Back Burner

[glorybound]

Who here uses back burner in their workflow? Do you use it even if RAM isn't an issue? I purchased, downloaded, and I'm dissecting Ramon Zancaro’s “The G-Spot of the Bed and Art”. For his final he used pretty high settings, but it's a pretty simple scene, and he used BB and DR. So, is this pretty typical? I avoid BB because it seems to just add another layer of complexity, and room for error. If RAM isn't an issue, what would one benefit from using BB and DR?

[Pixelcon]

Well so you can have the best of both worlds. BB queuing with DR at the same time... I use it if i need to render more than one image over night...

[glorybound]

that does make sense, but I don't think I have ever needed to render more than one in an evening. Other than that, no spread gain?

[simmsimaging]

I find it really useful for having a render running and still being able to use my primary workstation.

[thablanch]

It is a must to use a rendering system (like BackBurner), as a local render is not an option. The speed gain comes from a free workstation. DR is an amazing thing, but on a daily base, network rendering is really the only way to go.
If you do not like BackBurner, you can always try Thinkbox Deadline, which is free for 2 render slaves or less.. And manages other software than 3dsMax too...

[AJ Jefferies]

I find it really useful for having a render running and still being able to use my primary workstation.

+1. It's incredibly handy if you know your image is going to take a couple of hours to have it rendering with DR but keep a license free for your main machine.

[glorybound]

okay. all great reasons, thanks!