I'm New To Maya - Need Help

[ortiebabs]

Hey, I'm brand new to Maya (started 3 days ago) and I ran into a problem rendering.
I followed the book I'm reading word for word, but an error pops up every time I try to render an image and won't let me continue.

I included an image of what it looks like when the error message comes up:
http://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture1mj1.png

(kind of a big file size... sorry)
I right-click in the Render View panel and choose Render > Render > persp, just like the book tells me to.

But the book mentions nothing of a possible error, so I'm stuck.

By the way, when I click on the Render View panel (before trying to render), a yellow message comes up in the error message area that says:
// Warning: Render view: Selected region is too small

Thanks!

[joojaa]

open script editor and look if there's more info on the error

locate output widow and read that

locate render log read it

start dissecting scene one piece by piece to pinpoint the problem object.

[ortiebabs]

QUOTE(Joojaa @ 06/27/08, 05:30 AM) [snapback]287572[/snapback]
[li]open script editor and look if there's more info on the error[/li][li]locate output widow and read that[/li][li]locate render log read it[/li][li]start dissecting scene one piece by piece to pinpoint the problem object.[/li]

I read the script editor, and here's all the warnings it had after opening the scene and trying to render:
QUOTE(Script editor)
// Warning: A swatch for "/Volumes/LM2008_Foundation/support_files/project1/sourceimages/.mayaSwatches/roof.tif.swatch" could not be written. This may affect performance. Further warnings will be suppressed. //
select -cl ;
// Warning: Image file cannot be output. Please check your file permissions and ensure
that the current project has an images directory. //
// Error: An error has occurred. Rendering aborted. //

I'm still not sure what that means... any help?

Also, I couldn't find the output widow or render log... like I said, I'm BRAND new to Maya, so sorry for the stupid questions

[gmask]

It appears that you may be loading the project file off of an unwritable volume such as the CD it is stored on.

Copy the project to your harddrive and then try it.

// Warning: Render view: Selected region is too small

you'll get this if you click on render region but have not selected a region to render

[ortiebabs]

QUOTE(gmask @ 06/27/08, 11:43 AM) [snapback]287585[/snapback]
It appears that you may be loading the project file off of an unwritable volume such as the CD it is stored on.

Copy the project to your harddrive and then try it.

// Warning: Render view: Selected region is too small

you'll get this if you click on render region but have not selected a region to render

I dragged everything from the CD onto my desktop, so everything from the CD and the Maya software is on the desktop. Is that what you mean?

After that, I made a brand new scene and just made a giant sphere, tried to render it, and the same thing came up:
// Warning: Image file cannot be output. Please check your file permissions and ensure
that the current project has an images directory. //
// Error: An error has occurred. Rendering aborted. //

And what do you mean by the render region? The perspective view? Sorry... I'm clueless.

This is stressing me out a little... I haven't been able to continue through the book I paid $50 for because it won't let me render for some reason (and I'm only on the first project!).

edit: I found a tab that said Render Region and clicked... a blue box came up in the Render View panel with a red border... am I getting somewhere? lol

[gmask]

it's possible that when you copied the folder to your desktop that it copied it's permissions as locked.. so you'll need to change the permissions for whatever operating system you are using.

And what do you mean by the render region? The perspective view? Sorry... I'm clueless.

No in the render view.. you can select a smaller part of the frame and render it

[ortiebabs]

OK, I figured it out somehow (!!!!!!!!!!!).
It had to do with setting projects or something... don't ask me to do it again, because I'm not sure how I did it... but I can render now.

Thanks everyone! I posted this problem in 2 forums, and this is the only place I got a response. I appreciate it!

[gmask]

Well if you never choose a project folder then it was probably trying to use the default project directory ..although that still doesn't explain why you have permissions problems. Does teh account you are using have administration privileges?