3DS Max/Vray distributed rendering issue

[aanders.IT]

Hello, I work in a small studio our setup is about 30 workstations(mixed hardware, all 64bit) and a render farm of about 100 nodes (all identical, 64bit quads). We are having an issue with Vray DR, when we render with vray DR the local machine renders texture maps, none of the render farm nodes do though. All of the maps are sourced from our server and every node has access to the server, all of the nodes and workstations have the vray dr slave as service and the workstations have the spawner aswell. all are running max 2011 and have up to date patches/hotfixes installed, and newest version of vray. Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[matthewgriswold]

It most likely could be solved by switching to UNC paths.

 

This post on vray.info has always helped me troubleshoot most of my problems:

http://vray.info/tutorials/vray_distributed_rendering_and_backburner/part3.asp

[aanders.IT]

thanks i found that also shortly after posting , though i'm pretty sure the artists have set the texture paths as UNC type paths, it is the first thing i'm going to check when i go in today. I also found a few older forum posts about older versions of max/vray with similar issues being resolved with changes to the user setup for vray on the slave nodes, though i'm not sure exactly how these are setup or should be setup, i am very new to vray so heres to hoping it turns out to be an easyish fix. again though thanks for the input.

[aanders.IT]

ok so after many different trials i have fixed the issue with the textures not showing up, it was both an issue of the maps not having UNC paths, and also i needed to create user accounts for every slave machine and also the network server where the maps are located and give the proper permissions to all, the standard admin user wouldn't work. I now have one new problem, the buckets rendered by the local workstation are different than those rendered by the render farm nodes. in this case they are darker and show less highlights, i think it may have something to do with the .ini file though i'm very unsure of how to correct this, again i crawl to the great minds of the community for help on this matter. And as always your help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Tommy L]

two possibilities with un-matching buckets...

1: Precalced light file is unobtainable by node.

2: Different gamma setting for node.

[aanders.IT]

it's not precal there is no GI in the scene, i think it has to do with the LUT but am not sure how to go about making the render nodes take on the LUT settings from the scene file each time?

[Tommy L]

http://forums.cgarchitect.com/62689-backburner-double-correcting-gamma-strip-renders.html

The above thread is related. Ive not messed around with asigning specific gamma settings for nodes. The .max file (from 2009 on) should carry the gamma preferences (ie, files specific instead of a default user setting).

However, doesnt operate corectly with strip renders. Ive not had the dreaded 'incorrect bucket' or 'phantom black bucket' issue for a couple of years now, but it took a couple of weeks to resolve.

[aanders.IT]

swing and miss, i tried adding that to the ini for all the users and admin on a few render nodes and also the workstation i was using for testing and no go. the buckets are still off. i'm wondering if there is a way to have the distributed render not use the local machine, being that the local is the only one different, though it may be the other way around, the render nodes may be off either way it's still not working right. any additional ideas or suggestions? i may end up contacting chaos group directly if i cannot resolve this soonish, maybe they'll be of some help? again though thanks for all the input and ideas.

[Tommy L]

You could try opening max on the node and setting the gamma manually. I dont quite get the logic of this as its an unlicensed version so you'd have to get it right in the first 30 days.....but Ive seen it suggested as a solution.

[aanders.IT]

no they are legit, we have licenses for all our software. i'll try setting it manually, we are going to have to clone the nodes off to the rest of the farm again soon anyways once we get everything working properly again.

[Tommy L]

yes, but max on a node is essentially an unlicensed version of max (you just install it but never open it) so if you open it to adjust the gamma settings then it asks you if you want to enter a license code or use it for 30 days.

Edited October 17, 2010 by Tommy L

[aanders.IT]

ohh yeah i get ya, ours are licensed anyways cus we also use backburner and deadline and they open the program.