cpu use maximum ~20%

[pixelapocalypse]

Hi all,

I'm trying to render a shot on 4 computers through Deadline. The problem is i'm only getting about 20% maximum cpu use on all of them. Some are multicpu systems.
I've also already contacted Thinkbox for this issue as well.
What could be the issue?
When rendering on one pc there aren't any problems.

thnx!

[Morbid Angel]

is the shot heavy? lots of proxies etc? could be overloading network...just a guess though.

[vlado]

It might be loading of textures and/or proxies. We are looking into some way to cache these assets locally so that subsequent renders are fast.

Best regards,
Vlado

[pixelapocalypse]

Don't know what proxies are but this particular scene isn't that heavy. We have a few other shots that are way heavier but I haven't noticed this probably before (have to check though because it's making be doubt whether I just didn't notice before) I'm rendering this at my school and I know the computers are connected to a 100mbit router. So could this be the bottleneck? Doesn't it first transfer all assets and then render it? Why should network speed affect the actual render speed... Wouldn't it need all assets first before it could start rendering?

[Svetlozar Draganov]

Yes, the network could be a problem but if it is the usage won't be at 20% at its maximum peak, there will be moments with low usage when CPU waits for the information to be transferred and moments with high CPU usage when it performs the calculations.
In order to find out whether it is a network issue or not would you please render the scene locally on a single machine and see if the same low CPU usage is still there?

[pixelapocalypse]

I have rendered a few more scenes now but it seems kinda random. Other scene I did all processors were at 100% percent. Last scene I turned on all processors were at 20% max. I have NO clue what's going on. Rendering a scene locally is no problem. Processors are at 100%. I did switch up the network so all nodes were on 1gbit network. So no real change there.

[Zdravko.Keremidchiev]

Does that last scene reproduce the issue every time? If yes would it be possible to send it over to support at chaosgroup.com (make sure to mention this thread)?