RT Does Work Nicely with Server

[padre.ayuso]

Since I usually come up with bugs and questions, I figured I would give a go at giving some data for the guys out there that are trying out RT or want to improve their workflow.

Just today I tried out sending a scene on the backburner. It was well received by Slave 1 and I requested on the tab that it also DRs another machine on the server. It did too! So right now, I essentially have 4 GTX970 working at my scene. Sweet!!!! As I'm getting another workstation in the next week, the retired workstation will be put together with the other 2 slaves and they can DR each other, making it 6 GTX 970 going at each scene. If I'd like to, each of the new workstations in the office (3 of them) have two Titan X per, which means I could try this out in the next couple of weeks, but I could essentially send one job, and DR all the new workstations and the old workstations for a combined of 6 Titan X + 6 GTX970. That would be an equal to 28,416 CUDA Cores working on one scene. Since I have not tried this out yet, I'd let you know how it goes, but needless to say, DR works when you send a job through backburner, leaving your workstation all to yourself to prepare your next scene.

Happy rendering!
Alex

[Sbrusse]

That's the spirit

[Alan Iglesias]

Very cool and thanks for all the excellent information, Alex!

I gave a question for you: With all the RT/GPU DR your are doing, have you done any experimenting with different settings for Ray Bundle Size and Rays Per Pixel? If so, have you found a sweet spot for the fastest possible RT/GPU/DR rendering on your GPU farm?

Thanks very much,

-Alan

[padre.ayuso]

Very cool and thanks for all the excellent information, Alex!

I gave a question for you: With all the RT/GPU DR your are doing, have you done any experimenting with different settings for Ray Bundle Size and Rays Per Pixel? If so, have you found a sweet spot for the fastest possible RT/GPU/DR rendering on your GPU farm?

Thanks very much,

-Alan

I have tried several things. The default settings seem to be just right, not too much not too little. At the same time, I just noticed last week that my two remote computers are on a 100 Megabit connection, so not so fast. So I'm switching them to a Gigabit connection and once I have done that I can give you a better idea. Right now, I just send them to each computer separate, it seems that if you have a slow network connection you are better off sending them to their respective computers. But that sweet spot you ask, it seems that 192 would be just fine. Also, remember to put 20,000 Max Paths/Pixels otherwise your rendering will never end. I have had a rendering finish in an hour and spend 5 cleaning up because I did not put a value to the Max Paths/Pixels.

Also, I guess if you have a fast network connection, such as a gigabit or higher, you may benefit from a higher bundle size, essentially should make your renderings go faster. I'll try this out in due course and let you know.

[Sbrusse]

If it's for final render and not wip, I set it to 512/128 and disable progressive
I found that's the sweet spot that renders the fastest and uses as much GPU as possible without over sampling

[Alan Iglesias]

I have tried several things. The default settings seem to be just right, not too much not too little. At the same time, I just noticed last week that my two remote computers are on a 100 Megabit connection, so not so fast. So I'm switching them to a Gigabit connection and once I have done that I can give you a better idea. Right now, I just send them to each computer separate, it seems that if you have a slow network connection you are better off sending them to their respective computers. But that sweet spot you ask, it seems that 192 would be just fine. Also, remember to put 20,000 Max Paths/Pixels otherwise your rendering will never end. I have had a rendering finish in an hour and spend 5 cleaning up because I did not put a value to the Max Paths/Pixels.

Also, I guess if you have a fast network connection, such as a gigabit or higher, you may benefit from a higher bundle size, essentially should make your renderings go faster. I'll try this out in due course and let you know.

Great - Thanks Alex!

-Alan

[Alan Iglesias]

Thanks Stan.

-Alan