single frame distributed rendering

[artykris]

Re: Things to know before using Distributed Rendering...

5. The host computer (the one you're working on) MUST participate in the DR process. So, in the middle of the day when you hit render you have to wait to use your computer until the DR is done. Works great for previews. Great. BUT if you have a hi-res print due at 5pm don't expect to use your computer much while it is rendering. Vray does a great job of using every CPU cycle available, unlike the MAX Scanline renderer, whose inefficiencies make it easy to keep on doing photoshop work / light max stuff even while rendering...

I`m resolving this problem like this:
For instance - I`m using 8 PCs for rendering VrayDR.
I started the work from my host machine, and when I want to work in the PS at the same time I open the task manager - processes tab, find 3dmax.exe, hit RMB and there you have 'set priority' - I set it to 'BelowNormal' and v`uala !
Your host machine bucket gets slower, but you can work on the host machine parallel to DR rendering. Your PS application gets priority over 3dmax. (just be careful about the memory usage) :P

[crazy homeless guy]

[quote]

9. There is no way to change / schedule DR renders. The computers that are available to render when you hit render are the ones that render. They don't automatically join if you start them after the render has started. You can't remove them (although truth be told I never tried manually killing one with task manager because I've never had a project that I could risk it)

Don't kill a vrayspawner... you end up screwing the render over.. there isn't any timeouts or failsafes currently. you end up with a bucket that never finishes on your render, have to cancel the DR, and at times have to restart max.

I've only had crashes on smaller images so far.. I don't know that i'd trust dr as my only means of relying on a render when i can't be back to check on it occasionally.. right now i'm sending to backburner also on longtime renders.. that way if theres a problem with one, the other works out. not everyone has that kind of computer resources though

Nice to see you around Chris, excellent site in scriptspot, Thanks.

i don't find this to be true. i was doing a DR with 5 other machines. people rebooted some of the machines that i was using for DR. the bucket stayed on my irradiance calculation for about 5 minutes or so, then the bucket removed itself, and was picked up by the next available processor. so you can't add processors after the calculations start, but it doesn't hurt if processors drop off. well it incresase your rendering time, but the image still finishes.