External Reference Removal

[kyle.sutherland]

Hey all:

I have a scene that has two files attached to it. An image and an exr file. These files are located in my temp directory. Normally, I would not care about this, but when I try to do some distributed renderings over our network, it throws an error because the remote machines don't have those files. The problem is, I have no idea why these two files are in the scene. As far as I know, they aren't associated with any objects.

Is there any way to either find out what elements the references are associated with OR even better, nuke them from the project?

Thanks

[loydg]

Strange indeed. Start by going to your Asset Browser in Max (M>Manage>Asset Tracking). This may give you an idea of what might be sticking in your scene.

The image file may still be associated with a map in a material. Even if it's not applied to an object, it's in the scene. In your material editor go to the Material Editor and from the Utilities panel select Reset Material Editor Slots. That will strip out the image.

As far as the object, if it's not showing up in your Xref Scene or Objects, it's likely that it's a proxy object. Those reference an external file as well. Proxies will show up in the Asset Tracking.

Good luck and let us know if the issue is still and issue...

[ps_meisje]

I'm having the same problem. But with over 50 images and not just one. And I don't see any improvements in using Reset Material Editor Slots. Do I have to do it for every material? How can I find out which materials? Is there a way to get rid of all links to jpg files in my temp folder.

For now we have a work around by sharing the temp folder in our network but i don't think that's the best solution.

[loydg]

Try looking in the Bitmap/Photometric Paths under the Utility Panel (might have to look under the "More..." button and click on Edit Resources. It's easier to locate the missing files in here and do something about them. You can assign new paths or strip them. This, in conjustion with the Reset Material Editor Slots, should help you isolate and remove any rogue asset files.

The alternate is to place the rogue files on the network and reset the paths to that location...

Good luck!