V-Ray RT with Max2009 on XP Pro x64, servers with XP Pro x32 ???

[Tim in Hollywood]

Hi,

I'm using all of today's latest release versions of V-Ray and V-Ray RT.

Primary workstation is Max 2009 x64 on XP Pro x64 with V-Ray and RT x64 versions. My render server has the same, except all 32-bit.

Will this setup work for a distributed render with V-Ray?

Will this setup work for a distributed render with V-Ray RT?

Thanks,
Tim

[vlado]

It should work, yes. You might get issues with very large scenes that overflow the 32-bit memory limit though.

Best regards,
Vlado

[Tim in Hollywood]

I generally have small scenes. Max file less than 2MB, typically less than 20,000 polys.

Anything I can do to get this to work?

The 32-bit server appears to be "ready."

The 64-bit primary workstation appears to be set up correctly.

IP address of the server is listed in the list on the 64-bit system.

[vlado]

Is there any firewall or another program that might be blocking the connection? If you look at the V-Ray RT render server command line window on the slave machine, what does it say?

Best regards,
Vlado

[Tim in Hollywood]

The primary workstation is 64-bit. Here is the info from the command line window on the 32-bit system that I'm hoping to add, to help with the V-Ray RT distributed render:


Reading configuration from "C:\Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\RT for 3ds Max 2009 for x86\bin\/vrayconfig.xml"
===============================================
V-Ray RT render server, version 0.10.15 for x86
Copyright (C) 2000-2009 Chaos Group Ltd. All rights reserved.
Use -credits option for additional third-party copyright notices.

Build from Dec 18 2009, 14:44:19
Compiled with Intel C++ compiler, version 11
Operating system is Microsoft(tm) Windows(tm), version 5.1, Service Pack 3

V-Ray core version is 1.90.02
===============================================
Loading plugins from "C:\Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\RT for 3ds Max 2009 for x86\bin/plugins/vray_*.dll"
98 plugin(s) loaded successfully
Finished loading plugins.
Entering server mode - waiting for render requests on port 20206. Press Ctrl+C to exit.

[Tim in Hollywood]

Yes, there are firewalls and anti-virus apps installed and active on both machines.

To test, all were completely disabled on both machines. No difference.

Any other suggestions will be appreciated.

[vlado]

It looks like the DR request does not reach the render slave for some reason; are you able to ping that machine from the main one?

Best regards,
Vlado

[Tim in Hollywood]

Ping works both ways with no problem at all, even with all firewalls and anti-virus enabled.

Is there a specific order in which everything should be turned on?

Must max be re-started every time I decide to use RT?

If it will help, I can send you all RT settings for your review. Let me know what info you need.

[Alan Iglesias]

Just for the record, Vlado, I'm experiencing the same things here. 64 bit Windows 7 as the workstation, with a number of XP32 bit slaves. I do not believe the slaves are joining in the RT render -- you would see them initialize in the ActiveShade window log, correct?

Have I forgotten anything?

· Each Slave works great with normal Distributed Rendering.
· Each Slave has RT 32 bit installed (of course).
· Each slave has V-Ray RT Render Slave Server running. The Command Line window reads similarly to Tim's.

RT is so cool that it's keeping me up all night!

Thanks Vlado,

-Alan

[vlado]

It would be best to check the V-Ray RT render server window on the render slaves and also check out the Task Manager to be sure that they are doing anything.

Best regards,
Vlado

[Alan Iglesias]

OK. Here's what's on the Render Slave server window...

Reading configuration from "C:\Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\RT for 3ds Max 20
10 for x86\bin\/vrayconfig.xml"
===============================================
V-Ray RT render server, version 0.10.15 for x86
Copyright (C) 2000-2009 Chaos Group Ltd. All rights reserved.
Use -credits option for additional third-party copyright notices.
Build from Dec 17 2009, 13:35:38
Compiled with Intel C++ compiler, version 11
Operating system is Microsoft(tm) Windows(tm), version 5.1, Service Pack 2
V-Ray core version is 1.90.02
===============================================
Loading plugins from "C:\Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\RT for 3ds Max 2010 for
x86\bin/plugins/vray_*.dll"
98 plugin(s) loaded successfully
Finished loading plugins.
Entering server mode - waiting for render requests on port 20206. Press Ctrl+C t
o exit.

I looked at the Task Manager on the Render Slave and it reports the RT Render Server is Running:

V-Ray RT render server - vray.exe -server -rtEngine=1 -portNumber=20206

Is there anything else I could check? The slave is still not picking up the RT job, as far as I can tell...

Thanks Vlado,

-Alan

[Alan Iglesias]

I just wanted to make a note here that I got the RT/DR slaves working. I'm not sure exactly how but there was some interference with the Eset security system I use that wasn't apparent unless I was looking directly at the servers as I started an RT session. After creating rules for the RT Render Server and starting RT sessions and render slaves multiple times in different orders, each server finally started working, as evidenced by each render slave command window.

Then there was a question of the slaves not finding maps on a common network server. Even though UNC names are used and Vray production DR worked fine, I could not get the RT/DR servers to find the maps. I ended up setting the Vray Assets Environment Variable on each slave, which worked perfectly. I am using a mixture of 64 and 32 bit systems, but I do not know if this was the problem or not.

I hope this might help someone having similar problems...

-Alan