how to organize mappaths

[max montana]

hi, as i bought a new pc i want to reorganice my maps. i have a view questions.
what do i have to think of when i edit new mappaths for materials.
1.) that dr works properly(in the vray documentation is written: (note that you may actually need some file/directory sharing for the bitmaps or other additional files used during rendering)
can someone explain this to me

2.)that i can deal with one file on differnt pc`s(for example if one pc drops out)

[MoonDoggie]

(Shameless bump)
This is for once you re-organize your vault, you can use my "Relink Bitmaps" script here at Scriptspot to relink any bitmaps you might have had gone missing in your max files.

http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/relink-bitmaps

[ene.xis]

just make sure to use unc paths on ur bitmaps in max...that way u dont risk ur slaves to miss them

[HAWF]

I like to use the Lele's Stuff Collector (http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/leles-vray-tools).
Here I have that template for the folder's project.
\\server\project (shared to the network)\project name\textures

To me is the best way to archive to backup the whole project when it is finished.

[MoonDoggie]

Bump for stuff collector, however it won't collect missing maps, relink them first then stuff 'em.

[simonreeves]

Being organsied with unc paths on, and using max's (at last) project folder thing, the random files needing to be collected up should be delt with really.

[max montana]

do i understand unc paths correct, that i specify the mappaths like this: computername\discname\filefolder\jpg
and not like this: c:\discname\discname\filefolder\jpg

@simonreeves

and using max's (at last) project folder thing, the random files needing to be collected up should be delt with really.

what do you mean with the "project folder thing" and "random files needing to be collected up should be delt with really" could you explain this to me

@all others, thanks for your advices, i`ll give them a try.

[ene.xis]

do i understand unc paths correct, that i specify the mappaths like this: computername\discname\filefolder\jpg
and not like this: c:\discname\discname\filefolder\jpg

yep! thats it

[dlparisi]

do i understand unc paths correct, that i specify the mappaths like this: computername\discname\filefolder\jpg
and not like this: c:\discname\discname\filefolder\jpg

Just to be complete in case you don't know, it's \\computername\discname\filefolder\jpg (need the double backslash).

[werticus]

i used mapped network drives z:\maps\

its a dedicated texture and scene computer with dual gb network links so it can handle all the slaves at once.

no had any problems since it became a dedicated file server.

[WWX]

don't this impact on rendering times?

I video tut I recently followed made it clear that your render times might suffer when doing DR and the texture maps is not on each machine.

Which is a pity because I like the unc paths workflow, but not at the cost of rendering times.

[Preisler]

@WWX

Sounds interesting! Do you have a link to that tut?

We hav´nt had any delays since we upgraded to Gigabit network and installed a dedicated fileserver.

Preisler

[simonreeves]

what do you mean with the "project folder thing" and "random files needing to be collected up should be delt with really" could you explain this to me.

Yeah sorry about my wonderful description, I meant setting the project folder (FILE > SET PROJECT FOLDER..)

Though before this I think a lot of people still organsied things this way anyway, having a project folder and inside that, a scenes folder, a texture folder etc.

And with relative paths, textures etc. can be relative to wherever the scene is so if you move the whole project, everything should still be in place.

[WWX]

Link

Hi Preisler

As far as I can recall it was mentioned towards the end in the tutorial on Onyx Trees from this link:

http://www.cgarchitect.com/upclose/VI/default.asp

Hope is the right one, because its a big download.

[max montana]

@wwx: do you know how much the render times rise because of the unc paths?
@ werticus + preisler: dedicated fileserver: do you mean a pc where all the maps and szenes are saved. can you explain the advantage to me? i guess its because of dr?