3dsmax.exe command line switches
Is there an exhaustive list of commandline switched for the 3dsmax.exe. I'm particularly interested in the -server and -pipe switch as I want to reroute some 3dsmax argument calls.
Basicly I have a stand-in 3dsmax.exe, that reroutes all info to the 3dsmax.orig.exe including arguments, all goed well, but backburner/netrender doesn't accept the new exe, I'm thinking I'm not passing on the args well enough. But something else can be the problem too.
Any suggestions or solutions are most welcome!
Answer
Don't you have to use 3dsmaxcmd.exe for this?
To view a list of sample command lines with descriptions of what they do:
The 3dsmaxcmd.exe file also has an extensive list of sample text strings that describe many of the most common scenarios you'd use command-line rendering to accomplish.
1.
Open a command prompt window.
2.
Enter the following: “c:\program files\autodesk\3dsmaxXXX\3dsmaxcmd” -x and press Enter.
All control characters map to the Windows Regional settings standards.
Date format control chars:
d Day of month as digits with no leading zero for single-digit days.
dd Day of month as digits with leading zero for single-digit days.
ddd Day of week as a three-letter abbreviation. The function uses the
LOCALE_SABBREVDAYNAME value associated with the specified locale.
dddd Day of week as its full name. The function uses the LOCALE_SDAYNAME
value associated with the specified locale.
M Month as digits with no leading zero for single-digit months.
MM Month as digits with leading zero for single-digit months.
MMM Month as a three-letter abbreviation. The function uses the
LOCALE_SABBREVMONTHNAME value associated with the specified locale.
MMMM Month as its full name. The function uses the LOCALE_SMONTHNAME
value associated with the specified locale.
y Year as last two digits, but with no leading zero for years less
than 10.
yy Year as last two digits, but with leading zero for years less
than 10.
yyyy Year represented by full four digits.
Time format control chars:
h Hours with no leading zero for single-digit hours; 12-hour clock.
hh Hours with leading zero for single-digit hours; 12-hour clock.
H Hours with no leading zero for single-digit hours; 24-hour clock.
HH Hours with leading zero for single-digit hours; 24-hour clock.
m Minutes with no leading zero for single-digit minutes.
mm Minutes with leading zero for single-digit minutes.
s Seconds with no leading zero for single-digit seconds.
ss Seconds with leading zero for single-digit seconds.
t One character time-marker string, such as A or P.
tt Multicharacter time-marker string, such as AM or PM.
-BACKBURNER JOB SUBMISSION-
you want to submit a job to backburner, you can optionally give a manager
me, otherwise it will perform a default search for the manager. You can
tionally specify the manager's port number and, for searches, a netmask.
suming the manager's network name is mgr_machine:
3dsmaxcmd scene.max -submit
3dsmaxcmd scene.max -submit -netmask:255.255.0.0
3dsmaxcmd scene.max -submit:mgr_machine
3dsmaxcmd scene.max -submit:mgr_machine -port:1234
you want to change the job name and submit it to the network queue
initially suspended:
3dsmaxcmd scene.max -submit -jobName:"My Job" -suspended
default, a 32-bit 3dsmaxcmd.exe will submit jobs to 32-bit servers, and
64-bit 3dsmaxcmd.exe will submit jobs to 64-bit servers. You can optionally
bmit a job to a platform other than the default. To submit a job to 64-bit
rvers from a 32-bit 3dsmaxcmd.exe:
3dsmaxcmd scene.max -submit -platform:64
bmit a strip render job to the network. Job uses 4 strips, and an overlap
10 pixels between each strip:
3dsmaxcmd scene.max -submit -split:4,10
nder a single strip locally. Render strip number 2 of 4, using an overlap
10 pixels between each strip:
3dsmaxcmd scene.max -strip:4,10,2
itch together a set of strips rendered locally. Stitch a frame rendered
ing 4 strips and an overlap of 10 pixels between each strip:
3dsmaxcmd scene.max -stitch:4,10
default, timeout values for waiting for max to load, render, and unload
e the same as those found in the Advanced settings of the Network Job
signment dialog in max. To specify timeout values (minutes) when submitting
job:
3dsmaxcmd scene.max -submit -waitLoad:20 -waitRender:300 -waitUnload:10
you want to generate a job description xml file so you can edit it:
ny command line options specified will be included in the job file)
3dsmaxcmd scene.max -writeJobFile
ad a pre-existing job description file and render it:
3dsmaxcmd scene.max -readJobFile:scene.xml
A
smaxcmd [options] scene_file
-BASIC OPTIONS-
-? - This help
-x - Show examples
-v:<0-5> - Verbose level, 0-5
@<filename> - Command line options in a file
OR -cmdFile:<filename>
-preset:<filename> - Render preset file
OR -rps:<filename>
-sceneState:<scene-state-name> - Load a scene state before rendering
-batchRender - Render all enabled batch renders
-batchRender:<batch-render-name> - Render batch render named
batch-render-name
-preRenderScript:<filename> - Pre-render script file
OR -script:<filename>
-postRenderScript:<filename> - Post-render script file
-workPath:<pathname> - Work path
Root location for job data folders
-pathFile:<filename> - A path configuration file (.mxp)
-workingFolder:<filename> - A path to a directory to be used as th
Working Folder for the application
session
-split:<strips,overlap> - Split render;
strip count and overlap
-strip:<strips,overlap,strip> - Single strip, rendered locally;
strip count, overlap, and strip number
-stitch:<strips,overlap> - Stitch strips rendered locally;
strip count and overlap
-dateFormat:<dateformat> - Specify a date format to be used
in message timestamp
defaults to locale-dependent format
-timeFormat:<timeFormat> - Specify a time format to be used
in message timestamp
defaults to locale-dependent format
and 24-hour clock
-RENDER PARAMETERS-
-outputName:<filename> - Render output filename
OR -o:<filename>
-camera:<string> - Render camera
OR -cam:<string>
-width:<integer> - Output width
OR -w:<integer>
-height:<integer> - Output height
OR -h:<integer>
-pixelAspect:<number> - Pixel aspect ratio
-start:<integer> - Sequence start frame
-end:<integer> - Sequence end frame
-nthFrame:<integer> - Every nth frame value
-frames:<string> - Frames list (1,3,5-12), or "all"
-stillFrame - Indicates that this is a still frame
OR -sf render; no frame suffix will be added
to output filename
-imageSequenceFile:<0/1/2> - Image sequence file creation,
0=none, 1=.imsq, 2=.ifl
-gammaCorrection:<1/0> - Toggle gamma correction
-gammaValueIn:<number> - Input gamma value
-gammaValueOut:<number> - Output gamma value
-continueOnError - If an error is encountered, an attempt
to continue is made
-videopostJob:<1/0> - Apply Videopost to the scene
-RENDER FLAGS-
-showRFW:<0/1> - Show/hide Render Frame Window
OR -rfw:<0/1> during render
-skipRenderedFrames:<1/0> - Toggle skip existing images
-videoColorCheck:<1/0> - Toggle video Color Check
-force2Sided:<1/0> - Toggle force 2 sided
-renderHidden:<1/0> - Toggle render hidden
-atmospherics:<1/0> - Toggle atmospherics
-superBlack:<1/0> - Toggle super black
-renderFields:<1/0> - Toggle render to fields
-fieldOrder:<even/odd> - Field order
-displacements:<1/0> - Toggle displacement mapping
-effects:<1/0> - Toggle render effects
-useAreaLights:<1/0> - Toggle area lights/shadows
-useAdvLight:<1/0> - Toggle use advanced lighting
-computeAdvLight:<1/0> - Toggle compute advanced lighting
-ditherPaletted:<1/0> - Toggle output dithering (paletted)
-ditherTrueColor:<1/0> - Toggle output dithering (true color)
-renderElements:<1/0> - Toggle render elements
-BACKBURNER JOB SUBMISSION-
-submit[:manager_name] - Submit to Backburner
OR -s[:manager_name]
-port:<integer> - Manager port number
-netmask:<string> - Network mask other than 255.255.255.0
-jobName:<string> - Job name
-priority:<integer> - Job priority
-suspended - Toggle initially suspended
-writeJobFile - Write all job settings to xml file
-readJobFile:<filename> - Read all job settings from xml file
-waitLoad:<integer> - Timeout (minutes) for max to load
-waitUnload:<integer> - Timeout (minutes) for max to unload
-waitRender:<integer> - Timeout (minutes) for max to render
-platform:<32/64> - Override the job to 32-bit or 64-bit
-BITMAP PARAMETERS-
-BMP_TYPE:<2/8> - .BMP type, 2=paletted, 8=true 24
-JPEG_QUALITY:<1-100> - .JPG quality value
-JPEG_SMOOTHING:<1-100> - .JPG smoothing value
-TARGA_COLORDEPTH:<16/24/32> - .TGA color bitdepth
-TARGA_COMPRESSED:<1/0> - .TGA compression on/off
-TARGA_ALPHASPLIT:<1/0> - .TGA alpha split on/off
-TARGA_PREMULTALPHA:<1/0> - .TGA premultiplied alpha on/off
-TIF_TYPE:<0/1/2/3/4> - .TIF type,
mono/8-bit color/logl/logluv/
16-bit color
-TIF_ALPHA:<1/0> - .TIF alpha on/off
-TIF_COMPRESSION:<1/0> - .TIF compression on/off
-TIF_DPI:<number> - .TIF dots-per-inch value
For each of the following there is a corresponding -RPF_xxx option
-RLA_COLORDEPTH:<8/16/32> - .RLA color bitdepth
-RLA_ALPHA:<1/0> - .RLA alpha on/off
-RLA_PREMULTALPHA:<1/0> - .RLA premultiplied alpha on/off
-RLA_DESCRIPTION:<string> - .RLA description (in quotes)
-RLA_AUTHOR:<string> - .RLA author name (in quotes)
-RLA_ZDEPTHCHANNEL:<1/0> - .RLA z-depth channel on/off
-RLA_MTLIDCHANNEL:<1/0> - .RLA material ID channel on/off
-RLA_OBJECTIDCHANNEL:<1/0> - .RLA object ID channel on/off
-RLA_UVCHANNEL:<1/0> - .RLA UV coordinates channel on/off
-RLA_NORMALCHANNEL:<1/0> - .RLA surface normals channel on/off
-RLA_NONCLAMPEDCOLORCHANNEL:<1/0> - .RLA non-clamped color channel on/off
-RLA_COVERAGECHANNEL:<1/0> - .RLA coverage channel on/off
For each of the RLA options above, there is a corresponding -RPF_xxx option,
plus the following which are specific to RPF and unavailable for RLA
-RPF_NODERENDERIDCHANNEL - .RPF node render ID channel on/off
-RPF_COLORCHANNEL - .RPF color channel on/off
-RPF_TRANSPCHANNEL - .RPF transparency channel on/off
-RPF_VELOCCHANNEL - .RPF velocity channel on/off
-RPF_WEIGHTCHANNEL - .RPF sub-pixel weight channel on/off
-RPF_MASKCHANNEL - .RPF sub-pixel mask channel on/off
-EXR_BITDEPTH - .EXR main output layer bit depth
0 = float
1 = half float
2 = 8bits/channel integer
-EXR_COMPRESSIONTYPE - .EXR compression type
0 = no compression
1 = run length encoding
2 = zlib compression, one scan li
at a time
3 = zlib compression, in blocks o
6 scan lines
4 = piz-based wavelet compression
5 = lossy 24-bit float compressio
6 = lossy 4-by-4 pixel block comp
sion, fixed compression rate
7 = lossy 4-by-4 pixel block comp
sion, flat fields are compressed more
-EXR_STORAGETYPE - .EXR storage type
0 = Store Image as Scanlines
1 = Store Image as Tiles
-EXR_IMAGETYPE - .EXR main output layer image type
0 = rgba
1 = rgb
2 = mono
-OBSOLETE PARAMETERS-
The following flags are deprecated, but supported for backward compatibility
These flags are replaced by -pathFile:<filename> - see BASIC OPTIONS
-bitmapPath:<pathname> - Extra bitmap path for rendering
multiple path commands are allowed
-xrefPath:<pathname> - Extra xref path for rendering
multiple path commands are allowed
These flags are replaced by:
-RLA/RPF_ZCHANNEL:<1/0> - RLA/RPF_ZDEPTHCHANNEL:<1/0>+
-RLA/RPF_NODEIDCHANNEL:<1/0> - RLA/RPF_OBJECTIDCHANNEL:<1/0>+
-RLA/RPF_REALPIXCHANNEL:<1/0> - RLA/RPF_NONCLAMPEDCOLORCHANNEL:<1/0>+
The following flags are deprecated and no longer supported
-EXR_USEEXPONENT - .EXR Use exponent on/off
-EXR_EXPONENT - .EXR Exponent value (decimal)
-EXR_PREMULTALPHA - .EXR Pre-multiply alpha on/off
-EXR_ALPHA - .EXR Save alpha component on/off
-EXR_RED - .EXR Save red component on/off
-EXR_GREEN - .EXR Save green component on/off
-EXR_BLUE - .EXR Save blue component on/off
-EXR_USEFRAMENUMDIGITS - .EXR Use number of frame digits on/off
-EXR_FRAMENUMDIGITS - .EXR Number of frame digits (integer)
-EXR_USEREALPIX - .EXR Use RealPix RGB data on/off
Options are not case-sensitive
MAXScript names for rendering parameters and flags are accepted as alias,
where applicable.