Renderfarm Quick Walk-through

From TOI-Pedia
Renderfarm Main Quick Walk-through Workflow Frequently Asked Questions Advanced Topics
Not all information and references are up-to-date!

Installing the Renderfarm Connector

The BK Renderfarm Connector needs to be installed on your computer. In most cases you need to do this yourself (including computers of the faculty). Normally you only need to do this once, unless you need to upgrade to a newer version.

Currently the latest BK Renderfarm connector supports only Windows.
Download the latest version of the BK Renderfarm connector from @Hok.

The article TOI Maya Toolbox Installation provides detailed information to install the TOI Maya Toolbox on both Windows and Mac OS X.

Preparations

You need to create a Drive Mapping (Windows) or Server Connection (OS X) to the renderfarm.


When you're not connected to the TU Delft campus network (i.e. through eduroam wireless or wired 802.1x), you need to use a VPN connection to be able to access the render farm.

Using BK Renderfarm Connector in Maya

  1. Make sure your project is set properly
  2. Open 'Adhok' shelf
    TOI shelf tab.jpg
  3. Click on Renderfarm icon
    TOI shelf renderfarm.jpg

Prepare Job

Renderfarm Connector interface to prepare your job for submission to the renderfarm

The first step is to prepare your scene for submission to the renderfarm. You have to select which camera will be rendered and checks are done, especially on file textures, to make sure everything is OK. When you've made all necessary configurations, you Maya project can be copied to the file server of the renderfarm.


Next a step-by-step guide for the publishing process:


File textures:

If you use file textures in you scene, you have to make sure the Maya process running on the render farm is able to access all load your file textures. They must be located in the sourceimages folder of your project.

The connector will try to detect any errors related to your textures and will warn you when textures locations aren't correctly within your project. In most cases it can fix common mistakes, but sometimes you need to use the Adhok Texture Tools or correct it manually.

Camera

Select the camera that is to be rendered. If you want to render more than one camera, use Ctrl+LMB click to select multiple cameras.

Refer to detailed workflow for important considerations on rendering multiple cameras in one job.


Publish

The default settings are such that the renderfarm connector will not publish file textures, referenced Maya files and some other files if they have been published before. If you've changed file textures or any of the other files that are published by the connector, deselect the corresponding Skip [...] that already exist on the server.

Publishing will copy your current scene and textures to the renderfarm server on the network. This makes them available for the render process on the renderfarm.


Before you publish:

  • Make sure your render settings are correct;
  • Make sure your current scene is saved; the camera selection you made in the previous step is also stored in your Scene!


Click the Publish button to start the publishing process.


First, all your textures are automatically checked. If there's a problem with your textures, fix this before publishing your project again. You'll get a warning message when a problem is detected. You can use the TOI Texture Tools to fix texture errors.


Publishing may take some time, depending on the size of your project. All files of your project are copied to server on the network. Please be patient.


After the publishing is done, you'll see the result in the Log window of the renderfarm interface. If all is OK, you can go to the Submit Job tab.

Submit Job

Image slicing setup

Submitting a job is the process of telling the main server of the renderfarm what to do with the files you've published. It's giving the actual command to start rendering.

By submitting your renderjob, this job (the command to render a scene) will be queued in the renderfarm.


There are two main options: Single Frame and Animation.


With Single Frame jobs, you can 'slice' the image or render it in one go. Slicing makes it possible to render a single image on more than one computer. There are some limitations however. Refer to the workflow page for details.


When you click the submit button the renderfarm connector contacts the master server and queues the render job. A new window will pop-up with the results of the command. It looks something like this:


Renderfarm submitted log.jpg


If one of the last lines says your job has ID: ##, your job has been successfully queued.


Getting the result

Once the renderfarm has processed your job, the result(s) will be saved in the images directory of your project on the server. You can check the status online. However: the renderfarm doesn't report detailed progress as you may be used to when rendering on your own computer.


Go to \\renderfarm.bk.tudelft.nl\public (type in Explorer Address bar, or use the Mapped network drive). There should be a folder with your username and inside you should find your project directory. Renderings are typically saved in the images directory of you project.

IFF image format

You can open .iff images using Fcheck.


In FCheck you can save the image as TIFF (or other format). Make sure you select View > Full Resolution first!


Alternatively you can open .iff files in Photoshop when the IFF plugin is installed.

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