network rendering help

[metapixel]

Hi, where can I find help to understand the network rendering?

[Kram1032]

in the forums (here)
(I'm not really familiar, with it, though...)

[dougal2]

you need to start indigo from the command line.

start menu -> run -> type

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cmd

to get a command line.

you then need to change to the drive and directory where indigo lives on your computer.
On my machine it at u:\render\indigo\indigo103\ so i'd type

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u:
cd \render\indigo\indigo103

hitting enter after each line

then run indigo with network parameters:

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indigo.exe -n wm u:\scenes\theSceneYouWantToRender.igs

and indigo will start rendering the scene you chose and will also be a network master.
this command works with indigo 1.0.2 and above I think.

on your other network machines, start indigo with the following parameters:

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indigo.exe -n s

You're nearly there... just make sure that both the master and slaves have access to the scene and it's textures etc VIA THE SAME DRIVE AND PATH. Otherwise the slave will fail to load the scene.

This is pretty much all there is to it, but I've written this quite quickly, so ask if you still have questions

[metapixel]

Thanks

[Youn]

OK, I'm really interested in network rendering because I have 30-40 computer here at work and can play with them after everyone leaves (hehehe) so I'm started to get comfortable with the process. Here's what I do.... I'm using windows computers btw, but I'm sure something very similar can happen on other operating systems:

First of all, you'll need to download two pieces of software to do what I do.

PSTools - this is a free microsoft tool, I use it to turn on/off and monitor slave computers, i installed it to c:\software\pstools\:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysint ... Tools.mspx

SyncBack- I use this to automatically populate all slave computers with the required files:
http://www.download.com/SyncBack/3000-2 ... ?tag=lst-1

Installing and Configuring

Now, I only need PSTools and SyncBack on the master machine. The rest of the computers just need indigo in the same spot on the drive. Mine are all at "C:\program files\indigo\" but of course it can be anywhere as long as the drive path is the same. Before copying the indigo director over to the slaves, make a batch file in the indigo directory, where the executables are. I named the file "server.bat" and here's the simple contents of the file:

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cd "c:\program files\indigo" 
START /B /BELOWNORMAL indigo_console.exe -n s

Setting up auto "sync" system:
This program SyncBack comes in now. What you'll need to do is share a directory on all the slaves machines, then setup profiles in SyncBack that checks the contents of the master (source) to the slaves (destination) and if they are off the slaves get updated with the new information. You will need to make sure when exporting that you keep all files in this directory of course! Here's what a profile looks like in the software, it's really easy and quick to setup:
http://stashbox.org/57592/Untitled-1.png

As you can see I'm sharing the entire indigo folder on both machines, but this is the folder that'll depend on where you usually keep files. You will also need to configure these to run every minute and you can also choose to have it run in a lower priority so it's less intrusive. Finally, you will want to turn off "Display log after running a profile" because that really becomes annoying every minute!!! Test to make sure all permissions are set by copying files over and you should be good to go!


Boot-up Process (I do this once every day, but you might get away doing it once forever if you never turn off the computers, heh)

Step One - Turn them comptuers on:
Now, when people leave the office they ussually keep their computers on, otherwise, i have to turn them on. Ugh, I actually have get up out of my chair to do this. Some of the servers in the server room have ilo cards which means i can remotely turn them on.

Step Two - Turn on indigo service on slaves:
I run this batch file to help turn on the indigo slaves. It lives on the master machine:

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cd c:\software\pstools\
psexec \\3dcad -w "C:\program files\indigo" -i -d "C:\program files\indigo\serve.bat"
psexec \\3dcad2 -w "C:\program files\indigo" -i -d "C:\program files\indigo\serve.bat"
psexec \\videoserver -w "C:\program files\indigo" -i -d "C:\program files\indigo\serve.bat"
psexec \\etc -w "C:\program files\indigo" -i -d "C:\program files\indigo\serve.bat"

Just a note: You can turn them all off like this

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pskill \\server_name indigo_console

this is tricky though because sometimes it needs to be:

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pskill \\server_name indigo_console.

any better way to do this, please chime in!

Step Three - Syncing the files across slaves:
Just run the SyncBack process, and if all is well it'll check and update every minute. Alternatively, you might want to have it auto start when you boot up your computer. I personally don't, because I have to wait till everyone's gone first.


Sit and watch the renders!

OK, that's it!!! Now, I use maxigo which by default puts stuff it exports into the indigo folder before each render. So, when it gets exported, the master will start rendering (note that the command line must include "-n wm") Within a minute the master will check each slave to make sure all the files are there, and when it sees stuff not there or out-of-date it'll copy the files over (in most cases this is just a handful of files, and if you are tweaking materials then it's just that one igs file) and then just wait and see, the slave computers will start pumping and you are good to go!!!

Let me know if this helps at all, or makes any sense (please ask if something doesn't) I got it working here but I may have missed an important detail. Also, if anyone has a better method to do this kinda stuff please chime in!!!!

[OnoSendai]

Youn:
why don't u just save your scene file to a share, and let windows do the copying?

[Youn]

Youn:
why don't u just save your scene file to a share, and let windows do the copying?

I'm unclear by what you mean "let windows do the copying"

I initially tried having all files on the network where all computers can get to them, but it seems only one instance of indigo can open them at a time. The slave computers report the files are in use and can't be opened. Is there a setting somewhere to keep this from happening? Or are you talking about a different method, of which I'm just not aware of?

[OnoSendai]

Youn:
why don't u just save your scene file to a share, and let windows do the copying?

I'm unclear by what you mean "let windows do the copying"

I initially tried having all files on the network where all computers can get to them, but it seems only one instance of indigo can open them at a time. The slave computers report the files are in use and can't be opened. Is there a setting somewhere to keep this from happening? Or are you talking about a different method, of which I'm just not aware of?

Strange... that never happens to me.
Scene files and associated data should be opened in read mode, so contention for the files shouldn't be a problem.

[suvakas]

It may also be a Maxigo bug
When i started with maxscript I wasn't quite sure how to write/read files properly. There might be some "old crap" still present, that doesn't close the files.

Hmm..just tested it. I can delete all the igs files just fine after the export and even while Indigo is rendering. So they have to be closed.