need help!:network rendering missing images/textures

[horoXhoro]

my vray network rendering is working just fine, but the textures are all gone...it's seem like the rest of the slaves machine couldn't find/links images that i've map on my objects..the result come out with a plain object all the textures i've map is gone .....

i just bought extra 20 machine for rendering now i've this problem, can anyone help me out??

[e3d]

Couple of things to think about....

1. Are the textures on a network drive?

2. Do all your machines have the same setup within the 3dsmax.ini ie. do they all have the same bitmap paths?

Hope this helps.

Neil

[horoXhoro]

thanx man....just simpay add the bitmap path in every machine is working fine..thanx for ur help

[mike_kennedy]

You might find it easier to work with all your textures on networked drives.
I.E.
Instead of c:/3dsmax/maps
use
servermaxmaps

I also map my network drives so they show up a the same drive letter on all my machines....then I work with thet drive letter.

x:/mapbubbaubba/maps/metals

Cheers
Mike Kennedy

[earlye]

I also map my network drives so they show up a the same drive letter on all my machines....then I work with thet drive letter.

x:/mapbubbaubba/maps/metals

A word of warning. No matter what, 3dStudio will store your bitmap paths using UNC file names (e.g., X:/maps/metals becomes //server/xdrive/maps/metals). The upshot is that if you ever need to move your data to a new file server, all of your .max files will reference the wrong network path. Thanks to Murphy's Law you will you will invariably have to replace your file server at the worst possible time. The last thing you want is to have to re-path all of your bitmaps at that point in time.

I cannot say how many times I wished discreet would have had the foresight to include the notion of a project-directory This whole issue would disappear. Simply put everything into your project directory, and run.

I recommend the following setup...

On your workstation, have an extra drive that is a *local* drive, where all of your work resides. This avoids the UNC file naming problem.

Your slaves then map this drive to the same drive letter. Max can still find your bitmaps using the drive letter because Windows handles the file name to UNC conversion.

We recommend that this drive be lettered as "Y" and that you put all of your source data under Y:<userid>source, where <userid> is your ResPower user id. This makes it easier to transfer your stuff to our system should your internal render farm prove to need a little help later on. If you choose a different layout in implementing this scheme, that's fine too - it just means more work if you happen to need to outsource your rendering later.

[horoXhoro]

thanx everyone for helping me out....

u mean i need to re-path or add-path each time i have a new project....
if i have 100 of machine, i have to path it one by one???

any guide here, if can give me a very details guide b'cos im not very familiar with computer stuff

thanx..~

[earlye]

thanx everyone for helping me out....

u mean i need to re-path or add-path each time i have a new project....
if i have 100 of machine, i have to path it one by one???

any guide here, if can give me a very details guide b'cos im not very familiar with computer stuff

thanx..~

Can't give you a guide, b/c every system is different.

From an architectural viewpoint, you've got 3 options.

1) Configure each new computer with a bitmap path. Tedious and error prone. Yech.

2) Use a network drive for all of your source content. Map this drive identically on all nodes. Works, but is brittle if the server has to be replaced, renamed, or whatever, for any reason.

3) Add a (possibly virtual) drive to your work station where all of your content goes. Make its drive letter something that you can map onto every computer. Works, and not as brittle as option (2) because you can always re-create the same drive letter. Added benefit, if you use drive Y: and a layout mimicking the ResPower filesystem - it becomes considerably easier to outsource your rendering should that become a necessity.

For details on option (3), see also: http://www.respower.com/page_farm_us...ide_filesystem[/url]