LightForge Render Network Update - Officially at 1.17 now. :)

[djlithium]

We have resolved all transaction, payment and log-in issues with the site and the LightForge Render Network Cloud-UI.
It's come to our attention that many people are getting confused by the difference between a studio account and user account. We have more information on this coming, but on initial login on the Cloud-UI application, use...

Studio: My Studio Name Here
username: administrator
password: ThePassWordUsedOnTheWebsite

At any time should you run into an issue with the password not being accepted by the cloud-UI, request a password reset from it directly and it will instantly send you a new one via email.
We cannot see any password used on the system (its fully encrypted using MD5 technology) in any way. If you lose your password, simple request a new one from the site or the Cloud-UI. You can only change it afterwards by logging into the render.lightforge.cc website under the account name you used to originally sign up. this is for your protection and for the ease of use and management benefits that come from Studio Accounts being able to manage other artists under it. This also means that the studio account is the only one that can purchase render credits. Again, this is done for the protection of our users and for producers, studio heads who control the money to keep someone from going insane and blowing all the credits in an account, as the studio account controller, from the website can enable or disable users from the Cloud-UI.

We really look forward to seeing what you kats pump out for awesome renders using this thingy we built for you so you can take on bigger clients and go for bigger jobs with it in your arsenal. Send us an email if you want to have your artwork featured in any of our promotions or documentation!

As always, any questions, ideas, suggestions, issues, meowing out loud to say hi... contact me.

Additional details on our progress is here. https://www.liberty3d.com/2019/11/li...etwork-update/

Sign up for an account at... https://render.lightforge.cc

Cheers!

Kat

[erikals]

any video instruction coming?

not necessary perhaps, more curiosity.  

[djlithium]

Yes. We have a "Getting Started Video" coming later today. More videos will be released as we go.

[djlithium]

any video instruction coming?

not necessary perhaps, more curiosity.  

Best thing to do is to sign up for an account honestly and download the software. No charge for doing that and its there and ready when you need it. The product automatically updates whenever its run and this includes updates for the plug-in itself that runs in LightWave3D. We can do a lot of really cool stuff with this.

[ianr]

Best thing to do is to sign up for an account honestly and download the software. No charge for doing that and its there and ready when you need it. The product automatically updates whenever its run and this includes updates for the plug-in itself that runs in LightWave3D. We can do a lot of really cool stuff with this.

Kat ,try & get a sticky running post on Lightwiki page( lightwave3d support group) also

[djlithium]

Kat ,try & get a sticky running post on Lightwiki page( lightwave3d support group) also

I'm not in that group because of politics and snowflake moderators.

[ianr]

i'll do it for yer...... P.M. me

[Schwyhart]

Is there a pricing calculator?

[erikals]

I am not sure, for now you can check this link, It has some info on What price to Expect.
https://forums.newtek.com/showthread...=1#post1580634

[erikals]

also see >

[djlithium]

Is there a pricing calculator?

We are working on a pricing calculator but there is a problem in general with them. They are highly inaccurate!
Because our system is global where we have many systems that are faster or slower than the other even on the same cluster branch that we extend to, a pricing calculator will use a general speed metric assuming all of the same systems across the board are being used to render. This is fine if the systems are all the same and the frames take the same amount of time to render but we know this isn't reality.

Our method of pricing works off of a PPI which is an internal benchmark similar to cinebench that is done per node on initial start up and periodically through the course of time. It is a sampling that is done of the Processing Power Index that defines how much of a render credit per hour it consumes.
For example, my AMD Threadripper 1950x 16core, 32 threads at 3.4Ghz is the mid-line for what costs 1 credit per hour processing time and has a PPI of 23.79 in the system. Compare this to a dual Xeon 6 core (24 threads total) dell power edge server at 2.66ghz with a PPI of 9.73
Obviously the dual xeon is going to cost less per hour but produces less frames during that time for what a Threadripper 1950x kicks out.
A render credit is $1.50USD at this time.

[erikals]

We are working on a pricing calculator but there is a problem in general with them. They are highly inaccurate!

one should also note that for animations, the average render time will almost always vary substantially. (depending)

[jwiede]

For example, my AMD Threadripper 1950x 16core, 32 threads at 3.4Ghz is the mid-line for what costs 1 credit per hour processing time and has a PPI of 23.79 in the system. Compare this to a dual Xeon 6 core (24 threads total) dell power edge server at 2.66ghz with a PPI of 9.73
Obviously the dual xeon is going to cost less per hour but produces less frames during that time for what a Threadripper 1950x kicks out.

So, approximately, credits-used-per-hour = 1 / ( 23.79 / x ) where x is the PPI for the system in question (presuming 1950x baseline)? Or is it more involved?

[djlithium]

https://support.lightforge.cc/render-credits-and-ppi

[erikals]

hm, I read something about Octane support?
if possible, how many machines (nodes) would it support. I seem to recall there was a limitation of some sort from Otoy to this. (10 nodes?)
i could be wrong, a vague memory.

edit; ah... found it > https://www.c4dcafe.com/ipb/forums/t...arm-for-octane

Also, in terms of render speed, how does Octane compare these days.
(they did add Ai denoise, but it flickers for animation, so wouldn't include that to the equation)