Help with machine spec

[Dave Buckley]

Guys

 

I am currently running Max 2009 and VRay, but a lot of my scenes are crashing out when it comes to the render. I have decided to buy a machine that is going to be used for dedicated rendering. All the work done on my workstation then the render sent to this new machine.

 

Firstly am I going to need another full license of both Max and VRay, i believe i'm safe on the Max side, but with regards to VRay i am unsure as to what i need. Another full license or a node license???? I don't no what the options are

 

I also have a budget of anywhere up to £2000 for the dedicated machine. I am clueless when it comes to hardware and so would appreciate some ideas as to specifications and what machine i should go for

 

Cheers in advance for any help

[Slinger]

Before you go buy a new system, can you please post the specs of your current system and exactly what is occurring with the render crashes? Let's see if we can save you some money first.

[AJLynn]

Yeah, are you running out f RAM or what? (That's a common way to crash Vray and has more to do with the software than the hardware.)

 

WRT Vray licenses you need another one if you've got more than one person working at a time (and therefore 2 workstation licenses). If it's just a one workstation and a render box situation you don't need any more Vray or Max licenses. The Chaosgroup people and you Autodesk rep will get you squared away with how to configure the licenses.

[Dave Buckley]

yep, VRay just keeps bumming out but the computer i am using is just a laptop. I'm pretty comfortable with memory saving as and where needed, i'm just not all too good with hardware and i've been given this budget so could really do with some reccomendations

 

not too worried about saving cash (as arrogant as that sounds in the current economy - not meant to) but the budget is there and is to be spent on a new machine. Not my decision.

[AJLynn]

Get the highest spec i7 machine with 64-bit Windows and 6gb or 12gb of RAM your budget supports.

[Dave Buckley]

why would one go for i7's rather than Nehalem Xeon's???

[rmccoy]

price mainly.

 

2.66 i7 - $288.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

 

2.66 Nehalem Xeon - $979.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117182

 

why would one go for i7's rather than Nehalem Xeon's???

[Dave Buckley]

Ok so here's what I went for:

 

 

Quad Core Intel i7 920 (2.66GHz clocked to 3.2GHz), 6GB (3x 2GB CorsairXMS3 DDR3), Asus P6T Deluxe Intel X58 Mainboard, 1TB 7,200 RPM Samsung SpinPoint (32MB Cache) hard drive, PNY Nvidia Quadro FX 3700 graphics (512MB), Windows XP Professional x64

 

The next thing i need to know is how different is the renderfarm setup when using Vray.

 

I have set one up before using just Max, Mental Ray and Backburner, now that Vray is thrown into the equation I am led to believe this is a different story?? Words such as Vray spawner have cropped up and i'm not sure whether i still need to be using backburner. Which machines need which applications adn so on??

 

I have my workstation with a license of Max and Vray on it, i now have this new rendering machine with nothing on it as of yet??? So where do i go from here. I also believe i need another vray license for the new rendering machine. Does max need to be on this new machine?? Does the new vray license need to be another Full License??

 

Cheers for the help guys

[rmccoy]

it's a pretty simple set up. Pretty much like you have done before.

 

On your render farm machine:

-Install 3ds Max as a Demo

-Install Backburner

-Install V-Ray (no additional copies needed)

-point Vray to your license server

 

Run Backburner as usual on your new machine. If you want to use VRay Spawner to do distributed rendering you can. Basically it allows you to use both machines processing power in one single frame. You have to render it locally however, you can't send a job to backburner and use the distributed rendering feature.

 

Hope this helps.

[Dave Buckley]

Ah ok, so i just to confirm, i only need

 

• 1 license of Max
  
• 1 license of VRay
  

And i don't necessarily have to use the VRay spawner??

 

I don't want the User Workstation to do any of the rendering, just the new dedicated rendering machine.

 

Could i not skip backburner out???

 

How about if i did it this way.

• install new machine onto network
  
• install max and vray onto new machine
  
• point new machine to license server
  
• make sure both user workstation and rendering machine can communicate over network
  
• make sure both have access to network harddrive via the same path
  
• start vray spawner on rendering machine wait for it to execute max on render machine
  
• go to user workstation, open vray render settings turn on distributed rendering
  
• make sure IP address of render machine is visible
  
• remove IP of user workstation if this is visible
  
• specify where to save files
  
• hit render???
  

why would i need to use backburner??? i'm guessing its so that i can queue render jobs, and manage them.

[rmccoy]

I think you misunderstand what the VRay Spawner is used for. The only purpose it has it to allow you to use more than one machine to render a single frame. With spawner, assuming you send the render job from your workstation, it will render like normal when you hit render, however you will also get some buckets that will be rendering using your render farm machine.

 

You need backburner to send render jobs to if you don't want to render them on your workstation. VRay Spawner can be useful sometimes, however, the majority of your work should/will be done using backburner.

 

You are right about only needing 1 license of max and vray. Just make sure all of your maps/models/etc... are saved to a network location.

[Dave Buckley]

ok brilliant

 

i had just watched a video about rendering with vray over a network, if i'd have paid more attention he says right at the start that its for a single frame and a good way of re-using irradiance maps.

 

My bad.

 

Good stuff, all should be fine now.

 

If at a later date i wish to add other workstations into the equation, is this easy to do. lets say they all have max installed and each have their own license of vray (not too sure how dongles work or network licensing with vray) i should just be able to install them onto the same network and add the IP addresses of the computers to the rendering equation right??

 

or is this going to be a different story

[rmccoy]

It's pretty straight forward with adding new machines. just follow the sames steps as above and you are fine. You only need 1 license of vray for your workstation. you get something like 100,000 network rendering licenses with your 1 workstation license.

 

not sure if you have used this site before V-Ray Help Files. It has about everything you need in there.

[Dave Buckley]

yep as i thought, although i'm probably going to need 3 standalone licenses for vray as each machine will not always be sending renders to the rendering machine, sometimes will be rendering locally

[rmccoy]

just fyi. you will need 3 licenses of max also. if you are working alone, I would just stick with backburner.

[F J]

I think you misunderstand what the VRay Spawner is used for. The only purpose it has it to allow you to use more than one machine to render a single frame. With spawner, assuming you send the render job from your workstation, it will render like normal when you hit render, however you will also get some buckets that will be rendering using your render farm machine.

 

You need backburner to send render jobs to if you don't want to render them on your workstation. VRay Spawner can be useful sometimes, however, the majority of your work should/will be done using backburner.

 

You are right about only needing 1 license of max and vray. Just make sure all of your maps/models/etc... are saved to a network location.

 

hey Ross,

 

quick question: is this suitable for rendering animations?

[rmccoy]

Which part exactly do you need to know about?

[F J]

wow! didnt expect u to reply so fast lol

 

The VRAY spawner (DBR) distributed rendering is great for single frame test renders but is not efficient for rendering out animation sequences.

 

For rendering animations, it's better to use VRAY through BackBurner or some other queue manager.

 

You do need a VRAY license dongle ($1000) but setting everything up to work with Backburner is extremely easy once VRAY is licensed.

 

 

Adam

BOXXlabs

 

im not sure if Adam is contradicting the process u described..

 

im about to purchase a Max license, so i got a SLM on one hand n NLM on the other

 

im tryin' to figure out if i need the NLM for Max or not..

i got 2 PC's but nobody will ever work on Max on the 2nd PC..

will probably have both PC's workin' on a single frame (or sequences) 95% of the time, but i might want to have the 2nd PC rendering alone while i work on the WorkStation..

Edited June 2, 2009 by F J

[rmccoy]

you will only need to install a SLM if you are only going to be working on one machine. On your render farm machine just install 3dmax with Backburner as a demo and you can then render with the machine.

 

if you get vray. you will need to install vray on a network licensing system so both machines can see the license.

[rmccoy]

wow! didnt expect u to reply so fast lol

 

You caught me as I was checking my email. Good timing!

[F J]

cool, sounds like plan

 

thx a lot