I just downloaded Houdini Apprentice 11.0.504 and installed it. I was following a tutorial and tried to render an image. I followed the tutorial to the letter. When I tried to render it, I got an error message: “Mantra: Could not open imager”.

This is a clean install and I even paid the $99 to have watermark free renders. Does anyone know what would cause this error?

I am using an nVidia GeForce GTX 280 card. I know it is not a workstation card; but, I have used lower end GeForce cards with the older Houdini versions and was able to render. My computer is an Intel Core 2 Duo 3.16GHz with 2 GB ram and WinXP Pro.

Do I have a bad install? Or, is there a setting I am missing?

Thanks.

I have the same problem and I'm using the latest daily build 11.0.734
Why does this happen? Also for some reason Houdini tries to open two MPlay windows. Don't know why.

I fixed this problem on my machine. Maybe this solution will help someone else.

I ran “WinOptimizer” and got rid of unused files (temp etc) and cleaned up the registry of unused items.

I then went into “regedit” and searched for Houdini and found one instance of Houdini Mantra for an earlier build. I deleted this and exited the registry.

I then installed Houdini again and it opened quicker and I can now render within Houdini.

Note: Before deleting from the registry, I created a system restore point in case I messed something up with my computer.

I'll try that… what I've been doing is just rendering straight to files using the “Output Picture” field under the Output tab instead of “ip” which is the default. The images render just fine but I don't get to watch or interact with it as it goes. This is a workaround and really a fix. Maybe after I check the registry I'll fix it as you did.

Alright I fixed it. Doesn't seem to have anything to do with Mantra entries in the registry… actually I didn't see any. I just deleted everything pertaining to any previous build (turns out I had two in there - 504 and 658 I think). I didn't run any registry cleaner or reinstall Houdini or anything. I just deleted those old registry entries and now the ip works fine.

nverxion
Alright I fixed it. Doesn't seem to have anything to do with Mantra entries in the registry… actually I didn't see any. I just deleted everything pertaining to any previous build (turns out I had two in there - 504 and 658 I think). I didn't run any registry cleaner or reinstall Houdini or anything. I just deleted those old registry entries and now the ip works fine.

I had something in the registry that was for something 504. I couldn't remember what it pertained to when I posted above (I had already deleted it and so couldn't check, LOL). It must have been something from the 504 build of Houdini like nverxion had.

That file sure caused a lot of trouble.

nverxion
.. I just deleted everything pertaining to any previous build (turns out I had two in there - 504 and 658 I think). I didn't run any registry cleaner or reinstall Houdini or anything. I just deleted those old registry entries and now the ip works fine.

My mantra doesn't work and had a same case
How do i find those (any previous build)? i use Windows XP Pro. Thanks

Try daily build 11.0.765 or higher. There was an issue that was fixed with the newer Nvidia 270 series drivers and MPlay. While this fix was mainly for Linux, WinXP may also have been affected.

I'll download the new daily build. i wish that will solve my rendering problem in Houdini Apprentice. Thanks to Side effects

Im currently having the same trouble as you guys, except that it is happening on my mac. i have deleted all of the older files, and it still brings two Mplays, and says Could not open imager. not sure what to do.

On the Mac, the preferences are stored in $HOME/Library/Preferences/houdini/12.1/…. So try moving that aside and see if that helps. Note that this will reset all your preferences.

i tried that, and i also went into the library->preferences->Sesi->and deleted the other license files too. Not sure what to do anymore

cannot solve this prob in my laptop at home .

im trying to use IPR but nothing :

H11, H12.1 it asks for license ..

while in latest H12.5 it tries to open Mplay but prints the glorious :

mantra: Could not open imager


do i have any chance ?

On OSX 10.8.4 with Houdini 12.5.469

cant render anything getting the Mplay window Opening showing black,

Terminal just shows -
mantra: Could not open imager

Done a Houdini Uninstall of all versions and reinstalled,
have no firewall running…


Andy ideas?

Thanks A.

So I got it sorted…

First I tryed creating a new admin user…no luck

then I disabled all networks…no luck

Finally I noticed it was not working when I was on a different wifi network…
So tryed it on my home WIFI and it worked fine…. So its something related to the network, Mantra will not render without a good network?

A.

Just ran into the same problem. It worked beautifully, I did a quick comp in nuke, went back to render. No image. I can render to MPlay without any issues, but I can't have the files written to disk.

H12.5.533 Apprentice on OS X Mountain Lion.

I've tried restarting houdini, rebooting, disconnecting wifi with no luck yet.

Progress: Have managed to get the files written to disk by lowering the output size, but they can't be viewed in Photoshop or Nuke. But OS X preview can view the files, odd!

Apparently, the resulting image has a DPI of 1 instead of 72. Very weird.