Problem with command line range jobs and rendering in chunks

[larryd]

I am trying to submit command line range jobs for maya to render in chunks, but whenever I try to use this option what happens is only the first frame of the block of frames in the chunk will render. Heres a example of the batch command I'm using:

"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya8.5\bin\render" -rl renderlayername -s QB_FRAME_NUMBER -e QB_FRAME_NUMBER -proj "x:/projectpath" -rd "x:/renderpath" "x:/mayascenefilename.ma"


Submitting this job with the individual frame execution method and everything runs fine, but the files i'm working with are large and loading them takes a long time, I would like to be able to render out frames in chunks so that the scene file stays loaded.

This is the command qube sends to my farm when I try to use the chunks option:

INFO: running cmd:"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya8.5\bin\render" -rl renderlayername -s 0001 -e 0001 -proj "x:/projectpath" -rd "x:/renderpath" "x:/mayascenefilename.ma"

Is there another variable name I need to use instead of QB_FRAME_NUMBER for the end of the frame range I want to output, because it seems like its only telling it to render out the first frame in the chunk, then the job reports as completed after only that frame is rendered.

Help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks

[larryd]

I found out that you can use QB_FRAME_START and QB_FRAME_END from the doc for chunk based jobs. Hooray

[Scot Brew]

You are correct about the use of QB_FRAME_START and QB_FRAME_END when chunking.  There is also a QB_FRAME_STEP that can be used to skip frames.

You may also want to check out the "mayabatch" SimpleCmd.

    http://support.pipelinefx.com/smf/index.php?topic=433.0

It provides a GUI interface for all of the render options available to Maya's "render.exe" and works with chunking, renderlayers, and any other exposed maya option.  The link provided gives a description and also a .py script to download and install as a plugin into the QubeGUI.