3DS Max 9 Sp1 is out...

[lukx]

today I will do few test and show you screenshots. It will be from max 9 without new service pack. I will also post settings so you will know what you set up wrong.

[trick]

THE ISSUE is that when sending files to mixed farms (as could not have been done in pre SP1 installs) there WILL be small frame differences between frames rendered on 32bit and 64bit MAX-installs because of the different random generator. This is something that CAN NOT be solved...However if you still have a 32-bit farm you can now send jobs from your 64bit MAX install to this farm; you just can not use the 64bit install for rendering frames...unless you WANT some sporadic flickering of course

[ene.xis]

thanks trick for the correct issue description!

[suurland]

Mine wasn't correct?

Anyway.. according to the autodesk people I've been mailing with have all said the same, backburner sees max9 32bit and max9 64bit as two totally different programs, just as max8 and max9 is different and if you have a workstation with max9 and your slave only have max8 it won't start rendering when it gets a job from backburner.

And the reason to do this was to prevent users from using mixed farm with mixed results. But lots of people out there have farms that only consist of 32bit nodes including me, which more or less prevented me from using max9 64bit. (I know I can work in 64bit and then save and open the scene in 32bit and then submit the job, but not so fun when all my scenes is above 200mb)

So if lukx got it working without sp1 it would be a true miracle or hardcore hack.

/Thomas

[ene.xis]

Mine wasn't correct?

mine wasn t thats for sure!

[jacksc02]

you could send backburner jobs to mixed farms, it was just a little check box that needed ticking.
Im glad they fixed the file link issues in 64bit max 9.

Now all thats left to fix is quicktime exporting

[rbaz]

So what you are saying is that having a mix of 32bit and 64bit machines rendering the same job is a no no? This is because they actually render the frames differently so they look slightly different? Do I understand that right? If so, that simplifys my decision about whether or not to jump to 64 bit. Sounds like it needs to be all or nothing.

THE ISSUE is that when sending files to mixed farms (as could not have been done in pre SP1 installs) there WILL be small frame differences between frames rendered on 32bit and 64bit MAX-installs because of the different random generator. This is something that CAN NOT be solved...However if you still have a 32-bit farm you can now send jobs from your 64bit MAX install to this farm; you just can not use the 64bit install for rendering frames...unless you WANT some sporadic flickering of course

[jacksc02]

rbaz, we run a mixed farm and there are no differences in frames.

[rbaz]

Thanks for the quick feedback.

So, no visual difference? Than what are these other folks experiencing?

RB

rbaz, we run a mixed farm and there are no differences in frames.

[RErender]

Thanks for the quick feedback.

So, no visual difference? Than what are these other folks experiencing?

RB

rbaz, we run a mixed farm and there are no differences in frames.

Probably the same things as when they said you couldn't mix AMD and Intel :P

[jacksc02]

funny you say that rerender, we run a mix of 32 and 64 bit, and also a mix of intel and amd. NO DIFFERENCE!

[rbaz]

RErender & jacksc02,

So you guys are saying it is safe to mix 32 and 64 as long as I don't mix it with Tequila?

Thanks for the quick feedback.

So, no visual difference? Than what are these other folks experiencing?

RB

rbaz, we run a mixed farm and there are no differences in frames.

Probably the same things as when they said you couldn't mix AMD and Intel :P

[jacksc02]

mixing with tequila is always a good idea. Just keep it flowing!

[vlado]

There are some small differences which are only obvious on complex calculations like procedural maps... I'll try to post an example later on, but it's probably not something you'll see every day.

Best regards,
Vlado

[trick]

Won't there be differences (although they MAY not be visible) on how samples are laid out with LC, IRR and Photons, since these are all based on a random engine (as with procedurals: shaders, particles, wind, etc) which again is based directly on the (different) processing architecture ?