network rendering animation

[SgWRX]

in one of the books i have, i mentions a quick way to help manage bitmaps for network rendering. copy them all to one location on the network, then add a new path. both machines (on my 2 computer network) will be able to reference them without problems.

 

is there any easy way to identify all the maps in my current scene, then grab them and copy to a single spot?

 

thanks.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

in one of the books i have, i mentions a quick way to help manage bitmaps for network rendering. copy them all to one location on the network, then add a new path. both machines (on my 2 computer network) will be able to reference them without problems.

 

is there any easy way to identify all the maps in my current scene, then grab them and copy to a single spot?

 

thanks.

 

well, first... you should have an asset library that is always on the network, and when you assign a texture, only assign it from the asset library. i can't reiterate how vital this is to work flow.

 

second, a quick solution to you your problem is to archive your Max file. this will create a zip file that has all of the textures used in your project. now if you open that zip file with winzip, you can select all of the textures, and drag and drop them to a single directory. make sure you drag and drop the files, because if you extract the files winzip might create relative directories, rather than placing them all in one directory. now, place all of these files in a directory on the server.

 

the next step is to open your max file, and go to the Asset Tracking dialog. it is under the file menu, and will show the location of your textures. highlight all of the textures, right click, and go to set path. now navigate tot he directory on the server with the files in it, and hit ok.

 

make sure you use UNC path names. a quick search of this website or google will explain UNC path names.

[SgWRX]

thank you very much! and quick too!

 

so, rather than using all the maps in c:\program files\autodesk.... maps... copy all those to a shared network resource (folder) and apply them from there.

 

hm. at some point, and i haven't yet, i want to get an external HD.

 

just like at some point i need to get a couple more pc's

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

yes. i keep a copy of max's default textures on the network, as well as my own textures.

[parker2740]

To be sure that it has everything it needs to render, I usually check the "include textures" box in the network render dialogue box.