@Kleptomaniac (Kleptomaniac) posted a new topic, subject "MentalRay Render Aborts". It read:

   Hi,  
    Sorry if this is something that's already been mentioned before but i did search the forum before finally deciding to post about it.  
    I've just recently decided to play around with mentalray (for SSS) but i've encounter a problem when trying to render. The script editor (after pressing the render button, set to mentalRay of course) give me:  
    // Error: (Mayatomr.Export) : mental ray startup failed with errors //  
    // Info (Mayatomr): Aborted //
    
    It doesnt seem to render anything at all, the render view window just pops up either blank (if maya has just been started up) or displays what ever was previously render (non mentalRay, from like a previous scene that was closed). I only notice this “abortion” a couple of days ago when i was playing around with an indoor set and tried to use FInalgather. Back then the scene rendered beautyfull the first time but then it took me a while to realise that it'd just stopped rendering, i was just displaying that same original render for who now how long (i was there changing light values like a sucker trying to work out why the scene wasn't getting any brighter). Anyway, i dismissed it as just me stuffing something up in that scene. Now though, even the simplest scenes (like just a nurbsphere and MentalRay set as the render) dont seem to render at all (with mentalRay).
    
    I've only just installed the maya6 misss plugins, so i was looking forward to playing aorund more with mentalray.  
    What do yall think could be the problem? I thought it might be a corrupt file so i tried to reinstall (well repair) maya but that doesnt seem to fix the problem. What's funny is that if maya has just been opened (so it doesnt go displaying what ever was rendered before hand) then i try to render something in mentalRay, when i i use the mouse to select a region of the blankness (which is really just the the same grey as in the background) in the render view window, it then shows a pixelated wireframe image of the scene.
    
    I think something might have gone screwy with one of the mentalray files and since repairing maya doesnt seem to do a thing i thought maybe reinstallying mentalray might do the trick. However i cant remember if mentalray came as a seperate component or if itwas installed with maya. I remember when i first started with maya (couple of years ago) i installed a number of things without really knowing what they did exactly so it's possible that i did install MentalRay seperate, dont know.  
    Anyway, if mental ray isnt installed along with maya6 where can i downlaod it from? i've tried searching the web but have yet to find anything.  
    I do get the feeling that it came intergrated with maya 6, am i right?
    
    My last resort is to uninstall maya completely and then reinstall from scratch. THis would take time and it'd really hate to do this and have something go wrong, specially when i'm actually in the middle of using maya for some projects.
    
    Hope someone can offer some help or solutions. I'll try playing around with mentalray on another computer for now, but i'd really like to get it working on my workstation.  
    I'd appreciate any advice 
    
    (sorry for going on and on, but its 2am, and i dont want to wait till tomorrow)

So @floze (floze) replied

    This error typically occurs with misconfigured shader stuff, or, if you have a look at the output window, with missing textures. That's specially true for the misss shaders, since you need a custom mentalray texture for it's lightmap, which is simply misconfigured too easily. If you're using mentalray for maya, go check out the maya misss thread, many of your questions should be answered there:
    
    CGTalk
    
    ### misss tests | i-d | CGSociety Forums
    
    Well here it is for starters: fast_SSS great shader it was build with production in mind I beleive it can be a solid skin shader, lots off room for adding your nodes, mappable ambient, are you kidding me md_sss is going in that slot as off now....

Then @Kleptomaniac (Kleptomaniac) said

    Thanks for the help. I had a look at the output window and managed to fix the problem. For somereason maya isn't looking at the local maya.rayrc file, instead its looking for it in the install directory. so i changed that (made a backup of course) and everything seems to be working now.

Then @hitch24 (hitch24) said

    After weeks of fighting with maya to try and get Mental Ray working. I am busy trying to model a car and when trying to get realistic renders MR is a must, anyway back to fixing mental ray. It is quite simple really yet totally unobvious to most of us, here is what you have to do:
    
    firstly open the maya.rayrc file, then look for where it says something like <INSTALLDIR>metalray, where it says installdir change it to where your maya.rayrc file is located ie. C:\program files\alias\maya 6.0\mental ray (path may differ just look for it). then open maya and poof like magic your mentalray should be rendering.
    
    Hopefully this will help you people with this frustrating problem!!

Then @CGTalk_Moderation (CGTalk_Moderation) said

    This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.


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