Topics

31

Corona Standalone / Standalone Build 2016-01-21 first impression

« on: 2016-02-09, 12:22:04 »

Some questions/issues while trying to do some tests

1. Using button Export+Render ends in the attached runtime error when SA is automatically started after export.

2. Non exportable classes are shown with their German name in the error window here. So I had to figure out what those funny names for gradient ramp ("Verlaufsart") or dent ("Kerbe") exactly mean :). My Windows is in fact German, 3DSMax (and all other applications) always runs en-US. Would be nice to have english here.

4. I started to replace some unsupported maps with CoronaMix just to read to my surprise "Cannot export map: CoronaMix" wtf? Why that? Isn´t it a native Corona map?

After a first glance I have to say one can get quite exited seeing scenes loading in no time and render so much faster. Asset collecting works fine though I haven´t started trying to fool it. Human readable/editable scene files, low memory consumption - all yummy! Corona unleashed.

Good Luck

Max2014/Corona version: 1.4 DailyBuild Jan 27 2016

32

[Max] Tutorials & Guides / Running drServer as windows service

« on: 2015-04-20, 22:16:44 »

Edit:

Official solution for running Distributed Render and Licensing servers as Windows services using this method is here:
https://coronarenderer.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/12000007896

-----

Original post:

A short guide how to run drServer as windows service, I can´t live without it. Use it at your own risk, it´s not officially supported and I´m not part of the developer team. Here we go:


INSTALLATION

• No max or drServer instance should be running on the node before proceeding
• Install drServer as usual with the help of the standard installer if not yet done
• Get the "Non-Sucking Service Manager" here: http://www.nssm.cc/
• Extract and copy the appropriate executable (win32/win64) of nssm.exe to your windows directory
• Run a shell as administrator: Navigate to windows\system32, find "cmd.exe", right-click and select "Run as administrator"
• Type "nssm install CoronaDrServer" into the shell and press return
• The "NSSM serivce installer" window pops up.
• In the "Application" tab click the button following the "Path" input field
• Navigate to "Program Files\Corona\Corona Renderer for 3ds Max\DR Server" and select "DrServer.exe"
• Press "Install service"
• A window saying "Service 'CoronaDrServer' installed successfully!" should pop up, press "Ok"

drServer is now installed as a service on the node, using the local system account as the "user". This was the easy part. Now the license has to be activated - even if you have already done that on the node because it´s a per user license and the service is running as another user (system).

RUNNING

As every other service: right click on the "Computer" icon on the desktop -> "Manage" -> "Services and Applications" -> "Services". There should be the entry "CoronaDrServer" now. It is configured to start automatically by default (at boot time). Doubleclick on the entry and press "Start". The service is now running.

ACTIVATION

Option A (recommended):
Use the Corona license server on a node somewhere in your network. As a result the node will activate its license automatically when a render job starts. The LicensingServer.exe can also be run as a service by the way, similar to drServer.

Option B:
Activate as described here: https://coronarenderer.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/5000564325-activating-license with the important exception that you have to navigate to "\windows\system32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\CoronaRenderer" instead. This is the %LOCALAPPDATA%/CoronaRenderer/" directory of the local system account. Remember that you have to start a rendering via dr on the node with the service running before following those instructions, there has to be a "request.txt" or "request-3dsmax.txt" file in that directory which is generated at the first use.


DEINSTALLATION

• Run a shell as administrator: Navigate to windows\system32, find "cmd.exe", right-click and select "Run as administrator"
• Type "nssm remove CoronaDrServer"
• Confirm removal

If you have any issues concerning distributed rendering using this setup: please remove or stop the service, run drServer.exe conventionally and try again before reporting anything that goes wrong to assure this setup is not the cause (I do that every time but until now there were no problems related to this).


Maybe there will be a supported way to run drServer as service in the future, but this setup works fine for me in the meantime.

Good Luck!


P.S.: Remember to always use UNC paths for your assets and that network shares used for assets have at least read access for "everyone".


Edit: Removed note about errors of older license server - obsolete now
Edit: Adjusted paths for newer versions at 9.)
Edit: Adjusted paths for v5 build 19-09-30 and later at 9.)

33

[Max] Resolved Feature Requests / DrServer as windows service

« on: 2015-03-02, 19:52:01 »

Just want to know if there are plans to do so. I run DrServer as a windows service here on the farm nodes and workstations because I consider it more controllable, convenient and consistent.

If there are no plans about that in near future I could do a short how-to in the Goodies section using "non-sucking service manager". It´s simple to setup but maybe some not so advanced users can benefit from it. All others who are interested, take a look at http://www.nssm.cc/ - it´s a better altervative than the SRVANY.EXE approach imho.

34

[Max] Resolved Feature Requests / Corona license server on win32 server 2003 - how to?

« on: 2015-02-26, 09:55:29 »

I can´t run the installer or the manually unpacked LicensingServer.exe on our (yes i know: older ;) windows server 2003 which is used here to handle all software licenses (dongled or not) in our lan. Realy would like to avoid mixing things up and use another server or -even worse- workstation to handle the corona licenses.

LicensingServer.exe: File is valid, but is for a machine type other than the current machine
Installer:. Corona_1.00.00.exe is no valid Win32 application

Any chance?

(Didn´t put that into the bugtracker because I don´t consider this to be a real bug, or maybe yes - I don´t know yet)