Render Farm Software

[symko]

Can anyone recommend good render farm software? It can be windows or mac. I used to use render farm commander for the mac and it did the trick, but it is not compatible with newer versions of Lightwave.

[Scazzino]

I use OSX ScreamerNet Controller (http://www.catalystproductions.cc/screamernet/) along with my DLI_SNUB-Launcher (http://dreamlight.com/webshop/utilities/snublauncher.html) in 9.6... Haven't tried them with 10 but as long as Screamernet still works the same way they should work...

[symko]

Thanks. I'll try them out.

[Phil]

I opted for Deadline. It's free for 2 nodes, but after that you need to pay. It has submission scripts for various host applications, making the whole process rather painless.

The upfront cost is rather heavy (if you want three nodes, you need to pay for all three, not just the one you added to the 2 free nodes you had been running), but the developers are responsive and the multiple app support makes it more helpful if you want to use more than just LW on the farm.

The tool also captures output from all of the slaves for review at any later date, will give you render statistics (time, memory, etc.) and allows you to set job priorities, assign specific tasks/jobs to specific nodes, etc. It's very powerful.

I used to use ScreamerNet Controller, but became frustrated with its limited abilities and occasional flakiness arising from the way that the controller re-writes the scene files. You end up with many hidden .lws files that get left behind when SNC dies badly or somehow encounters an error. I also had various GUI issues with it and hit a number of snags that were hard to pin down, but seemed in each case to be related to the way that SNC re-wrote the scene file. Like Deadline, SNC works by modifying a copy of the submitted scene file. Unlike Deadline, SNC does this using a hidden scene file name (puts . at the front of the filename) and there's no easy way to find out why nodes might not be rendering properly. The developer is/was responsive to reports, and SNC 4.10 fixed those issues I reported, usually due to Ozone or Vue binary/nonstandard elements in the scene file, but it made me nervous. I have not had any such issues with Deadline up to now, and it's easier to find the scene file in the DL repository because the design is more open.

[3DGFXStudios]

Virtual vertex Muster and smedge are also good.

[Eagle66]

SquidNet !?

http://www.newtek.com/forums/showthread.php?t=116232

SquidNet Software's Cross-Platform Network Render

[dblincoe]

I use OSX ScreamerNet Controller (http://www.catalystproductions.cc/screamernet/) along with my DLI_SNUB-Launcher (http://dreamlight.com/webshop/utilities/snublauncher.html) in 9.6... Haven't tried them with 10 but as long as Screamernet still works the same way they should work...

Hey Scazzino. I'm not having luck with Screamernet controller on LW11 and Lion? Have you tried it? It initializes, finds all assists renders, writes file then reinitializes and starts all over rendering the 1st frame. I know my paths are right. I'm only using it with one node on the machine that LW11 is on and all paths and plugins are on this machine too. I use your DLI-SNUB-Launcher to create the node and it works fine with LW11's network render and with DLI-SNUB-Launcher's scene mode.

[paulhart]

It amazes me the same questions get asked and no one use the search function. Try taking a look at this thread, on this forum, for a FREE solution that is easy to use and is platform agnostic. Amleto, used to be paidware, but the author freed it and Darklight picked up development.
http://forums.newtek.com/showthread.php?p=1200871#post1200871

[dblincoe]

It amazes me the same questions get asked and no one use the search function. Try taking a look at this thread, on this forum, for a FREE solution that is easy to use and is platform agnostic. Amleto, used to be paidware, but the author freed it and Darklight picked up development.
http://forums.newtek.com/showthread.php?p=1200871#post1200871

From what I see it is only for PC's

[paulhart]

I am sorry, I suspect I confused a different project I am helping which is platform agnostic. but Amleto does work very well, so I am quick to recommend it. My enthusiasm outran my knowledge.... but the original person did say, "windows or mac."... now back to our regular programming....