how to get DR render slaves to join in the rendering faster

[Burnsyman9000]

I have done some searching in the forums but couldn't find the info I was looking for...

I am using Max 2012 with all current SP's and hotfixes and Vray 2.0

I have a small network of 3 identical machines based on intel core i-7 920 and they are connected with a gigabit network switch

I'm finding that when using DR, the render slaves take a long time to join in, ie the slave buckets show up late in the rendering after my main workstation has already completed a lot of the image. For previewing DR is almost no help as the slave buckets show up when the image is nearly finished. For larger slower renders DR is more helpful. I was wondering what are some of the factors that effect the speed of DR and what are some tips or suggestions on making it faster.

Does the type network cards, cables and switches make a big difference? As far as i know all of my computers are connected with gigabit speed hardware.

Will it render faster if i copy maps, vr meshes and other assets to the slaves local drives? I'd rather not do this but will if it speeds it up a lot.

Max on both slaves has the map paths (configure user paths, external files) configured using UNC paths. In my scene materials the maps are set using non-UNC paths (they just reference the local maps folders). Do I need to put UNC paths in the materials as well? I figured since the Max maps are configured with UNC there should be no problem.

Can anti-virus or firewalls slow down DR? I only have anti-virus on my main computer, the slaves do not. Is there anything i can change or look for in my firewall setting that could speed things up? DR works so I don't think anything is being blocked, but I'm no expert on firewall settings.

Any other tips or advice on speeding up DR would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[Morne]

the larger your scene, the longer slaves will start to render. Because it takes longer to save and transfer the files. Also if you have your antivirus set the check each file and connection, things wll take longer.

[flino2004]

I have 4 nodes, workstation and a laptop... what i did is mirror the assets to the nodes.
only maps, ies and proxies. Besides that the main file only have cameras and lights everything else are Xrefs, so the transfered file is very small, they will pick very fast but still need time load the xrefs.
If the project is too big, I have a temp folder in "c:" using the new RefaMo version allows to copy files to nodes in one click so all the files will be stored locally.

[Rob Burns]

thanks Finlo, when you say mirror, do you mean copy the assets to those slaves, or is mirroring something else?

[Morne]

yes he means copy
(but if you really bored and adventurous you can get sync software that syncs a folder from one pc to another automatically)

[Rob Burns]

cool, thanks!

[glorybound]

I sync all my assets from my main, to my network, and across to my slaves. Basically everything is mapped to a local drive. I sync to my network so it can be archived nightly.

[tolgahan]

I was a same problem.increase your slaves RAM.This is the solution.Or use ssd harddisk.