3rd party modifiers not rendering distributed

[evanerichards]

So, I've used vray for maya for a while now but I've just started using vray for max. I ran into a problem pretty early and was wondering if anyone had a workaround. So I downloaded this free plugin. Greeble it is called. I'm sure you've seen things created with it. I greeble up a scene and hit render and only my local computer renders out the greebles. This doesn't happen if I convert the greebled object to an editable poly. So what it looks like to me is that 3rd party plugins won't render distributed unless you...what? Unless you install the plugin on all your render farm computers? I never had to do anything like that in maya with any sort of plugin that created geometry. Is that difference in the modifier stack and the way that works?

Am I understanding the situation correctly? Anyone advise would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[vlado]

Unless you install the plugin on all your render farm computers?

This is correct, yes. The render servers must have all the necessary plugins installed so that they can open and render the scene.

I never had to do anything like that in maya with any sort of plugin that created geometry. Is that difference in the modifier stack and the way that works?

The difference is that in Maya, we translate the entire scene to V-Ray specific components only, which are then sent to V-Ray Standalone on the render servers. However, in 3ds Max we distribute the .max file itself and it is 3ds Max (controlled by the V-Ray) that runs and opens the file on the render servers.

Both approaches have their pro's and con's...

Best regards,
Vlado