XSI FAQ

• 1 XSI FAQ
  • 1.1 Which versions of XSI are supported by Deadline?
  • 1.2 Does Deadline support FxTree rendering?
  • 1.3 Can XSI script jobs be submitted to Deadline?
  • 1.4 After installing the XSI integrated submission script, XSI failes to load (it goes to a white screen and hangs).
  • 1.5 When Deadline renders the job, XSI isn't able to find anything in the scene's project folder.
  • 1.6 I have XSI configured to save output to a network share, but when Deadline renders the scene, the render slaves save their output to their local C: drive rather than to the network share.
  • 1.7 Rendering with Deadline seems a lot slower than rendering through XSI itself.
  • 1.8 XSI sometimes hangs in the middle of rendering, or finishes rendering and hangs before XSI exits.

Which versions of XSI are supported by Deadline?

Only versions 6.01 and later of XSI are supported by Deadline.

Does Deadline support FxTree rendering?

Yes. Simply enable FxTree rendering in the submission dialog and specify the FxTree and Output Node you want to render.

Can XSI script jobs be submitted to Deadline?

Yes. Deadline provides very basic support for script jobs, though there is currently no interface to submit them. The option for submitting a script job can be specified in the XSI plugin info file.

After installing the XSI integrated submission script, XSI failes to load (it goes to a white screen and hangs).

We have heard of this problem before, but we have not been able to reproduce it. The workaround for this problem is to remove the script from the plugins folder, and manually path to the submission script plugin after starting XSI.

When Deadline renders the job, XSI isn't able to find anything in the scene's project folder.

If you're XSI scene file is saved in a project folder on the network, leave the Submit XSI Scene File check box unchecked in the submission dialog. This allows Deadline to load the XSI scene in the context of its project folder.

I have XSI configured to save output to a network share, but when Deadline renders the scene, the render slaves save their output to their local C: drive rather than to the network share.

There are two possible solutions:

1. If you're XSI scene file is saved in a project folder on the network, leave the Submit XSI Scene File check box unchecked in the submission dialog. This is the recommend solution.
2. Specify the full resolved path for the scene output directory, instead of something like [Project Path]\Render_Pictures.

Rendering with Deadline seems a lot slower than rendering through XSI itself.

XSI needs to be restarted and the scene needs to be reloaded for every task in the Deadline job, which can add a lot of overhead to the render time, especially if cached data needs to be loaded.

To speed up your Deadline renders, you can increase the task group size (aka: chunk size) from 1 to 5 or 10. This way, the scene is loaded once for every 5 or 10 frames. Increasing the chunksize like this is recommended if you know ahead of time your frames will only take seconds to render, or if a large amount of cached data needs to be loaded.

XSI sometimes hangs in the middle of rendering, or finishes rendering and hangs before XSI exits.

This seems to be a known issue with XsiBatch, and it not specific to Deadline. The XSI development team is aware of the problem and are investigating it.