Final Render.....Finally!

[AJLynn]

That's a strange combination of conspiracy theorist and treating the customer like an idiot. Reminds me of my old credit card company and their patronizing phone agents who obviously didn't know any math. Short version, my new credit card company is MUCH better with a lower rate.

The guy is treating you like an idiot, and they are guilty of false or misleading advertising. You go to their store page, click Europe and it gives you a price list in $. That's not a symbol for Euros.

BTW, for the Americans they are now advertising a C4D 9.5 / FR-2 bundle for $1295 - and this is all you need for a workstation and a 10-node farm. Damn that's good stuff. By not having the XL bundle you lose AR, MOCCA, TP, PyroCluster and Net Render, but the only stuff in there that most archvis people will use is AR and Net Render (which you replace with FR-2) - and the FR-2 bundle is $700 less than XL. If there were any justice in the world this would be a Viz killer (even at 1295 Euros).

[Sindala]

Ernest,

 

I've been testing on a large project with different types of light. all crashed. even when i imported it fresh from vectorworks without any textures. however when i removed one of the four big buildings, it did make it with spots with area shadows and a hdri sky. also with an omni. I am starting to think fr is just not steady enough for big models.

I've also tested it on a small model one 4 story building with about 90 omni lights and this seemed to work ok.

 

and it seems to hog up all my computers memory, usually i still have some left for post work while rendering. and now the whope system is taken up by the rendering.

[Ernest Burden III]

I am starting to think fr is just not steady enough for big models.

 

and it seems to hog up all my computers memory, usually i still have some left for post work while rendering. and now the whope system is taken up by the rendering.

 

Have you been working on just your main machine or with the distributed rendering on? Sometimes that is an issue. It shouldn't be, but has been for me and others. A crashing 'slave' will bring down the master.

 

How big is 'big' on the model? After you turned off the one building, did you try rendering with just that building ON?

 

There is a check (I'm trying to remember where) for 'low thread priority' that will solve the CPU hogging on the host, but you must use TaskManager to set priority to low on the frstation process on any slaves (that's an annoying step).

[Sindala]

just the main machine (dual xeon 3.2), this is the project I've been testing on:

http://www.floris-visualisaties.nl/portfolio/projects/over1.htm

It's a bit of a sloppy model thus just right for the job.

 

I've also tried the buildings seperate, it's split up in the situation and 4 different parts. all worked fine seperate, but combined the system crashes.

I can't set priority in the taskmanager for frstation ( i get acces denied) but it workes if i set it 'below normal' for cinema4d.exe that leaves enough memory for PS to work properly (in the tab processes right click). thanks a lot for this tip, even it doesn't seem to slow down the rendering much.

 

I've also tried Fr on an interior and that really worked well, it's faster and smoother. I think i'll end up using fr for interiors and stick to the usual AR for exteriors to be sure i wont crash on the deadline.

[Ernest Burden III]

just the main machine (dual xeon 3.2),

 

I can't set priority in the taskmanager for frstation ( i get acces denied) but it workes if i set it 'below normal' for cinema4d.exe

 

If you are only working on your main machine you would NOT have frstation running! It is only for the slaves! The master runs within Cinema. Having a frstation running on your main machine will often cause crashes because it fights the main app for the CPU.

 

Now, with a dual CPU, I'm not sure how that would be configured. STRAT--you have a dual, how is yours set up for master/slave?

 

Anyway, did you try working with DistributedRendering turned off?

[STRAT]

i got 2 main computers - 2 dual xeons. i also got the rest of the office's computers at my disposal. everything networked obviously.

i got my main work horse set up as my main renderer. i then just use the frustration enabled on each slave for my dr rendering. but yes, dont run it on your main pc though. i personally havent found a problem doing so yet, but other peeps advise it not worth doing.

 

it really is that simple. works like a dream for me.

 

 

Ernest, can you expand on this what you said please?

 

There is a check (I'm trying to remember where) for 'low thread priority' that will solve the CPU hogging on the host, but you must use TaskManager to set priority to low on the frstation process on any slaves (that's an annoying step).

 

i've heard about it but not yet looked into it. i hevent used it yet and havent noticed any problem not doing so. what is it?

 

 

on a general note FR2 is slow (reletively) for quick render tests. infact, much much slower than the AR. this is purely on the prep and setting up process, not the actual render. if you can bear with it then it aint a problem.

 

on my testing i found this so far -

 

i set up all my model and lights and gi and render testing all in the AR as per normal. much fast to do this.

 

then, i'll activate FR2 and just use the equivalent settings i used in the AR. great way of doing things. ok, so bits and bobs and materials etc etc might need a bit of tweeking, but nothing major.

 

what you can change and set in the AR basically has an FR2 equiv. and even though FR2 has allot more settings involved, i find it isn't as finiky as the simpler AR gi settings to render a nice image. the FR2 gi rendering is allot more constant and predictable than the AR imo. even though they're there, you dont need to fiddle with all FR2's advanced gi settings to get a good image. they're just there to help 'shape' and optomise your gi solution.

 

so, set up in the AR till ur happy, then switch it off and switch on FR2, tweek the appropriate equivalent settings, and thats more or less it.

 

i'm finding for internal and external rendering the FR2 engine is 3-4 times faster so far. thats just freekin HUGE!!!!!

 

EBIII - have you tried gi animation atall yet?

 

 

(i'm still regulaly getting a shed load of crashes. perhaps i should uninstall the latest c4d build)

[Ernest Burden III]

EBIII - have you tried gi animation atall yet?

 

No, I haven't had a moment. I also have not looked at baking in fR2. I look forward to both...

 

OK, the fRstation app runs on all slaves, and their IP addresses are entered (manually, by the way) into the DR panel. But on the slave itself, after the frstation is started, you would go into TaskManager/processes and find 'frstation' right-click and set priority to low so that you can do ANYTHING else on the slave. For some people that may not matter, but one of my slaves is in my kitchen, and if my wife wants to check something online she's used to be able to even if I'm rendering (using NetRender). This way she still can.

 

But in the main app, in the FinalRender panel you visit General Options/Multithreading to set 'enable', 'use all CPUs' (in my case 'one') and then you find the check for 'Low Priority Threads' which will only apply to the main machine, not the slaves.

[Sindala]

If you are only working on your main machine you would NOT have frstation running! It is only for the slaves! The master runs within Cinema. Having a frstation running on your main machine will often cause crashes because it fights the main app for the CPU.

 

I turned of frstation, distributed was already turned off, but it still crashes. I've also tried it on a few other big projects, but the same thing happens. perhaps there is something else going on.

 

I've been playing with an interior that i'm setting up for a newyears card:

AR: http://www.dickf.dds.nl/kaart-ar.jpg

FR: http://www.dickf.dds.nl/kaart-fr.jpg

 

the AR version took about 2h 30 mins

the FR version took 34 mins. WOWWOWOWOW (edit: i havent figured out how to get the background working yet)

 

however... the AR version has AO turned on, with FR you have to set AO for your materials seperately, which means you have to use FR materials if you want AO in your render, i havent found a 'turn on ao' button in the fr render settings. the shader tree is a lot more subtle though. I'm still not sure what to choose, AR is simpler, but the rendertimes are big. FR is more complicated, but there are a lot more options, and the rendertimes are really low.

 

 

strat:

i got 2 main computers - 2 dual xeons. i also got the rest of the office's computers at my disposal. everything networked obviously.

stil thinking of going solo?

[STRAT]

Sindala - seeing how it goes. getting myself a new pc over the Christmas break so i can atleast do the monkey work at home.

[Jorge Arango]

 

i'm finding for internal and external rendering the FR2 engine is 3-4 times faster so far. thats just freekin HUGE!!!!!

 

 

Is this all with GI?

 

 

Jorge Arango

[Ernest Burden III]

Is this all with GI?

Jorge Arango

 

Yes.

[STRAT]

Is this all with GI?

 

 

Jorge Arango

 

well obviously

[Jorge Arango]

well obviously

 

 

What about exteriors with light domes or LUMEN?

 

Have any of you tested?

 

 

 

 

Jorge Arango

[STRAT]

What about exteriors with light domes or LUMEN?

 

Have any of you tested?

 

 

 

 

Jorge Arango

 

yup. works the same as the AR only much faster. infact, probably, FR2 can be used to do anything the AR can do, only better and faster.

 

difference being - FR2 is ALLOT more complicated with a zillion more options and settings to learn and tweek, ergo making optomisation a never ending battle. Also, until FR2's first service pack comes out i'll personally be spending allot of my time in the AR because i find FR2 most unstable.

 

the AR is faster to set up a scene and render it out, but once done in FR2, the render times just done even compair to the AR

 

FR2 can seem quite frightning to a new user, and it has a heafty learning curve, and you still need to tweek certain light and material settings you're not used to, but if you spend most of your time rendering allot of gi heavey architecture, internal or external, then FR2 really is your man

[Jorge Arango]

yup. works the same as the AR only much faster. infact, probably, FR2 can be used to do anything the AR can do, only better and faster.

 

difference being - FR2 is ALLOT more complicated with a zillion more options and settings to learn and tweek, ergo making optomisation a never ending battle. Also, until FR2's first service pack comes out i'll personally be spending allot of my time in the AR because i find FR2 most unstable.

 

the AR is faster to set up a scene and render it out, but once done in FR2, the render times just done even compair to the AR

 

FR2 can seem quite frightning to a new user, and it has a heafty learning curve, and you still need to tweek certain light and material settings you're not used to, but if you spend most of your time rendering allot of gi heavey architecture, internal or external, then FR2 really is your man

 

Thank you STRAT, here waiting for tha Mac version.

 

 

Jorge Arango

[leoA4D]

Thank you STRAT, here waiting for tha Mac version.

Jorge Arango

 

DITTO!

[AJLynn]

So I finally got a chance to demo FR2 on a friend's computer.

 

It crashed.