When you use files such as texture images or caches, Maya does not create internal copy of the files inside the scene but adresses the path of the files. For this reason, when you move assets to another directory, Maya is not able to find them without relinking.

Before loading your file(s) in the scene, please be sure to set your project to prevent issues.

In most of the cases, the RANCHecker V5 will collect all the external files and our custom render batch will modify the paths automatically to match the ones on the RANCH's computers.

Images

All the images formats are supported.

Videos

Rendering in a video format is not supported because we dispatch the scene on multiple computers. However, videos can be used for texture(s).

Unsupported format: MOV
examples of supported formats: MP4, AVI, MKV

IES files are supported exceptfor Renderman.

Caches are partially supported depending on the feature you are using.

VDB are fully supported for Arnold, Redshift and Vray. For Renderman only single files are supported for each volume. VDB sequences for Renderman are not yet supported

BIF are partially supported.

Geometry cache (MCX + XML files) are supported with manual modification for the moment:

• After RANCHecking, open the VUA and go to cache\nCache (if it is not created please check RANCHecker version)
• Drag and drop all the geometry caches at the root of nCache
• Delete the subFolder with the caches (optional: to reduce upload time)
• Your archive is ready to be uploaded through the web interface on the RANCH site.
  

ABC - Alembics require, for the moment, manual archive (.vua) and scene (.mb) modification (Except for xgen).
In your scene:

• Modify the cache's path (Don't reimport or move the Alembic File) by:
  C:\Maya\Currentjob\cache\alembic\cacheName.abc to simulate the farm environment.
  The path must NOT be relative.
• Create your archive with RANCHecker (do not click on “Submit”).

In your archive:

• Open the .vua (with https://www.7-zip.org/download.html). Be sure your alembic file is located to the folder “cache\alembic”, if necessary delete the .abc, add it again in the right location).
• Your archive is ready to be uploaded through the web interface on the RANCH site.
  

Before closing your Maya scene, we recommend to restore the path of your cache to prevent your alembic not longer being displayed.

Arnold

The ASS file(s) are fully supported on the RANCH.

Redshift

The RS files are partially supported since the version 5.0.19 of RANCHecker.
Be sure to upgrade to the last RANCHecker version available, if you want to use this feature.
However only the From Scene modes of the Material Mode will work properly (assigned to placeholder or name matching with prefix). Because the .rs files are encrypted, we cannot access the material path of From Proxy mode.

Vray

The VRMESH files are not supported yet.

Renderman

The RIB files are supported.

The referenced scenes are supported since the version 5.0.19 of RANCHecker. Be sure to upgrade to the last RANCHecker version available, if you want to use this feature.
Otherwise you need to import referenced scene inside the main scene of your project.

IMPORTANT: you must disabled all the defaultRenderLayer of the referenced scenes to avoid conflicts with the one of the main scene. Or delete them if you have imported scenes from reference.

To do that you have multiple possibility:
1) from referenced scenes

Go to Hypershade > Rendering tab > Property editor > Render layer Options then uncheck Renderable of the defaultRenderLayer.

You can also disabled it from the Render Setup by adding a layer(if there is no layer) then uncheck the clapperboard logo. At last, you could delete the unnecessary renderLayer.

2) from main scene

All the defaultRenderLayer will be merged in the defaultRenderLayer in Render Setup.
Go to Hypershade > Rendering tab > Property editor > Render layer Options then uncheck Renderable of the ReferencedNameScene:defaultRenderLayer (pour chacune des scènes référencés).

The main scene's defaultRenderLayer should remain checked if you want to render it.

Custom font(s) are not supported since they require to install the specific fonts on the computers. However you can use geometry cache(s) or alembic cache(s) (any cache which saves the shape instead of the police) to render your custom font(s).
Be aware that if you do not cache objects with your font(s), the Maya default font will be rendered, instead of your own font.

As we do not render direct video files, we recommend you to delete audio files from the scene in order to reduce the size of the .vua archive and the time of uploading the project, plus loading the scene on the render nodes.