Playblast cutting short?

[nymbis]

I'm trying to playblast my animation all the way through but it gets to about frame 20 and stops the animation but continues with the playblast with nothing moving(like a still image). If I playblast in wireframe I can get to about frame 40. It feel almost like a memory problem(I have a gig of ram and it's a VERY simple scene) but I've tried on systems at work with less memory and the scene works fine. Anyone run into this problem? know a fix?

[mindsample]

I cant give you a definate WHY but I can assure you that it is a common problem. Playblast i.e. will stop or record static frames when u switch to another task or when your computer is "too busy" doing something else in the background.

I find it very unrealiable and often choose to use the hardware renderer instead.

one tip: make sure you have your playback settings set to "play every frame" . that way it should actually run through the entire playback range and record it properly - as long as you dont do something else while playblast is doing its job

[failure]

Playblast grabs your viewport in order to create frames. If it is obscured by another window playblast will not have needed data. It inserts the previusly grabed frame.

[nymbis]

Thanks mindsample and failure, I figured out the problem.. sorta.. The playblast setting was set to time slider which SHOULD work.. but as soon as I set a frame limit it works fine now.

[zza]

Hi,
this is a common problem if in XP - using XP display style.

Couple of ways i've fixed it for me:

• Playblast with option 'save to file' and store on your hard drive.
• Go to your Themes in the Windows Display, change your display properties from ''Windows XP' to 'Windows Classic' style (dunno why, but it works for me all the time...using Maya 5.01)

[neilr8133]

mindsample said:

one tip: make sure you have your playback settings set to "play every frame" . that way it should actually run through the entire playback range and record it properly

Are you sure that "play every frame" affects Playblast? My information was that it only affected the Playback controls (the eight Forward/Reverse buttons in the lower-right hand corner), and that playblast framerate was controlled by the Working Units-Time option (Window | Settings/Preferences | Preferences | Settings | Time). I admit that I don't have as much experience as others, but I haven't seen anything yet to indicate that my information is wrong.

-Neil R.
--
Supreme Lord High Commander and Keeper of the Holy Potato

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[joojaa]

It has no effecct, maya just does not like the xp style skinned window borders thats all.

[charlesincharge]

One more thing you could try if you're still having trouble (and using XP) is right-clicking on the Maya icon, either shortcut or the exe, doesn't matter. You'll find a heading called "compatibility". Click on it and set the compatibility to "Windows 2000". That has worked for me in the past. Maya has some trouble with XP for some reson. This shouldn't effect the performance either...