Light Cache & DR

[olly]

Will the light cache calculation ever be distributed across all DR nodes? I am sure I read somewhere (several releases ago) that it now was, but I see on the help page it cannot be distributed.

Just from an environmental point of view; if the calculation cannot be distributed, do all the nodes really need to calculate their own version? Surely the host could send the completed solution to the nodes and save a ton of energy?

Just a thought, but please let me know if I am missing something obvious here.

I use a GI pass and a beauty pass for each of my animated sequences. The GI passes use DR on a single frame & "use camera path" enabled to calculate the LC & IR maps. The beauty pass calls these saved maps. Would it work to split the LC & IR calcs into separate passes where the IR Pass calls the calculated LC from file?

[NicoC]

Weird, AFAIK LC calculation is distributed accross rendernodes for a few versions, no ?

[olly]

Glad I am not alone - I am sure I read it somewhere!

But according to the last line of the help page it is not distributed.

I ran a few tests and even though all nodes CPUs hit 100% the calculation time remains the same no matter how many nodes are involved.

[NicoC]

Yes, the help file is pretty clear on that indeed. I'd be curious too to have the feedback from Chaos guys on that.

[vlado]

It's been back and forth a number of times; in the latest 3.6 release it's not distributed. We need to add transport of the data for the full light select elements. It will be fixed for the next patch.

Best regards,
Vlado

[NicoC]

Hi Vlado,

Ok, that's clearer now, thanks for the clarification, so .... any ETA for this patch, please ?

[olly]

makes me wonder what other behind the scenes features I still thought were there, have come and gone over the years!