older indigo manual and got the right values.

Now i get the material to render sometimes even with bi-dir mlt after 5 min it comes out the stage Building scene | 0.00000 samples / second ( 1.#INFO micro-seconds / sample)
building scene x 2064
but sometimes it doesn't come out of that stage even after 20 min.

* 1'st impression is that if network rendering is of then Building scene finishes.
* 2'nt possibility is:

Doesn't finish after 27 min

Code: Select all

				<phase_function>
					<henyey_greenstein>
						<g_spectrum>
							<rgb>
								<rgb>0.75 0.714 0.681</rgb>
								<gamma>2.2</gamma>
							</rgb>
						</g_spectrum>
					</henyey_greenstein>
				</phase_function>

Finishes after 5 min

Code: Select all

				<phase_function>
					<henyey_greenstein>
						<g_spectrum>
							<rgb>
								<rgb>0.075 0.0714 0.0681</rgb>
								<gamma>2.2</gamma>
							</rgb>
						</g_spectrum>
					</henyey_greenstein>
				</phase_function>

What's wrong with that material?

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<scenedata>
	<medium>
		<name>Milk</name>
		<precedence>5</precedence>
		<basic>
			<ior>1.34</ior>
			<cauchy_b_coeff>0</cauchy_b_coeff>
			<absorption_coefficient_spectrum>
				<rgb>
					<rgb>1.533 4.6 19.933</rgb>
					<gamma>2.2</gamma>
				</rgb>
			</absorption_coefficient_spectrum>
			<subsurface_scattering>
				<scattering_coefficient_spectrum>
					<rgb>
						<rgb>89.5963 100.3119 110.0918</rgb>
						<gamma>2.2</gamma>
					</rgb>
				</scattering_coefficient_spectrum>
				<phase_function>
					<henyey_greenstein>
						<g_spectrum>
							<rgb>
								<rgb>0.75 0.714 0.681</rgb>
								<gamma>2.2</gamma>
							</rgb>
						</g_spectrum>
					</henyey_greenstein>
				</phase_function>
			</subsurface_scattering>
		</basic>
	</medium>
	<material>
		<name>Milk</name>
		<specular>
			<transparent>true</transparent>
			<internal_medium_name>Milk</internal_medium_name>
		</specular>
	</material>

</scenedata>

[CTZn]

Code: Select all

                  <g_spectrum>
                     <uniform>
                        <value>0</value>
                     </uniform>
                  </g_spectrum>

should be

Code: Select all

                  <g_spectrum>
                     <uniform/>
                  </g_spectrum>

That's one thing.

Doesn't work, i get error with that

My mistake, I meant replace the whole HG tag with

Code: Select all

                     <uniform/>

. But that's getting you nowhere with milk anyways.

What kind of lighting are you using in the scene ? Is the mesh volume well sealed ?