cinema 4d distributed render

[den100]

Hi all!
How to configure a cinema 4d CORONA distributed render?

Sorry for my english

[Nikola]

Hi,

Corona Distributed Rendering is not implemented in Corona for Cinema 4D yet. You can use Cinema 4D Team Render which is supported by Corona for Cinema 4D.

Nikola

[Lamarc]

Well there be a DR client or will Corona go further with the TeamRender? Just curious - i would believe its more flexible to have your own client app..

[Nikola]

We would like to implement DR for Corona for Cinema 4D too, but I can't say right now when exactly we will do it.

[arcmos]

Any news about DR in Corona for Cinema 4D?

[TomG]

There may not be Corona DR for C4D, as the native Team Render handles both situations (all machines working on a single image, and different machines working on different images). If all goes well, that would mean it would be easier for users to continue with the native TR rather than learn a unique new Corona DR.

[3dkobi]

Well,
Not to implement DR is not a smart step I think. For example- I own 1 copy of C4D prime - which is more than enough for my needs, but I really don't want\need to buy another copy to install on my second computer. There's a huge difference between buying a machine for DR (focus only on cpu cores + ram) and buying a machine for team render (extra c4d license).
I'm a vray user and waiting for corona to be more production ready in order to be able to start using it, but if DR won't be implemented it will be hard for me to justify the move from vray to corona (especially now after buying a brand new AMD threadtripper1950x)

Kobi

[houska]

Well,
Not to implement DR is not a smart step I think. For example- I own 1 copy of C4D prime - which is more than enough for my needs, but I really don't want\need to buy another copy to install on my second computer. There's a huge difference between buying a machine for DR (focus only on cpu cores + ram) and buying a machine for team render (extra c4d license).
I'm a vray user and waiting for corona to be more production ready in order to be able to start using it, but if DR won't be implemented it will be hard for me to justify the move from vray to corona (especially now after buying a brand new AMD threadtripper1950x)

Kobi

Hi Kobi!

Thanks for your thoughts on this! I understand that you don't want to spend more money on additional licences if C4D Prime suits you just fine. But right now, even in 3dsMax version of Corona, if you use DR, you need to have 3dsMax licences for the DR slave machines too. This would be the same in C4D if we implemented the DR there. The Broadcast version seems to be about 90% more expensive and includes 3 additional render nodes, so I guess it's a question of whether you really need the additional in-studio rendering speed.

That all said, we eventually plan to implement the Corona DR, but that will be only after we stabilize the plugin and finish the important features, which is currently somewhere in the future.

Cestmir

[3dkobi]

Thanks for your fast replay...
Didn't know that was the situation with 3dmax users, and I also don't know what is chaos group policy with DR for 3dmax, In vray for c4d we get many free render nodes for DR
Is there\will there be a way to send a render to a different machine which have a only a stand-alone version of corona (no c4d installed) ?

Kobi

[houska]

Thanks for your fast replay...
Didn't know that was the situation with 3dmax users, and I also don't know what is chaos group policy with DR for 3dmax, In vray for c4d we get many free render nodes for DR
Is there\will there be a way to send a render to a different machine which have a only a stand-alone version of corona (no c4d installed) ?

Kobi

Just a clarification - I just talked to guys from the 3dsMax plugin team and they said that for running the client in 3ds, the user doesn't need a licence for another 3ds. This is the reason, why it works in 3dsMax without any additional licences (and I was wrong about it the first time).

In C4D however, you (as a renderer programmer) have basically three options:

• Use Team Render. In this case, the user has to buy a C4D version, which has extra render node licences for the render clients
• Use your own implementation of distributed rendering. But then the user has to have a normal licence on every computer. From what a colleague told me, C4D might have some special mini licence for only command-line rendering, which the render farms use.
• Use your own DR and reimplement all shaders. This is the most laborous way, which entails reimplementing all the shaders from C4D (and of course, any 3rd party shaders that you don't reimplement will not work in this case), but it allows you to only require one licence. The client machines then run a special standalone version of your renderer.

From what you say, it seems to me like VRay is using the 3rd option. Corona went with the 1st option, but we will be implementing the 2nd or 3rd one later on (probably the 3rd one). But then again - it has the drawbacks of not allowing to use any 3rd party shaders unless we reimplement them.

And I don't know about Chaos policies regarding the team render of VRay, but the Render Legion policy for Corona is clear - just buy as many licences for render nodes as you need and that should be it! But if the host software requires it, we cannot really do much to prevent them from requiring additional licences. We should definitely mention the licencing issues (i.e. Team Render not being able to work with C4D Prime) when the plugin becomes commercial, so thank you for bringing the issue up!

[3dkobi]

Well, Vray for c4d uses something between option 2 and 3 - it has a standalone version (which comes directly from chaos group) which is installed on the slave machine, and in the main machine I only put the ip of the slave machine ( I think we get up to 10 free nodes in vrayforc4d). But (and it's a big but), because the slave machine has the standalone vray that comes directly from chaos group,and not from the vray for c4d developers - I can't use any native c4d shaders or 3rd party shaders - I have to use the dedicated vray shaders (and there are many dozens of them...without any good documentation)...

C4d has a command line render client
https://www.maxon.net/en/buy/license-options/command-line-render-client/
Not sure it's the ideal solution for just 2 machines.
They also have a multi-seat license, but their site doesn't mention how much it costs...
I wrote to maxon support about those 2 options (about costs and to see if any of those options are relevant to me)

I'm beginning to see that for best workflow (on any renderer) will be to own c4d that has team render. This way I won't need to use dedicated vray shaders and will be able to work with corona DR when implemented...
Btw, looking at your c4d roadmap, I would implement DR before Node material editor. Especially now with the new cheap AMD 1950x threadtripper, and the upcoming intel 18 core chips - It makes the costs of a small home render farm (1-3 machines) much much cheaper...just my 2 cents of course :)
I also see in the road map that nothing has changed since the 28/8/2017....Hope it's just temporary because of your move to the new offices and the merge with chaos-group...

Kobi

[houska]

But (and it's a big but), because the slave machine has the standalone vray that comes directly from chaos group,and not from the vray for c4d developers - I can't use any native c4d shaders or 3rd party shaders - I have to use the dedicated vray shaders (and there are many dozens of them...without any good documentation)...

Yes, this is exactly the problem with option 3 - either you implement all C4D shaders or you force your users to rely on your own shaders. The reason is that without running C4D, you can't support the original C4D shaders without reimplementing them. Nothing to do with VRay from Chaos or from VRay for C4D devs really...

I also see in the road map that nothing has changed since the 28/8/2017....Hope it's just temporary because of your move to the new offices and the merge with chaos-group...

Nah, this is because we are all busy with the IR and the upcoming release candidate for Beta 1. We'll update the roadmap soon, don't worry ;-)

[houska]

C4d has a command line render client
https://www.maxon.net/en/buy/license-options/command-line-render-client/
Not sure it's the ideal solution for just 2 machines.
They also have a multi-seat license, but their site doesn't mention how much it costs...
I wrote to maxon support about those 2 options (about costs and to see if any of those options are relevant to me)

Just a word of caution: the command-line clients will probably not work with Team Render as of now! They would only be useful if we implement the 2nd option!

[lenogre]

I've done 2 animations with Corona and TeamRender (network with 3 computers) without trouble.
It works in the same way like C4D renderers.

[houska]

I've done 2 animations with Corona and TeamRender (network with 3 computers) without trouble.
It works in the same way like C4D renderers.

Yes, but you have normal render nodes on those computers, right? Not just command-line clients. Also, you probably don't have C4D Prime...