GUI license vs. Render Node license

[vfxhooker]

I was told by my reseller that my GUI license could function as a render node license as long as I did not have a GUI instance of Max open with V-Ray active. So I shut down Max completely after submitting a job to Deadline, expecting that both my render nodes and my workstation would be rendering while I was gone. Instead, I came home to many errors stating that my workstation could not obtain a v-ray license. Is something wrong? Was I misinformed? Should my GUI license be able to function as a node license when I'm not running Max or not?

Thanks for any help with this.

[vfxhooker]

Actually I think it's Phoenix that is failing to grab a license. So this has me wondering. Does Chaos charge to be able to render Phoenix per node? I was under the impression that the licensing was for simulations, not rendering. Do I have to pay $210 to be able to render Phoenix with V-Ray, when I'm already paying to render with V-Ray?

[JezUK]

I'm no Phoenix expert, but doesn't the simulation only happen on one render node only for Phoenix, i.e. you can't distribute the simulation and have several computers sharing the workload ?

[vfxhooker]

I'm not trying to do a distributed sim. I'm trying to render frames that are already simulated on all three of my machines. I'm trying to verify if Phoenix requires a license per node for render slaves.

[ivan.slavchev]

I'm not trying to do a distributed sim. I'm trying to render frames that are already simulated on all three of my machines. I'm trying to verify if Phoenix requires a license per node for render slaves.

The GUI license cannot be used for rendering - it gets engaged when you use V-Ray/Phoenix GUI. Ther render node licenses are being engaged when you render, the Phoenix simuaion license - while you simulate.

Since you have 2 Render node licenses (the one that comes with V-Ray for 3dsMax Workstation package and an additional rental license) - you should be able to render on 2 computers simultaniously - hence the license error on the 3rd one.
egarding simulations - the Phoenix simuaion license is engaged only whili you simulate, it won't be engaged while rendering (although you have to have Phoenix installed on all machines that you render Phoenix simulations on)

[vfxhooker]

The GUI license cannot be used for rendering - it gets engaged when you use V-Ray/Phoenix GUI. Ther render node licenses are being engaged when you render, the Phoenix simuaion license - while you simulate.

Since you have 2 Render node licenses (the one that comes with V-Ray for 3dsMax Workstation package and an additional rental license) - you should be able to render on 2 computers simultaniously - hence the license error on the 3rd one.
egarding simulations - the Phoenix simuaion license is engaged only whili you simulate, it won't be engaged while rendering (although you have to have Phoenix installed on all machines that you render Phoenix simulations on)

This is a really unfortunate limitation. The GUI license should be eligible to downgrade to a render node when the host app isn't running. Not happy about this at all.

[ivan.slavchev]

This is a really unfortunate limitation. The GUI license should be eligible to downgrade to a render node when the host app isn't running. Not happy about this at all.

That's not how our licensing is structured, besides - you cannot get only a GUI license - you always get it with at least 1 render node as a "Workstation" package. Additional render node licenses are just a cheaper way for clients to obtain licenses for render nodes they don't need V-Ray GUI on.