Hi all. I get these error messages when using the misss_fast sub surface scattering materials in 7.0.1 with a lightmap and writable mental ray texture node which stores a light map on the disk.
// Error: (Mayatomr.Output) : file error: C:/My Docs/MAYA PROJECTS/DemoReel/sourceimages/sss //
and
API 0.0 error 301095: while defining texture "mentalrayTexture1": redefinition of texture swatch::mentalrayTexture1"
in the output window
I know the shader is set up right, because it renders like it is supposed to, but it causes about a 5-10 second lag when I try to change attributes on the misss_fast_simple_maya material. Not very efficient for tuning the shader. If I break the link between the textureNode and the material I can tune without problems, but the shader won't do sss until I re-link.
The error did not show up until I used a createAndAssignShader.mel that automatically links and sets the attributes in the mentalrayTexture node. I've done some searching, and lot's of other people have gotten this error, but no one has seemed to come up with a good answer. It seems to me to be related to the mentalrayTexture node, but the error is on the Maya side of things and seems to happen in the translation from maya to mental ray, hence the Mayatomr.Output error. Or the attribute editor could not be updating properly to find the file on the disk
I know for a fact the error happened when the first time the connection was manually made between the mentalrayTexture and the misss_fast_lmap_maya light map. The reason I know this, because I was trying to write my own script to automatically create and link the lightmap files on a computer at school and the error did not show up until I connected the attributes manually (not through the checkerbox). After that, the error gets thrown no matter what.
Finally, this all might be a non-issue because I could not get the error to replicate in Maya 8 on the same computer.
All I want to know is what could connecting the mentalrayTexture.message to the misss_fast_lmap_maya.lightmap attribute change in the program to make Mayatomr thow an error even after exiting and restarting the program. with echo all on in the script editor this is what I get when I make the connection by drag and drop
defaultNavigation -ce -source mentalrayTexture1 -destination misss_fast_lmap_maya1.lightmap;
connectNodeToAttrOverride("mentalrayTexture1", "misss_fast_lmap_maya1.lightmap");
// Result: 1 //
connectAttr -f mentalrayTexture1.message misss_fast_lmap_maya1.lightmap;
defaultNavigation -dtv -d misss_fast_lmap_maya1.lightmap;
// Result: mentalrayTexture1 //
defaultNavigation -dtv -d misss_fast_lmap_maya1.lightmap;
// Result: mentalrayTexture1 //
// Result: Connected mentalrayTexture1.message to misss_fast_lmap_maya1.lightmap //
refreshAE;
listConnections -source true -destination false "misss_fast_lmap_maya1.lightmap";
// Result: mentalrayTexture1 //
updateBinMembershipAfterConnection mentalrayTexture1;
lsThroughFilter -na DefaultMaterialsAndShaderGlowFilter7 -sort byName -reverse false;
// Result: lambert1 misss_fast_skin_maya1 particleCloud1 shaderGlow1 //
Even if it's just for posterity, I would like some more light to be shed on this problem. Also, because this seems to be a Maya problem, not just Mental Ray I will also post this in the maya API section to see if the programmers can help.
James Daugherty
P.s I know its a long post, but my instructor and I just spent several hours trying to figure out what the problem was so all this is fresh on my mind. Edited for spelling