Maya Station

Some tips for users trying to get Maya 2012 and Fedora 16 running

While we have only officially qualified Maya 2012 on Redhat Enterprise 5.5 and Fedora 14 we do have users who enjoy the latest and greatest of what Fedora 16 with Gnome 3 can offer. 

I have recently gone through the installer myself and while I have run into some minor hiccups mainly around the new implementation of Gnome things are working out great with Maya. 

Below are simply some notes I have made along the way.

This is a good time to make sure folks are aware that we do not qualify Fedora 16 so there can be some un-foreseen issues that I did not come across.  With that said, I am simply a Linux guy who enjoys sharing information and hopefully this will help anyone who comes across these issues.

General Maya tips

The next few sections cover general Maya instalation issues you may come across when trying to get Maya up and running.  These focus specifically on Maya issues and are valuable even for folks not running Fedora.  Further down I have more specific issues around Fedora 16.

The missing packages for Maya 2012

The installer and licensing had no issues however when I went to launch Maya I hit a typically wall of missing packages.  During my default installation of Fedora I only needed to install the ones in the command below.

More packages can be missing so a full rpm list is in our installation documentation page 18.

     yum install tcsh libXp xorg-x11-fonts-ISO8859*

Installing Nvidia drivers

I am fan of using Nvidia drivers that are downloaded straight from the source. For us to install Nvidia drivers Nouveau must be disabled.  More details about what Noveau is can be found here.  Before disabling Nouveau we need to get OS kernels updated and make sure everything is matching. 

Command below will do the trick.  First install missing packages needed for Nvidia drivers for compiling/intall and then update everything.

     yum install kernel-devel kernel-headers
     yum update kernel*

Remove / disable nouveau drivers from kernel initramfs

     Backup old initramfs nouveau image
     mv /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r)-nouveau.img
 
     Create new initramfs image
     dracut /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img $(uname -r)

Reboot

Now, to install the actual Nvidia drivers you must have the X session closed.  Essentially, if you are reading this on the machine which will be running Maya, than the drivers will not install.

You can simply hit ctrl-alt f5 to launch a terminal session and type.
    
     init 3

This will kill any live X session. 

Login as root user again in the terminal.  At this point you are ready to install the drivers. cd into the driver directory and run.  Before running the installer we need to make sure binutils is installed.

     yum install binutils

Now install the Nvidia drivers
 
     sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-XXX.XX.run

If everything works out you will see prompts to install the drivers.  Follow the instructions on screen. Since noveau is still enabled Nvidia will request you to reboot once more after it finishes creating a modification in /etc/modprobe.d

After the reboot just follow the steps by going back into terminal and doing init 3 to install the drivers again.

 

To Overlay or Composite

There are a couple of options to operate Maya's UI or Linux Windows session in.  The first being Hardware Overlays while the second option is a Composite mode.

I will not cover which is better because some folks will have personal or business needs as to why one is used over the other.  However, I will show both examples below. The one thing to remember is that you should be on one or the other.  The two do not work together.

For the Hardware Overlay option, the following will need to be added into the device section of your xorg.conf file located in /etc/X11 folder.

  Option "Overlay" "On"

After you add this line you will need to restart the X session for the changes to take effect.  Launch Maya and the hotbox should be using hardware overlays.  Usually you will see a dithered and partially transparent hotbox.

For those using the above hardware overlay option make sure that the composite is disabled in the xorg.  Composite desktop will overwrite the overlays option.

If you wish to use composite desktop instead, simply set the overlay option above to off and make sure the following is at the bottom of the xorg.conf file.

  Section "Extensions"
  Option "Composite" "On"
  EndSection

Once again a restart of X is required.  When using this mode you will need to set another option in the windows session for composite to work correctly or you will get alot of flashing UI when the hotbox is activated.  Composite must be enabled be enabled in the Windows X session. There are several windows managers around but I will go with the my prefered which is using Gnome default Metacity window manager.

If you followed all the steps above than the gconf-editor will already be installed.  As a root user in a terminal launch.

     gconf-editor

Go to apps->metacity->general and enable the compositing_manager check box.  Generally a reboot is not required for this change.  Simply Launch Maya and the hotbox will be non-dithered.

General Linux tips with Fedora 16

While the above steps go Maya up and running nicely in Fedora 16 or even other distobutions under Gnome 3 there are some other things I have done to modify my Linux setup and general look and feel.  Once again I simply wrote down as I made some changes.

 

Missing title bar minimize button

Under Gnome 3 some things have changed with the general look of title bar of applications.  By default the minimize buttons are gone.  How do we get this back?

     yum install gconf-editor

You can now launch this in a terminal by typing

     gconf-editor

In the configuration editor drill down through desktop->gnome->shell->windows

Modify 'button_layout' and set the values as ':minimize,maximize,close'

For the settings to take affect you must log out and back in.

Getting Gnome Sesison Windows behavior to use super+ instead of alt+

Prior to fedora 16 there was a GUI option in Gnome to enable this.  With fedora 16 you can get this done in a terminal. This will change Gnomes default action of using alt as the main key to do things such as move windows and so on.   The command below will pass this control to the super key (windows key)

gconftool-2 --set --type string /apps/metacity/general/mouse_button_modifier '<Super>'

How do I change the runlevel?

systemd has the concept of targets which is a more flexible replacement for runlevels.

Run level 3 is emulated by multi-user.target. While Run level 5 is emulated by graphical.target. runlevel3.target is a symbolic link to multi-user.target and runlevel5.target is a symbolic link to graphical.target.

You can switch to 'runlevel 3' by running

    systemctl isolate multi-user.target (or) systemctl isolate runlevel3.target

You can switch to 'runlevel 5' by running

    systemctl isolate graphical.target (or) systemctl isolate runlevel5.target

How do I change the default runlevel?

systemd uses symlinks to point to the default runlevel. You have to delete the existing symlink before creating a new one

    rm /etc/systemd/system/default.target

Switch to runlevel 3 by default

    ln -sf /lib/systemd/system/multi-user.target /etc/systemd/system/default.target

Switch to runlevel 5 by default

    ln -sf /lib/systemd/system/graphical.target /etc/systemd/system/default.target

I dont like all the flashy Gnome 3 stuff

While we should imbrace the new looks I am finding a bit difficult to wrap around it and want some of my older options back.  The good news is that there is a fallback feature which removes all grahical fun stuff.  The Fallback mode can be enabled by going to System Settings > System Info. In this window, you'll be able to activate - force - Fallback Mode. The next time you login, you will have a more standard view with menus just like previous versions.

No desktop icons.... no problem!

Gnome 3 by default hides all the desktop items.  You can get them back by installing a tweak tool which enables them.  In a terminal as root install gnome-tweak-tool

     yum install gnome-tweak-tool

You can now run the tool as a regular user.  To run it in a terminal simply type.

     gnome-tweak-tool 

When the Advance settings window shows up click on Desktop category and enable "Have file manager handle desktop"

The Bootloader

Fedora 16 also introduces a new bootloader application.  Grub2 is now the default bootloader to control which OS will be used during system start up.  The introduction of Grub2 has made things a bit trickier to modify the settings done during the initial OS install.  Older version of grub simply involved modifying a cfg file to get things corrected as to startup timeouts and which OS to boot.  Below are the simple steps to help you switch the default from one OS to another using grub2.

Running this command will build the grub menu after any changes have been made.  This command will automatically find the kernels and initrds in the boot directory and add them to a cfg file using the parameters given in /etc/default/grub

    grub2-mkconfig > /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

To set the default OS simply modify /etc/default/grub file.  This can be edited in any text editor as root.
 
The line you need to add or change is:

   GRUB_DEFAULT=OS Name

You can either set OS Name or a numeric entry.

   GRUB_DEFAULT="Fedora (3.2.13.fc16.x86_64)"

To get a list of the menuentry simply use:

     grep menuentry /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

The list will print out in the terminal and the first one listed will be 0 or the OS name.

     GRUB_DEFAULT=0

That’s all I have on this post for now.  If I come across any other noteworthy issues I will update this post. I would also like to say that I cannot take full credit in these workarounds.  Most of these can easily be found roaming the internet and for that thank you.

Cheers!

Nelson

How to get Tkinter to run in Maya 2012 with Linux

Tkinter is a Python GUI package which operates on top of Tcl/Tk.  The Tkinter .so is included with Maya’s packaged Python folder. For users on Linux running distributions like Redhat Enterprise 6 or Fedora 14 you will notice that the default version of Tcl and Tk are 8.5.  Running any Tkinter call within Maya’s ui will automatically prompt an error:

from Tkinter import *
root = Tk()

# Error: TclError: Can't find a usable init.tcl in the following directories:
/usr/share/tcl8.4 /usr/aw/maya2011-x64/lib/tcl8.4 /usr/aw/lib/tcl8.4 /usr/aw/maya2011-x64/library /usr/aw/library /usr/aw/tcl8.4.13/library /usr/tcl8.4.13/library /usr/share/tcl8.4

You will notice Maya is pointing to a version Tcl which is not installed and looking for directories which are not on the system.

The reason this occurs is because we compile Maya on the lowest possible setup for compliance.  Maya 2012 is based on Redhat Enterprise 5.  This simply means that the default Tcl and Tk version on this distribution are 8.4.  Unfortunately, this information is hardcoded into the _tkinter.so file included in the Maya python "lib-dynload" folder. This cannot be changed. So your only option at this point is to install the 8.4 version of the app.

There is no need to remove your current Tcl or Tk versions and the 8.4 version can be installed without any issues.  You will need to source these based on your distribution and get the rpm’s installed and Maya will than grab the proper directories in /usr/lib.

Let’s now focus on some actual work.  Below is a sample script which will build a GUI window with a button to build a sphere.  You will notice I added some threading commands.  The reason for this is to make sure that the Maya UI is still available and updated without having to wait for the python UI to close before updating the viewport.

import maya.utils
import maya.cmds as mc
import Tkinter as tk
import threading

def makeSphere( radius ):
     print "WOW that Sphere is great!"
     mc.sphere( radius=radius )

def makeMySphere():
     maya.utils.executeInMainThreadWithResult( makeSphere, 5 )

def UI():
    app = tk.Tk()
    btnCube = tk.Button(app, text="Make a special Sphere", command=makeMySphere )
    btnCube.pack()
    app.mainloop()

class MyThread ( threading.Thread ):
     def run ( self ):
          UI()

MyThread().start()

I hope this is helpful for anyone using Tkinter on Linux.  Please remember this was only tested on Linux so I am not sure what the behaviour is like on Windows.

There are also other options for building python GUI’s.  We have details in the Maya devkit for pyQt and I have also seen folks use wxPython.

Cheers!

Nelson

Global Symbol Evaluation

Are you working on Linux?

Have you ever seen a file with this *.sog extension in your plug-in directory?

Ever wonder what it is?

It is possible to force plug-ins to export their symbols by putting an additional file, with the same name as the plug-in with the extension '.sog' in the directory with the plug-in. This would cause the plug-in to be dlopened using the RTLD_GLOBAL flag.

The .sog extension is our own indication that a plug-in should be loaded with extra loader options.  The RTLD_GLOBAL flag.   Normally we don't set this flag so any functions will be known to the plug-in itself and not pollute the global name space.

Normal plug-in loading:

• pluginName.so

To load a plug-in with RTLD_GLOBAL flag included:

• pluginName.so
• pluginName.sog

The ending ‘g’ meaning global.

You need both files.  The .sog is there for existence only - can be a zero length file.

They should ensure the other plug-in that exports its functions has a .sog file to match that plug-in so it is loaded with global scope.

The presence of a .sog file will enable the plug-in symbols to be available for other plug-ins to use.

Cheers,

Kristine

Maya 2012 Hotfix 4

We have released another hotfix for Maya 2012.  Once again the Windows Hotfix is a incremental installer. So, no need to uninstall Maya before aplpying this update.  As for the other installers. They are full installs so please remove your current package before installing the hotfix.

Maya 2012 Hotfix 4 contains these fixes:

• Wacom mouse not working
• Unexpected flipping when pairBlend rotation interpolation is set to Quaternion
• Plug-in load failure because of Dependency Graph changes
• Crash with extruding a deleted face
• Keys in Graph Editor change value when moved along Timeline while zoomed out
• nCloth collision failures
• Relax intial state resets some nCloth damp values
• attrFieldSliderGrp - cc option does not work
• Graph Editor: can’t view multiple f-curves on a character set
• Nucleus no longer stops immediately when simulation is aborted
• Local wind problem
• Crash upon reading EXR file from Mudbox
• Cannot open Render View when opening Maya scene by double-clicking
• Preferences option “Hide extensions in filter” cause File Type Options on export to disappear

Composite 2012 Hotfix 4 contains:

• Preference: Can't change the padding in the version Preference tab
• Viewport : Hotkeys don't work in full frame mode
• Crash when converting a Cineon10bit to a Cineon16bit
• DPX rendering options should not be available for Cineon format
• Composition drops textures when rendered on multiple machines
• Render fails with error "Terminate handler called from thread"
• Performance issues related to graphics cards
• Performance degradation issues
• Vector paint performance issue

If you are running Maya 2012 on OS X 10.7, be aware of these limitations:

• Some PICT, SGI, and PSD image files fail to display
• Installer freezes at end of successful installation; is okay to force quit the installer
• Crash when using the High Quality viewport
• No refresh after performing some operations; force refresh by tumbling to resolve
• Library in home directory is hidden in 10.7; user must navigate to it using Terminal or Go to Folder functionality in the Finder

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=17478798&linkID=9242259

 

Cheers!

Nelson

How to install and use fonts on Linux

Every now and than we get requests from users who mention that they have installed True Type Font on Linux but Maya's Create text feature is not picking them up.

The main reason this occurs is because Maya only uses the Type 1 .PFA fonts.  These are postscript fonts. So to get TTF format to work you will need to get them converted.  There are a couple of tools to get this done.

The first option is simple but involves uploading your current TTF to a online server which converts them and makes it available for download.  

http://onlinefontconverter.com/

While this is easy to use I would use caution if the fonts you are converting were purchased.

The second option is to download a simple little application from  http://ttf2pt1.sourceforge.net/  which will allow to locally convert your TTF to PFA on your Linux box.

I have used this application plenty of times without many issues getting fonts converted.  I generally run a simple command like.

ttf2pt1 -e location_off.tff

This will convert the TTF and save the PFA into the same directory.  After that you simply need to copy the file into one of the following directories.

“/usr/share/fonts/default/ghostscript”
“/usr/share/X11/fonts/Type1”
“/usr/share/fonts/Type1”
“/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1”

Hope this helps!

 

 

API wishlist surveys for Autodesk products

Our annual API wishlist surveys are now live:

Autodesk® 3ds Studio Max® - http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22CAV8THY63/

Autodesk® Maya® - http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22CAV7HHXCE/

Please do take the time to provide us with your input: it’s one of the most direct ways to influence the direction of the Autodesk products you customize or for which you develop applications. Our various Engineering teams take this feedback very seriously when prioritizing the APIs to expose over the coming releases of our software. And if you (optionally) provide your email address in the survey, I’ll send you a copy of the results once they’ve been compiled.

The surveys will remain open until July 3rd, 2011. Thanks in advance for your feedback!

Posted on behalf of Cyrille Fauvel.

Owen

 

The Maya 2012 network license and sub-feature components: mental ray and fluid simulation

Please note that this issue is resolved. If you requested a Maya 2012 network license after 25th April and you have a valid Subscription contract, your license will include all the necessary activation codes to run Maya 2012, 2011 and 2010.You will not have to resort to copy/pasting parts of your Maya 2011 license to activate the fluid simulation and mental ray render nodes in Maya 2011.

Your Maya 2012 no longer requires the fluid simulation and mental ray features (including render nodes) to be activated in separate codes. All features of Maya 2012 can be activated from a single activation code. However, a correct license file - issued after the 25th April - will also include PACKAGE and INCREMENT lines explicitely for those features in Maya 2011 and Maya 2010 that require separate activation codes. 

If, after you start using your Maya 2012 network license you find that you can no longer render using mental ray or use fluid simulations in previous versions of the application, plesae read the rest of this blog post..

unrecognised OpenGL version on Linux OS

We have customers using newer newer graphic cards with drivers that support OpenGL 3.0+.  The new Nvidia Quadro 4000 is an example of one of these cards.  When running Maya 2011 on Linux users may notice error messages in the terminal saying  "unrecognised OpenGL version"

Our development team has made an update to the version of libQtOpenGL.so.4.5.3 which includes the new code from the Qt 4.7.0 branch to recognize the newer OpenGL versions.  The modified source code of  qgl.cpp and qgl.h  are also included in the tgz file

un tar the file qt453-opengl.tgz and replace libQtOpenGL.so.4.5.3 with the file located in /usr/autodesk/maya2011.5-x64/lib

It is recommended that you make a local copy of the file /usr/autodesk/maya2011.5-x64/lib/libQtOpenGL.so.4.5.3 before replacing it.

Please follow this link for the download.

 

getting BackBurner up and running on Linux OS

Created a short video awhile back showing users how to quickly get BackBurner Manager, Server and Monitor up and running on Linux OS.

 

Unable to load Substance for Maya 2011

Subscription users attempting to load the substance plugin which was included with Maya 2011 Advantage Pack on RHE5 (Redhat Enterprise 5) will notice the error below.

// Error: Unable to dynamically load : /usr/autodesk/maya2011.5-x64/bin/plug-ins/Substance.so
/lib64/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.6' not found (required by /usr/autodesk/maya2011.5-x64/lib/libsubstance_sse2_blend.so.1) //
// Error: /lib64/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.6' not found (required by /usr/autodesk/maya2011.5-x64/lib/libsubstance_sse2_blend.so.1) //
// Error: /lib64/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.6' not found (required by /usr/autodesk/maya2011.5-x64/lib/libsubstance_sse2_blend.so.1) (Substance) //

RHE5 uses an older version of GLIBC, version 2.5 to be exact. These libraries were compiled on a newer version of GLIBC than what is provided by RHE5.  At this time users will not be able to use the plugin unless they are on a system with GLIBC 2.6 which is standard on Fedora 11.

Autodesk has placed this product issue on development's product modification schedule.