Rendundant Crash When Rendering

[user_deleted]

Dear everybody,

I'm quite a new user of Mac OS X and used Shake for about 2 years.
I have a problem that occur when Shake 4 is rendering.

It sometimes work properly but most of the time, the rendering (not the complete Software) crashs at any moment during the rendering.. I still have access to Shake to save my script but the render window is freezing.

I didn't have that problems a few days before. And it seems that it's getting worse every day.
It's quite boring when I start a batch render during the night and omly have 50 of my 1000 frames rendered.

Do somebody have a suggestion ?
The graphic card, software problem, OSX problem... I'm a bit lost on a Mac.
I'm using a 30" inch monitor that doesn't seem to be properly managed by the graphic card (slight artifacts when using RotoShapes), and resising a rendering windows increase the risk of a rendering crash.

Thanks in advance.

Thim

The Mac System Profile :

Hardware Overview:

Machine Name: Power Mac G5 Quad
Machine Model: PowerMac11,2
CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (1.1)
Number Of CPUs: 4
CPU Speed: 2.5 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB
Memory: 3.5 GB
Bus Speed: 1.25 GHz
Boot ROM Version: 5.2.7f1

System Software Overview:

System Version: Mac OS X 10.4.5 (8H14)
Kernel Version: Darwin 8.5.0
Boot Volume: Macintosh HD

Graphics/Displays:

NVIDIA GeForce 6600:

Chipset Model: GeForce 6600
Type: Display
Bus: PCI
Slot: SLOT-1
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: nVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0141
Revision ID: 0x00a4
ROM Revision: 2149
Displays:
Cinema HD:
Display Type: LCD
Resolution: 2560 x 1600
Depth: 32-bit Color
Core Image: Supported
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Supported
Display:
Status: No display connected

Memory:

DIMM0/J6700:

Size: 256 MB
Type: DDR2 SDRAM
Speed: PC2-4200U-444
Status: OK

DIMM1/J6800:

Size: 256 MB
Type: DDR2 SDRAM
Speed: PC2-4200U-444
Status: OK

DIMM2/J6900:

Size: 256 MB
Type: DDR2 SDRAM
Speed: PC2-4200U-444
Status: OK

DIMM3/J7000:

Size: 256 MB
Type: DDR2 SDRAM
Speed: PC2-4200U-444
Status: OK

DIMM4/J7100:

Size: 256 MB
Type: DDR2 SDRAM
Speed: PC2-4200U-444
Status: OK

DIMM5/J7200:

Size: 256 MB
Type: DDR2 SDRAM
Speed: PC2-4200U-444
Status: OK

DIMM6/J7300:

Size: 1 GB
Type: DDR2 SDRAM
Speed: PC2-4200U-444
Status: OK

DIMM7/J7400:

Size: 1 GB
Type: DDR2 SDRAM
Speed: PC2-4200U-444
Status: OK

PCI Cards:

GeForce 6600:

Name: NVDA,Display-B
Type: display
Bus: PCI
Slot: SLOT-1
Vendor ID: 0x10de
Device ID: 0x0141
Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x10de
Subsystem ID: 0x0010
ROM Revision: 2149
Revision ID: 0x00a4

bcom5714:

Type: network
Bus: PCI
Slot: GIGE
Vendor ID: 0x14e4
Device ID: 0x166a
Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x106b
Subsystem ID: 0x0085
Revision ID: 0x0003

bcom5714:

Type: network
Bus: PCI
Slot: GIGE
Vendor ID: 0x14e4
Device ID: 0x166a
Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x106b
Subsystem ID: 0x0085
Revision ID: 0x0003

[user_deleted]

Try rendering in terminal once. See if you have same problems.

open terminal
shake -exec /Desktop/script.shk -vv

this will start your render from the terminal. Make sure your path for the script is ok. Mine is just an example.

Let know what happens...

More info about rendering from terminal can you find on this forum.

[user_deleted]

QUOTE(bert@ace-postproduction.com @ 04/11/06, 09:07 AM) [snapback]233951[/snapback]
Try rendering in terminal once. See if you have same problems.

Hi Bert,

I'm already using the terminal and the result is unfortunatly the same.
Today I tried to work on a previous prooject using keyers and paint tools a the Mac crashed completely. I reopened the project and the Mac crashed again.

I'm going to reinstall the system.
I suppose I just need to put the Mac OSX dvd in the drive and "repair" the system or something.

Cheers.

[deke-kincaid]

sounds like something in your hardware went bad. Start your mac from the test disk that came with the system and run memory and hard drive tests. If you can't find that disk, there are some free memory and hard drive testers on versiontracker.com

[user_deleted]

Does it crash directly at the bgin of the render or after some frames. If it is after some frames then there might be corrupted file the problem.
If it is the first frame, the first might be corrupted. Try the same script with a different file. If you can't open Shake, then edit your script in a texteditor.

[user_deleted]

I'm going to reformat the computer in a few days, at the end of the project.

It crashes a different levels, sometimes after a few frames, sometimes a few before the end. It always changes, and crashes with all the scripts and sometimes work perfectly.

I'll reinstall everything anyway. The problem could come from the Mac, not from Shake.

Thanks everyone for your help

[user_deleted]

i have sometimes the same problem. as i had a G5 dual it was nearly at every rendering. since i got the G5 quad it happens not so often. i guess it depends how the processor is busy. when i render 2 or 3 complex shake trees at the same time, i can be sure that at least one renderings will abort before finished.

if you have a shot which is 1000 frames long, try to render frames 1,3,4,5 with 2 cpus and the 2,4,6,8 with the other 2 cpus. should also be faster.

QUOTE(thim @ 04/18/06, 01:24 PM) [snapback]234640[/snapback]
I'm going to reformat the computer in a few days, at the end of the project.

It crashes a different levels, sometimes after a few frames, sometimes a few before the end. It always changes, and crashes with all the scripts and sometimes work perfectly.

I'll reinstall everything anyway. The problem could come from the Mac, not from Shake.

Thanks everyone for your help