Turning off an Object causes crash

[eduardo]

The possible bug:

I have linked an Archicad file to C4 using Maxxon's plugin.

Inserted the Sun object and rotated the 3D model to orient North

Began doing test renders and test animations without problems. Did some model updates without problems.

Today I updated the model and C4 started to crash when rendering.

If i turn the rotation to 0 it renders, if I rotate the model prior to inserting lights or cameras then it renders with no crash. If I update it it then crashes again until i set the rotation to 0 again. The main culprit is when I turn off certain objects for rendering that come in from Archicad then it starts to crash.

If I uncheck all the options for the material ffectively creating a transparent ghost it works.

I can submit the file for testing

_____
OS X 10.4.10
dual G5
macbook pro 2.4
C4D R10

[stefan]

maybe the archicad importer plugin makes problems, can you post a scene so we can look into this?
thanks
stefan

[eduardo]

Hello Stefan,

Sorry for not posting sooner but I didn't get an email when you asked for information and I just saw it today. What do you need to test? I already tried with the 1.0821 update and it crashed.

[DanieleF]

Hi eduardo,
please post here the scene if possible, so we can look at it and try to find the reason for which it crashes.

Cheers
Daniele

[eduardo]

Using rapidshare for the first time since it looks as if that is what everyone uses. Hope it works.

first link is C4's bug report


http://rapidshare.com/files/72990452/_bugreports.zip

second is the sample scene. The project is ugly but that is what the client provided


http://rapidshare.com/files/72990453/House_01_Vray_test.-crashc4d.c4d.zip

It crashed once already, it hangs the second time use Render Region. If it doesn't crash try rotating the project and turning off some materials. I'll track down another file that crashes over the weekend.

[RenatoT]

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we need to setup an upload location for all :(

cheers
Renato

[eduardo]

try here


http://homepage.mac.com/ejrolon/Shared_Proj/FileSharing28.html

[RenatoT]

Hello Eduardo,

When i load the scene i see that there is a TAG that i don't own.
This missing tag is placed in the "@ OS : Macintosh" object.

Can you tell me where i can get this tag or what do?

Thanks
Renato

[eduardo]

That tag is the AC import tag. You can move everything within that group out. What it does is that when you export from Archicad it will automatically update a previous export (substituting the materials).

The workflow is;

1) export to C4D from Archicad
2) Merge the file into C4D
3) Change the materials to Vray
4) DO changes to the model in Archicad
5) Re-export the file
6) Merge the file in C4D
7) C4D will ask if you want to add to the scene or Update a previous file
8. Then C4D will update the old geometry with the new one and update the materials.

the link is

http://www.maxon.net/pages/solutions/archicad/archicad_e.html

[Franz78]

Hi eduardo,
i think archicad exchange can't warks fine with vray because the update workflow serch cinema4d std material and not vray material.
preaps is not possible to use this workflow with vray.
in my experience ( on allplan ) this tis not good workflow, because if you change object status, material and structure the plug-in don't work.


best
Franz

[eduardo]

Franz the problem is that the workflow works 95-99% of the time, only if I turn off an object (for rendering or display) does it crash or sometimes if I rotate the model and once it has crashed then that scene will most likely keep crashing.

My logic is that if the plugin updates the file with the Vray materials and it doesn't crash as long as I don't do either of the two operations above (which are part of C4D since the data is already in) then it might be something that has been overlooked. If not I'll change my workflow but I think that one of the goals of Vray is to play nice with other C4D plugins, specially those developed by Maxon.

[stefan]

hi eduardy

we can only tell maxon, the behavior of other plugins with 3rd party materials come from maxon not us. we have no influence at the archicad plugin.

cheers
stefan

[eduardo]

Hi Stefan,

I think we are hitting a language barrier.
AFAIK the way that the Exchange Plugin works is that it maps a "merged" geometry to a new/updated material. For example I export a Ball with a red material from Archicad and merge into C4, once in C4 I edit the red material or I substitute it with another one (like converting them into Vray). If i change something in the Archicad(AC) file, export it once again, do a merge in C4 and the plugin makes sure the the new exported red ball has the material I assigned in C4. This works fine on 99% of the times with Vray and has worked perfectly since C4 8.5 with Advanced Renderer. It has only crashed with Vray when either turning Off an object or rotating the whole group in C4.

If I understand correctly then my assumption that it might/could be something with Vray is wrong and it is Maxon's responsibility to fix the AC Exchange plugin so that it does not crash Vray? If that is the case can you please confirm so that I can inform other Archicad users of this possible problem if they want to use Vray with C4D or MaxonForm.

Also, were you able to duplicate the crash? I can post the AC custom plugin (Tag) for you to download since not having the other half (the export part for AC) makes it worthless to a AC user.

I understand that this might not be a priority but Archicad and C4 is a combination that most AC users buy since it gives more control than using Artlantis (or when they outgrow it) and it is definitively faster than using Maxwell's plugin for AC.

Thanks