Author Topic: Only render on nodes, not main workstation  (Read 2698 times)

2017-01-05, 14:40:05

ikercito

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Hi all,

Is there any way I can send scenes to render ONLY on my slave PCs (nodes) without clogging my main workstation? I'm currently working on many different projects and need to be developing new scenes while rendering others. I have a BOX license... Any tips?

Might just have overlooked some setting, but I can't seem to find the way for such an easy task.

Thanks!

2017-01-05, 15:02:36
Reply #1

TomG

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Personally I use Backburner for this, comes with 3ds Max and lets you assign multiple jobs and specify which machines should be assigned to those jobs.
Tom Grimes | chaos-corona.com
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2017-01-05, 15:33:57
Reply #2

maru

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This is currently not possible, but should be possible with the new DR system, which is coming soon.
One idea is lowering the number of threads in System > System settings (not the interactive rendering ones!). This does not affect the render nodes.
Marcin Miodek | chaos-corona.com
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2017-01-05, 16:50:49
Reply #3

ikercito

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TomG: I'm not very familiar with Backburner, might have to learn to use it if push comes to shove... Did you find any problems with rendernode licenses (acting as individual workstations) using this Backburner method?

Maru: Your idea seems easy, but even if the threads are lowered, scene is still loaded in RAM memory... That might be a big problem.

Any idea of when the new DR might be available?
« Last Edit: 2017-01-05, 17:59:11 by ikercito »

2017-01-30, 15:03:07
Reply #4

ikercito

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Hi guys,

I've been working on this and I'm starting to get the grip of it. Here are a few remarks:

- Maru's system: The big drawback of lowering local computer thread usage and letting the nodes do the hard work, has the big disadvantage of having the scene still loaded on the main computer, thus allocating the required RAM memory. This is quite problematic, since many of my scenes take most of the available RAM and make it quite impossible to keep working on another scene.

- TomG's system: Backburner seems like the best way to deal with this. BUT I loose the availability of the Corona Framebuffer and all the convenient options it has for post production (Bloom, glare, etc...). Rendered image is saved as an EXR and that's about it. I've tried saving as CEXR, but I get and "Error creating file output" message... Any way to deal with this? Would CEXR make it possible to load the image back in the framebuffer?

Thx for your help.

EDIT:
Trying to save CEXR with backburner just won't do anything. Job will be stopped and nothing will be rendered. I've seen a fix for batch rendered images (changing the extension after render is done) but it won't work with backburner since it doesn't render anything at all.
« Last Edit: 2017-01-30, 15:17:55 by ikercito »

2017-01-30, 17:28:19
Reply #5

maru

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There are currently some problems with the CEXR format, and we are working on the solutions. It will be done for the 1.6 version.
Marcin Miodek | chaos-corona.com
3D Support Team Lead - Corona | contact us

2017-01-30, 19:06:27
Reply #6

ikercito

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Well... Then I'm in big trouble. :(

Lo-res previews sent to client have already been approved, and they all have bloom and glare. Hi-res finals need to be rendered in the nodes due to memory and need of the main comp to keep working. Deadline is way before the release of 1.6.

Going to have to buy a temporary Fairsaas to get out of this one... :(