Network DR animation render with Image Sequences

[nickjamesgordon]

Hi all,

Trying to network render a product animation with a LCD screen.

I have 8 different image sequences as a stencil for the LCD, and after tests found the 'enable' function can't be key-framed within V-ray.
Found a forum post that suggested using the opacity instead (to switch between the image sequences), but now the render slave won't kick in.

There is a lot of data being sent out, but after 40min of inactivity I'm stuck rendering small sections.
I wonder if it's because I have a stack of 8x image sequences, with only one at 100& but the others still in the data pipe.

Any suggestions?

[vladimir.nedev]

The handling of image sequences is inefficient at the moment.
In order to avoid dealing with the different kinds of sequence formats, I am reading the images through MODO and sending them over for DR as part of the .vrscene, instead of separate images through V-Ray's asset transfer.
So if your images are really big in resolution and have enough frames, this will create a very large .vrscene that will take quite a bit of time to send over the network.
Although 40 min seems a bit much even in this case.

The only thing you could do is use some kind of software to render each frame on a separate machine, which starts the render process from within MODO.
Or just open the scene on each machine and render a part of the sequence without DR.
Although for both of these you will need additional MODO licenses...

It will be nice if you send me the scene, so I can test with it in the future.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[nickjamesgordon]

Thanks for the reply Vladimir.

I reduced the number of image seq, made a big improvement.
Probably should of reduced the resolution as well!

Can't share the scene, NDA sadly.

Also, the buckets shrink down on the host computer nicely - but not on the render machine/nodes.
Is this possible to update in future builds?

Best,

Nick

[vladimir.nedev]

I think it's a known issue, other users have complained as well.
I don't know if there are any plans to improve it or if it's possible at all.

You could make your buckets smaller to begin with from the Frame tab on the Render item - > Bucket Width/Height.

Edit: Dont' make them too small, as that will have a performance impact.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[nickjamesgordon]

Thanks Vladimir,

Video has gone live now - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2svMI-fMBA

Will do some more tests with bucket size in a week or so, generally worked well across two machines.

Best,

Nick