Greetings!

To anyone using Deadline for rendering Mantra, could you advise what your successfull workflow is, please?

I have a couple of questions about the HoudiniSubmitToDeadline parameters that I can't find definitions for in any docs. This url is the most useful: https://docs.thinkboxsoftware.com/products/deadline/10.0/1_User%20Manual/manual/app-houdini.html [docs.thinkboxsoftware.com]

Q1 - machine limit & Mantra Threads defaults are 0. Do I need to change this value, or is zero ok?
Q2 - “Submit Houdini Scene” is OFF by default. Is this correct?
Q3 - “Ignore Inputs” is ON by default. Which inputs is it referring to??

It's currently only rendering successfully if I DONT generate .ifds first, which is obviously not correct.
I am ticking on “DiskFile” in the Driver tab of /out/mantra1
Disk file = $JOB/ifds/$HIPNAME/mantra_$F4.ifd
Shared Temp storage = $HIP/ifds/storage
Local Temp storage = $HOUDINI_TEMP_DIR/ifds/storage

I launch Render->SubmitHoudiniToDeadline
Pool = 3d group = None
ROP to Render = Choose = /out/mantra1
Under MantraExport
Submit DependentMantraStandalone Job is checked ON
Pool = 3d group = None

2 tasks are submitted, which is normal.
First task generates .ifds again (I think this can be avoided by select SkipFilesThatExist in /out/mantra1 IMAGES tab
Second task is supposed to write .exrs but fails. Yes, the folder is writeable.
Pipeline are looking into the error:
INFO: Process exit code: 1
2018-01-05 17:14:03: 0: An exception occurred: Error: Renderer returned non-zero error code, 1. Check the log for more.
2018-01-05 17:14:03: at Deadline.Plugins.PluginWrapper.RenderTasks

Many thanks,
Olly : )

Did you ever figure this out? I my self am a bit stuck

Q1: Zero means that it will not use limits. So having that as the default is usually fine if you don't have specific limits you want to use.

Not entirely sure about Q2 and Q3, although I suspect ‘ignore inputs’ means that nodes connected to the ROP you are rendering are ignored.

A possible reason why the IFDs are not working is that you are using $HIPNAME in the file path. Deadline usually creates a temp version of your hip file and gives it a weird name, so that is probably throwing it off. Also if your farm renders the ifd on a machine running one OS and then renders out the image on a machine running a different OS, that can cause a whole host of issues as well.