i love vray - just playing with some materials...

[zeromancer1972]

i count 3, but that doesn't matter

as i render only stills this isnt really a benefit regarding the render times...
maybe if i could render single elements on each machine this may speed up a little...
btw: is it possible to render each element (shadows, gi, caustics, etc.) seperately with max? i know this from cinema 4d, but i miss those option in max !?!?!

[jujubee]

I wouldnt go so far as to say that. I just had a 47 min still render chopped down to about 17 mins. And thats only two comps. I gotta get a monitor for my third now- can only imagine what happens.

Check out this discussion I posted on the topic of still frames- it can give an older computer a facelift:

http://www.chaoticdimension.com/foru...pic.php?t=4256

[zeromancer1972]

jeeee! i can't believe it, but it works!

now my 3 comps render one image - thats awesome!
to be honest, i never figured out what the spawner should do - now i know it and i will definately use it!

always a pleasure to communicate with other "freaks"

kind regards...

[zeromancer1972]

haa haaa i got you

what is the setting for a distributed rendering using GI with IR map?
i got strange results leaving the standard settings alone, a checker image, partly with GI. looks nice, but not correct.

i think i'm doing something wrong again - apologize my mental insufficiency

EDIT:
ok ok i see.... direct computation does it... no other way, hm?

another EDIT:
erm it does it.... in one scene, another one failes too...

this is the one:

[Syclone1]

DaForce: for the IDE cables I just used rounded as you can see in the images but as for the power I ended up making my own power lines for 1/2 the drives and just neatly tucked away the others where they had the least impact on air flow. Eventually if I can get the time Im going to completely rewire the entire case.

cocolas: I went with the single cpu for the most part "heat". inside the case with duals and all the other hardware would force me to make a box that sounds like a jet engine. At the moment the noise is quite low and for the money I would have spent on a dual I built 2 boxes for a little more

zeromancer1972: the reason your getting the darker bucket is the render slave cant access the materials that I assume are on you machine. In tips section Vlado has a sticky thread on how to setup the DR.


-dave

[jujubee]

Where the heck is this sticky thread people keep on refering to? And what the heck is it?!?!??!?

zero- I'm really glad this works for you. It makes me feel alot better that some of my annoying questions benefit other people. It'll breathe new life into that machine and will hopefully enable you to share more artwork with us in a shorter amount of time Just out of curiousity- let us know how quickly this renders for you now once you get your material paths correct.

-juju

[zeromancer1972]

ok there's something wrong with my paths? well all the machines got the same installation, the same amount of materials (even the specials), everywhere i got the same plug-in - even simcloth is located on each machine.

it's weird that scenes render correctly, others don't. the scenes that do not, have a hdri-environment map (vray-hdri) - maybe this is the reason...

the dr settings look like this:


i cannot change the paths...

[Syclone1]

jujubee: here is the "sticky thread" http://www.chaoticdimension.com/foru...pic.php?t=2477

zeromancer1972: your slaves should have access to ALL files used in the scene, maps, hdri... Also all machins have to be running the same build as max and all the same plugins with the same versions/builds on each for DR to work successfully.

-dave

[zeromancer1972]

ok, i got it - hmmm thats not what i would assume if i heard "distributed rendering"... ok, i'll try to use all my maps in UNC folders to work correctly.
but the scene of this thread (the interior) works fine, although all maps are located on one machine, the client itself. i agree that standard maps work fine, but the floor material is my own (modified default wood) located on the client...

anyway thanks for your replies

@jujubee: looking forward to share something new with you meanwhile feel free to have a look at my gallery

p.s.: i read this thread and i assure you that i did all vlado said

EDIT:
i tried to render a "problem" scene. i placed all maps (erm.. only one hdri map) in BOTH maps folders, edited the environment map to point at this file. it didn't work...

EDIT 2:
it seems there is a general problem with vray hdri environment maps, cause i tested a scene using material maps located on all machines (maps folder) - this worked, though it was the vray displacement modifier.
hey ho, i think its time to change back to a default hdri-environment...

i will let you know how this worked - so long

[DaForce]

Syclone1:
What do you mean by you ended up making your own power lines?
I will have another go a cleaning up my case for better airflow, because at the moment its kinda crap for airflow.

[zeromancer1972]

that did the trick!

do not use vray hdri env maps on DR - they won't work even if you place your maps on all machines, try default hdri env maps instead.

standard maps seem to work properly, don't know why, even if you do not distribute them to all slaves. hmm.

nothing special, just a speed test: one hdri map, GI turned on, one vray light for shadows, 3 vray mats 100% fresnel reflection. the hdri map is 17MB. 2 render slaves.



ok guys, hope to hold the images a while (furtunately i have got enough webspace ) so this thread may be helpful to others as much as it was for me

[Syclone1]

Syclone1:
What do you mean by you ended up making your own power lines?
I will have another go a cleaning up my case for better airflow, because at the moment its kinda crap for airflow.

I bought blank molex connectors and the proper coloured wire and made new power lines from the PSU to the drives.

some molex connectors here at Frozen CPU

-dave

[cocolas]

cocolas: I went with the single cpu for the most part "heat". inside the case with duals and all the other hardware would force me to make a box that sounds like a jet engine.

yeah, that's the down side of my system, but that's a small price for me to pay, as long as it cranks out stuff fairly fast...

DUAL ATHLON MP 1900+
2GIGS OF DDR RAM.
DVD/CDRW COMBO
OXYGEN XL 420 (128 MB VRAM)
100 GB STRIPED HD (2 40gb + 1 20gb hd)

paul.

[Syclone1]

cocolas: I went with the single cpu for the most part "heat". inside the case with duals and all the other hardware would force me to make a box that sounds like a jet engine.

yeah, that's the down side of my system, but that's a small price for me to pay, as long as it cranks out stuff fairly fast...

Although if I went with a case like a Lian-Li PC70 case then it would probably be ok but although nice that case is huge.

Lian-Li PC 70 Series

-dave

[cocolas]

yeah, mine it's got 9 bays....