Blackmagic Forum

Hello,

Just started with Fusion in my classroom. I intended to introduce my students to Fusion with a super simple flow of a loader (LD) and a saver (SV) to convert an image sequence to a movie. The simple flow works fine on my instructor machine but all of my student machines would not render. No errors, no warnings. "Render" button just does nothing. AFAIK, the machines are identical, although, I'm sure there are differences in the software installed, i.e., I confirmed the student machines do not have quicktime where my machine does. I did install quicktime on one of the student machines and it made no difference though... so I have no idea what the problem could be.

Machines are Win8 x64, Alienware I7s with dual GTS450 graphics boards (non-SLI).

Is there a logfile I can look at to diagnose the problem? Has anyone else experienced similar behavior?

I'm really excited about using Fusion since all of my students will have home access (versus AfterFX). I just need to figure out how to get it working!!

Thanks!
j.

Hi Jay,

Very sorry to hear about his experience, hopefully we can sort this out.

Have you checked if the output path is valid? Please take a look, is it possible the path is only existing on your computer?
Also, there is a console in fusion, it's a tab on the flow are. The errors get reported there, you should see exclamation mark on the tab.

Let me know what happens please

Rony Soussan wrote:Hi Jay,

Very sorry to hear about his experience, hopefully we can sort this out.

Have you checked if the output path is valid? Please take a look, is it possible the path is only existing on your computer?
Also, there is a console in fusion, it's a tab on the flow are. The errors get reported there, you should see exclamation mark on the tab.

Let me know what happens please

Hi Rony,

Thanks for the quick reply... I will head into the classroom tomorrow to check (unfortunately, I don't have remote access .). FWIW; I did try 2 different output paths and confirmed write access. Hopefully, the console will point me in the right direction.

j.

Hi Jay.

Some other caveats that might cause this are:

- If you are rendering to QuickTime, is QT installed on all the Student's machines?

- Is some virus-scanner/firewall blocking eyeonscript or eyeonserver on those machines?

Cheers.

Eric.

Eric Westphal wrote:Hi Jay.

Some other caveats that might cause this are:

- If you are rendering to QuickTime, is QT installed on all the Student's machines?

- Is some virus-scanner/firewall blocking eyeonscript or eyeonserver on those machines?

Cheers.

Eric.

Strange... I'm sitting here at one of the student workstations and I'm seeing the following:

-Even after installing Quicktime I do not see Quicktime as an export option in saver tool (SV).
-I cannot save a comp at all. Not with `save-as` or `save`. Button is unresponsive.
-I get no output in the console when attempting to render (or save the comp, for that matter).

Do I need to add something to the firewall to enable Fusion? I'll probably get in trouble if I mess with the firewall - I'll probably have to have the IT guys do that - just need the details for what needs to be done.

This computer is on the school's Windows 8.1 Enterprise Network - I don't see an obvious anti-virus but I would guess it's the standard MS variety. Here's sysinfo:

OS Name Microsoft Windows 8.1 Enterprise
Version 6.3.9600 Build 9600
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name T12416
System Manufacturer Alienware
System Model Aurora-R3
System Type x64-based PC
System SKU 0
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600K CPU @ 3.40GHz, 3401 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Alienware A06, 5/25/2011
SMBIOS Version 2.6
Embedded Controller Version 255.255
BIOS Mode Legacy
BaseBoard Manufacturer Alienware
BaseBoard Model Not Available
BaseBoard Name Base Board
Platform Role Workstation
Secure Boot State Unsupported
PCR7 Configuration Binding Not Possible
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.3.9600.17196"
User Name LWTECH\jay.banchero
Time Zone Pacific Standard Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 7.98 GB
Available Physical Memory 4.84 GB
Total Virtual Memory 8.48 GB
Available Virtual Memory 4.78 GB
Page File Space 512 MB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
Hyper-V - VM Monitor Mode Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Second Level Address Translation Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Virtualization Enabled in Firmware Yes
Hyper-V - Data Execution Protection Yes

I have another general question for you guys;

Here at school they use a utility called "DeepFreeze" which resets student machines overnight which prevents them from installing stuff. I suggested to them that they could install Fusion then move the install folder to their dropbox or googledrive folders. That approach seems to work for me - is there some inherent reason why that is a bad idea or otherwise won't work?

FWIW: I installed Fusion7.5 at home then moved it into my googledrive folder and I was able to run it fine from my school computer without ever "installing" it locally.

Thanks!
j.

Just a thought... Is it possible that Fusion is being installed in "Demo" mode somehow on these machines? Seems like turning off save and render functions would be consistent with such a mode.

I've attached a screenshot of Fusion running on a student machine - perhaps there is something visible in the interface to give a hint about whats going wrong?

FWIW: I tried adding both inbound and outbound firewall rules for eyeonScript, eyeonServer, and, eyeonFusion. No change . I still cannot, `save`, `save-as`, or `render`.

Strangely, when I just exit Fusion it asks me if I want to save the comp and it lets me... just can't do it through the menu.

that sounds like something (firewall/virus protection) is still blocking communication between fusion and the other apps (eyeonserver, eyeonscript, QTwrapper)

Yup, if the menu items aren't working, then eyeonscript.exe is being blocked most likely.

If there is virus protection, exclude fusion. AVG is particularly evil when it comes to Fusion.

Also, there is no 'demo' mode. There is only Fusion free and Fusion Studio.

Hi Rony,

Thanks for the suggestion - I've forwarded it to our IT guys.

Just so I'm clear; there is no inherent reason why Fusion won't run properly "in-place" from a cloud folder, i.e., googleDrive, oneDrive, dropBox, etc..?

It shouldn't be an issue, I run Fusion Free on my OneDrive and I don't have any issues.

You do however have to install it first on those machines.

Jay Banchero wrote:I have another general question for you guys;

Here at school they use a utility called "DeepFreeze" which resets student machines overnight which prevents them from installing stuff. I suggested to them that they could install Fusion then move the install folder to their dropbox or googledrive folders. That approach seems to work for me - is there some inherent reason why that is a bad idea or otherwise won't work?

FWIW: I installed Fusion7.5 at home then moved it into my googledrive folder and I was able to run it fine from my school computer without ever "installing" it locally.

Thanks!
j.

Check the fusion preferences and look at the pathmaps. I had a save problem once when a path map pointed to itself.

I'm not sure moving the software around as you suggest is a good idea. Pathmaps are likely to break and I believe there are some registry variables that won't get copied. Ideally your IT dept should include fusion in it's deepfreeze image file so that the software gets correctly rebuilt each day.

Thanks for that info Ken.

Our IT guys have concluded there is a conflict with a product called "VisionPro" which is used to share desktops in the classroom. Here is their response:

Ticket closed: After testing the reason this is not working is that the way the software handles video when it renders (or checks your file to be saved) conflicts with Vision Pro (the software installed on the stations for presentations and screen sharing from the instructor station). Unfortunate unless they release a new version that is compatible we are not going to be able to use it on the classroom clients.

Very disappointing ....

Thank you Eyeon for the quick response/help with this problem...

j.

Hi Jay.

I'm sorry to hear that.
One thing I would ask the IT guys,
how they justify using a screen-share software that cripples the File I/O
of a widely used, thourough, high-end compositing application,
and then blame the mis-behaviour of the screen-share software
on the compositing software...

To me, that sounds a bit odd.

Cheers.


Eric.

@Jay i have to agree with Eric, the problem is at your end and you should not miss the opportunity to make your students familiar with useful free programs, especially at this point of time.

I would like to know if this software is installed on your machine? You had stated your machine works fine, but not the students.
As the teacher, what do you use to broadcast to the students machines?