Standalone DR node for OSX

[ChrisC]

Hi - I'm looking to start a DR test, was wondering where to look in the OS X installation for the DR launcher? I've found the vray4modo_801 directory, vray4modo_801.lx, but can't seem to launch it from there, Terminal says no.

Any help much appreciated. Very impressed so far!

C

[vladimir.nedev]

On Windows there is a Start menu shortcut to start the server, on Mac OS we need to add automatic starting of the V-Ray render server as a daemon.

For now though, you have to start it manually with "vraysl/vray.bin -server". The current directory in the terminal, before executing this command,
should be the V-Ray for MODO installation folder.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[ChrisC]

Great, that works fine.

One hitch - I already had a standalone installed for Cinema, in the ChaosGroup folder - called 'Standalone_for_snow_leopard_x64' - if this is present the Terminal throws up this error:

MacBook-Pro:MODO_x64 chris_mbp$ vraysl/vray.bin -server
dyld: Symbol not found: __ZN6VUtils12VRayRenderer12rayserverEndENS_19Geome tryRebuildMode4EnumEPNS_17GeomRebuildParamsE
Referenced from: /Applications/ChaosGroup/V-Ray/MODO_x64/vraysl/vray.bin
Expected in: /Applications/ChaosGroup/V-Ray/Standalone_for_snow_leopard_x64/lib/snow_leopard_x64/gcc-4.2/libvray.dylib
in /Applications/ChaosGroup/V-Ray/MODO_x64/vraysl/vray.bin

However renaming the folder Standalone_for_snow_leopard_x64 to something else fixes the problem, and the DR slave launches fine. Maybe a bit of code from a previous Mac encounter?

Cheers! Chris

[vladimir.nedev]

It seems the V-Ray executable tried to load the libvray.dylib from the standalone path. I need to do some tests here, and
see why this happens. I certainly don't have references to Standalone_for_snow_leopard_x64 in my code, but maybe
there is some environment variable set that makes the dyld tool look in the wrong place when searching for libvray.dylib

Nice catch

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[BEIGE]

will V-Ray for modo eventually be able to use V-Ray for Maya/Max DR nodes? Seems odd to do all that nice work of making it cross platform and so sweet and then not use it.

[vlado]

will V-Ray for modo eventually be able to use V-Ray for Maya/Max DR nodes? Seems odd to do all that nice work of making it cross platform and so sweet and then not use it.

The modo render nodes are just V-Ray Standalone running in server mode. The standalone is now shipped with both V-Ray for Maya and V-Ray for 3ds Max, so there is no problem to use those nodes.

Best regards,
Vlado

[ChrisC]

Hi - is it possible to get a run through of how the vrlserver should be setup? I've got some spare Macs here, want to test DR properly but the standalone reports "error: Could not obtain a license (4096)". I've found vrlserver2, and setvrlserver, but it's not clear how to use these.

Thanks - Chris

[vladimir.nedev]

Hi - is it possible to get a run through of how the vrlserver should be setup? I've got some spare Macs here, want to test DR properly but the standalone reports "error: Could not obtain a license (4096)". I've found vrlserver2, and setvrlserver, but it's not clear how to use these.

Thanks - Chris

In the case of the software licensing, you need to provide a product ID when executing the vrlserver2 and setvrlserver executables.
I've added two .command scripts in the installation of V-Ray for MODO on Mac - one starts the software license server on the machine
(so other machines can connect to it and obtain licenses) and the other registers a license for the machine. If you look at the code of
the .command scripts, you can see what the product ID for V-Ray for MODO Beta is.

There is no .command script for setting up the machine to use a particular server on the network though.
The easiest way to do this would be to run the installation again and choose "Customize" and then "Remote V-Ray license server on the network",
then enter the IP of the server.

Of course you need to start the server with the .command script on the actual server machine and have more than 1 license on it.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[ChrisC]

Thanks Vladimir, I'll give it a go.

Just to clarify, this is for running the standalone as a slave DR node. So would each slave need its own unique license? On my existing V-Ray setup (Cinema) there are 10 DR nodes allowed per license, is Modo getting a similar allowance?

[vladimir.nedev]

Thanks Vladimir, I'll give it a go.

Just to clarify, this is for running the standalone as a slave DR node. So would each slave need its own unique license? On my existing V-Ray setup (Cinema) there are 10 DR nodes allowed per license, is Modo getting a similar allowance?

V-Ray for MODO follows the V-Ray 3.0 licensing, where you need a "Universal Render Node" license for each DR machine.
You have to specify the number of render licenses you need when sending the request code to support@chaosgroup.com

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[3dworks]

i'm having the same questions. i requested and got code for one extra mac pro and one xtra windows 7 z600 machine. my license server is installed on a mac mini and running fine with my main mac pro workstation. questions are specifically:

* i also have vray for C4D licenses installed on the same locations. is there maybe a conflict with the two?

* how and where do i input the two vray for modo activation codes which i got from chaosgroup for the osx and windows machine? what steps do i have to run? the first time i installed the files on the DR nodes an activation code was requested, but i could not input it yet at that time. now i cannot find any commandlines which are requesting the activation codes again. do i have to deinstall everything and reinstall again for getting this dialog again? will this destroy or remove my C4D installation?

[vladimir.nedev]

i'm having the same questions. i requested and got code for one extra mac pro and one xtra windows 7 z600 machine. my license server is installed on a mac mini and running fine with my main mac pro workstation. questions are specifically:

* i also have vray for C4D licenses installed on the same locations. is there maybe a conflict with the two?

* how and where do i input the two vray for modo activation codes which i got from chaosgroup for the osx and windows machine? what steps do i have to run? the first time i installed the files on the DR nodes an activation code was requested, but i could not input it yet at that time. now i cannot find any commandlines which are requesting the activation codes again. do i have to deinstall everything and reinstall again for getting this dialog again? will this destroy or remove my C4D installation?

Here is a link to the help for setting up the license.

http://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/V...p+your+license

My guess is V-Ray for C4D uses hardware (dongle) licensing, whereas the V-Ray for MODO Beta uses a different software licensing, so there shouldn't
be any conflict there.

The V-Ray for MODO installation/deinstallation shouldn't affect V-Ray for C4D, if you are getting a similar error as ChrisC when starting a render slave,
can you copy-paste it here ?

How you setup the DR machine licenses depends on what codes you sent to support. If the codes you sent were from the license request on the DR machines
then you need to execute the steps in "Registering your V-Ray for MODO license" on them. If the code you sent was for the license server machine then you need to
execute the steps in "Changing the V-Ray License Settings" again for the DR machines to make them search for a license on the Mac mini license server.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[3dworks]

c4d for vray uses a software licensing scheme. the license server is installed within the same "Chaosgroup" folder which is used by modo's installation. see this screenshot on one of the DR nodes: http://www.3dworks.com/skitch/Lion_S...203-225633.jpg

for the rest, thank you for the link! this explains well the licensing. is this correct for the two DR nodes or do i have to add some port numbers? is there any way to check if there is a functional connection from within modo without rendering? screenshot: http://www.3dworks.com/skitch/Prefer...203-230338.jpg

EDIT: but main question remains: will the render slaves start automatically or do i have to set it up manually? i cannot see any vray server on the slave machines running after installation. if i start up manually the windows slave executable "launch v-ray render slave", it will just launch - apparently without a license - under port number 20207, the same which vray for c4d is using, btw.


for osx i cannot find any comparable command/executable, and no other vray executable is visibly running in application monitor, apart of the c4d launched vray render server.

[vladimir.nedev]

c4d for vray uses a software licensing scheme. the license server is installed within the same "Chaosgroup" folder which is used by modo's installation. see this screenshot on one of the DR nodes: http://www.3dworks.com/skitch/Lion_S...203-225633.jpg

Yes, they are in the same "V-Ray" folder but that shouldn't be a problem. I will try to reproduce ChrisC's error.

for the rest, thank you for the link! this explains well the licensing. is this correct for the two DR nodes or do i have to add some port numbers? is there any way to check if there is a functional connection from within modo without rendering? screenshot: http://www.3dworks.com/skitch/Prefer...203-230338.jpg

Yes, it is correct. The connection will be established after you start a rendering. There is no way to test the hosts at the moment.

EDIT: but main question remains: will the render slaves start automatically or do i have to set it up manually? i cannot see any vray server on the slave machines running after installation. if i start up manually the windows slave executable "launch v-ray render slave", it will just launch - apparently without a license - under port number 20207, the same which vray for c4d is using, btw.

for osx i cannot find any comparable command/executable, and no other vray executable is visibly running in application monitor, apart of the c4d launched vray render server.

They don't start automatically on neither Windows nor Mac, this is something we need to fix. On Mac you can start the server manually from the terminal
by going to "/Applications/ChaosGroup/MODO_x64/vraysl" and then executing "vray.bin -server". You can add a " -portNumber=20208" to the command line to change the port number.
In this case the IP address in the host lists in MODO should look like : "192.168.1.54:20208". If the port is not specified, 20207 is used by default.
On Windows you can use the Start Menu shortcut to start the server, or again manually from the command line if you want to change the port.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[JabbaTheNut]

I have a small Mac OS X render farm. I am pulling my hair out trying to figure out how to setup Vray for Modo Distributed Rendering.

Distributed rendering with the Modo Renderer is easy. I just launch Modo on each slave in slave mode, select network rendering on the workstation and I am done.

With VRay for Modo, I am lost! There is very little info on how to set it up (let alone how to set it up on a Mac).

Here is what I have done so far:

1. Installed Modo, VRay for Modo and VRay Online License Server on my workstation. All is working fine.
2. Installed Modo on each render slave.
3. Installed Vray for Modo on each render slave, indicating that the license server is on the network.

What do I do next? How do I launch Vray for Modo on each slave?