Phoenix and Network Rendering

[Ka_sai]

I am testing to see if the latest VRay and phoenix will network render with backburner (we did not have Phoenix before). I installed the trial versions on my PC and the same on a render node. V-ray renders ok, but the ocean looks like it is not rendering the Phoenix Ocean Texture displacement map. Looks like a mirror. Can someone help please?

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Hey, are you using Phoenix 4.41? If so, on the render node you should have a directory C:\ChaosPhoenix, and there should be a log there. Would it be possible to send it over so we can check if anything is wrong?

Also, could you screenshot your viewport or your render so I can get a better idea of what you have or don't have in your scene? E.g. do you have simulated caches on your PC, or do you use the ocean in Pure Ocean mode, etc.

Cheers!

[Ka_sai]

Hi Nikolov,

Thanks for replying, I have attached the phoenix logs from my original PC and the render node. I have also attached the renders of the original and the render node. I did not use any simulation, just the ocean in pure ocean mode.

Thank you.

[slavina.nikolova]

Hey,

It seems to be working in our tests. Could you send us a simplified scene, so we can check what is causing the problem in your scene? Also, can you show us a screenshot of the mesh in the viewport?

Thank you!

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Ka_sai , could it be that you are using V-Ray displacement over a plane instead of Phoenix's Pure Ocean mode (this is the name of an option in the Rendering rollout, here is how to use it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRI2fn8lVjs)

[Ka_sai]

Hi slavina.nikolova

I have attached a screen shot of my viewport and the simplified Max 2022 scene. I sent another render from the simplified scene and it is still producing the same result.

Thanks,
Karl

[Ka_sai]

Svetlin.Nikolov I'm not using a plane, I have added the Phoenix displacement map to the phoenix displacement map slot in the modifier, under the Rendering tab. As shown in the attached image.

[slavina.nikolova]

Hey,

Thanks for the scene! It seems to be working here.

The builds we are using are Phoenix 4.41.00 for 3ds Max 2022 - https://download.chaos.com/?license_...256&product=46, V-Ray 5 for 3ds Max 2022, update 2.2 - https://download.chaos.com/?license_...256&product=47, and Autodesk Backburner 2018.0.

Here are our steps:
-> install exact the same builds on both machines;
-> load the scene on the first machine - the one that will be used for submitting the job;
-> set the render output to a directory where both machines have access;
-> start Backburner on both machines and connect the machines using their IP addresses - if everything is working as expected, you will see the second machine (the one that will be used for rendering) in the Backburner Monitor of the first machine;
-> on the first machine, select Target -> Submit To Network Rendering;
-> a new dialog box appears and after clicking Connect we can see the second machine in the All Servers tab;
-> press Submit;
-> image is saved in the specified directory.

Can you tell us your exact V-Ray version? Also, if you can access the rendering node locally, can you try to render the scene there and see if it works?

Thank you!

[Ka_sai]

slavina.nikolova
Svetlin.Nikolov

I have now solved it. After inspecting the render node I found that the license rollout said "No GUI license found. License is already in use." I found this really strange because the image still rendered, and the ocean mesh still rendered, just with no displacement map, thats why I intially thought it couldn't be a license issue so didn't bother checking. So after a lot of messing around i finally uninstalled and reinstalled phoenix, and now everything is ok.
Thank you both for helping me to troubleshoot.