it could be something specific to the timing in which pymel is loaded. you could try adding a prerender mel script to the Render command (Render -script "myscript") which loads pymel before the translation begins or import pymel in userSetup.py.
-chad -- view archives: http://groups.google.com/group/python_inside_maya change your subscription settings: http://groups.google.com/group/python_inside_maya/subscribe
