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> Forum Home > Announcements > Version 2.4 Update 2 is now available for download!

	Mon, 05/Jan/2009 7:29 AM
Robin 1138 Posts	This new version adds several features, and fixes the bugs that have popped up with the previous version 2.4 releases. Some highlights are: New Features: Houdini Virtual Module Presets in the Configure Engine dialog (and the "Copy Settings to All" button is back!) Herald can get the Engine's name or ID for Work related Events Reset failure counts from a script with the Job and Engine Shells Use Submit to modify existing Jobs as well as create new ones Maya Module will find the executable if it's not in the system path. This vastly simplifies configuration and will soon be available for every Product Smedge supports. This update also fixes several bugs, both small and large. Some of the key bug fixes: String manipulation routines that cause seemingly random crashes have been corrected Ghost Engines can appear when an Engine goes offline Macs can get the incorrect name "localhost" when starting the daemon The Configure Connection dialog disappeared on Macs AfterEffects did not always detect the rendered image files. (This did not affect rendering.) As usual, the full list of changes is available on the Smedge 3 Changes page. Please let us know if you have any questions about the new version! Edited by author on Mon, 05/Jan/2009 7:29 AM
	Wed, 07/Jan/2009 3:37 AM
Robin 1138 Posts	Hi everyone. Sorry for the inconvenience, but a bug slipped through into the release. There was a typo in the formatting string for Max Jobs, and the command line it generated would be invalid. I have fixed the issue in the Max.sx Module on all platforms, and have updated the installer. If you have not installed Smedge 2.4 update 2 before the January 7th, 2009, you have nothing to worry about. If you have installed the 2.4 update 2 version between the release on the 5th and the 7th, please download the installer again to get the patched Max.sx file. You can verify that you have the correct version by looking at the file date of the Max.sx module that is installed on your machine. If the file date is January 6, then you have the patched version. If it is January 5, you have the old version and should update if you need to use Smedge to control 3D Studio Max. Once again, I'm sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. -robin Edited by author on Wed, 07/Jan/2009 3:39 AM
	Thu, 08/Jan/2009 7:17 AM
Jamie 102 Posts	Nice set of added features Robin, perfect! Your Houdini Module is similar to ours. We've written in a couple of extra features on ours which pauses jobs if the IFD doesn't exist. We found that if an IFD wasn't there it'd hammer the servers trying again and again without counting the fails. This is possibly related to the lack of consistent error reporting from Mantra as well as that ProcessSequence error recording bug that was about in earlier versions (win32). Many thanks for the hard work, we'll be testing this out and getting it live asap! Edited by author on Thu, 08/Jan/2009 7:18 AM
	Thu, 08/Jan/2009 11:30 PM
Robin 1138 Posts	One thing you may notice about the Houdini Module is that I fixed the ability for Parameters to have their own parameters sets that can be set by a dialog. This is how the Imager Options and Quality Flags are implemented. If you can send me a copy of your version of the file, I can incorporate the additional features you have into the next version of the Houdini Module. Please let me know if you run into any other issues with the new version. And enjoy! Thanks -robin
	Mon, 26/Jan/2009 9:10 AM
Jamie 102 Posts	I would send you them but it's all python scripts which we wrap the Smedge commandlines with. For example when you tell mantra to render an IFD we parse the line into an array, get the needed locations, check the file exists etc. This is just a small part of our revisions on the pipeline here with regards to Smedge, we're increasing our functionality quite significantly using this method. Drop me an email and we can talk more about what we're doing. :D May I ask how to use the submit.exe to alter live jobs? The docs don't say much new about it. Many thanks Jamie
	Thu, 29/Jan/2009 4:20 AM
Robin 1138 Posts	You can use Submit to modify jobs exactly the same way you use it to submit jobs. All you need to do is specify the ID of an existing Job in your system. Using Submit Script format, you would specify the ID with the command line flag: -ID id-string. Using the Submit -FromFile format, add the -Update flag to the command line to tell Submit to preserve the Job ID(s) from the Job File. -robin
	Thu, 29/Jan/2009 8:06 AM
Jamie 102 Posts	Awesome, just as I hoped (been mobbed of late and not had a chance to test it). Will explore this next week once I'm done with the tasks in hand. :D
	Thu, 12/Feb/2009 8:48 AM
Jamie 102 Posts	The houdini Virtual Module is pretty similar to ours. We've maybe went a bit overboard on some of the options but you may want to consider adding this to it. Much more nicely laid out in comparison to ours though!! When we started using Mantra on the farm some jobs verbosed a tonne into the logs. This was you have a way to control that now, be aware that Quiet won't echo out the output frame location. (amend the existing houdini.psx with the below) [ SecondaryParameters ] 2 = Verbosity [ Verbosity ] NiceName = Verbosity Type = Choice Help = Specify verbosity (ie 2p, 10ap..etc). 0-9 = Output varying degrees of stats. p = VEX profiling. P = VEX profiling and NAN detection. a = Alfred style progress reports Flags = Parameter Choices = Quiet (0):0a, Render Time and Memory (1a):1a, Loading information (3a):3a, Rendering progress (5a):5a, Memory and VEX profiling (1ap):1ap, Loading info and VEX profiling (2ap): 2ap, Render progress and VEX profiling (5ap):5ap, Extreme (10ap-CAREFULLY!): 10ap Edited by author on Thu, 12/Feb/2009 8:50 AM
	Thu, 19/Feb/2009 8:20 PM
Robin 1138 Posts	Thanks!

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