Odd DR problem

[simmsimaging]

Hi all -

I have an odd DR problem that seems to have just started up. I have 3 machines, one main that acts as license server, and 2 render nodes. Rendering from my main box I get black buckets from one of the slaves, and occasionally the other works fine, occasionally it renders the scene but at a different quality than the main/local machine (seems to render with lower DMC noise threshold etc.)

I tried running the DR render from one of the nodes and it renders totally fine - the DR problem only happens when rendering from the one machine (which is the license server as well).

I have read all the relevant threads I could find so checked the obvious stuff I think (all paths are networked and working fine, firewalls are not the issue, increment on save is not on, plugins seem to match okay) - I have no idea what else there might be.

Anyone have some advice?
Thanks in advance!
b

[simmsimaging]

I have tried resetting just about everything in all 3 machines and cannot seem to fix this one. Using 3 computers for a straight DR render:

Comp1 as main: 2 renders fine, 3 renders black buckets.
Comp3 as main: 1 and 2 render fine

The problem is strictly 1-way, but Comp1 is my primary workstation and it would be much better to have DR working properly from there. Anyone run into this one before? (I couldn't find it by searching, and believe me I looked!)

Thanks,
b

[simmsimaging]

Was it something I said?


Anyone? Please?

b

[glorybound]

DR

I am sorry I don't have an answer, but I thought I would post to keep your question on top so you can get a answer

[RErender]

Probably a permissions issue, If you are running spawner as a service try disabling the service and running the spawner exe instead.

[simmsimaging]

Thanks Bobby - I appreciate it

RErender: Thanks for the reply. I did try this and it doesn't seem to help. That got rid of a problem I had before with buckets rendering greyscale, but not this issue. I have tried it several times with no success. I have disabled all firewalls, moved the license server around, double-checked IP's, everything I could think of. Still can only get it to render from comp3 to have all 3 machines on board.

Would you have any other suggestions?
Thanks!
b

[RErender]

hmm, a couple of things to try maybe, 1st I'd try moving the dongle and license server stuff around to the other boxes. Perhaps if your scenario B is Now scenario A with the license on one of the slaves it will work. 2nd you could try IP addresses in the license stuff instead of computer names or vis versa.

Beyond that, small networks can be fickle things, you might look at a new switch or even resetting the one that is there and moving plugs around, if your running a hub get a switch. Build a file/license server with a server OS to host files and the license. You could try reinstalling windows on the boxes, something on one of the boxes could be causing it to refuse connections.

[Morne]

...Build a file/license server with a server OS to host files and the license.

How would a server os change things for a file/license server on a small network? (nework with less than 10 computers)

[simmsimaging]

Thanks for the advice RERender. I'm hoping nothing too drastic will be required (hate to have to rebuild the systems for example).

Interesting thing I found today, but haven't finished testing it out: If I turn off the viewport background display the nodes seem to render properly to my usual host machine (it is an image on a network path that is in good order as it still renders fine if I start it from the node instead, so it only seems to affect things from that one machine). Weird.

I should have some time tomorrow to play around a bit more.

b

[simmsimaging]

Well, turning off the viewport display of the background seems to fix the problem. Actually, toggling it off and then right back on again seemed to help too. Now it's rendering fine either way. It's an odd one and right now I can't reproduce it again so I am not sure if it was just turning off the display or turning off the actual use of the environment background as I did both at the same time.

Is this likely a bug or more likely just an oddity of my system?

b

[RErender]

Glad you got it to work, I still think it may have been a network issue, where the slave could not see the background image for some reason.

[simmsimaging]

I'm beginning to think the fix may have actually been that chicken I sacrificed - it's been on and off again a few times since.

Noticing another odd thing with this, might be related: The one render node that is now also the license server doesn't seem to let go of the RAM used for a render. If I do a sequence of DR's the RAM usage just keeps climbing till I go and shutdown/restart the spawner or the machine bogs down entirely. This is not the one returning the black buckets, but it is also the machine where the maps are resident (holds the network drives). Ever seen that particular problem?

Thanks again for the help!

b