My scenario: I own a Dell Dimension 4400 Desktop that has a Pentium 4 1.6 ghz processor with 768 MB RAM. This just meets the requirements for Vue 5 Infinite. The computers in my school library have very powerful computers and I believe these computers can render a lot faster than my computer can. Is there a way I can render a VUE file without installing Vue on a computer? Thanks.

You'll need to have your computer with Vue installed, and create a network with the other computers, you'll have to install a rendercow on each computer ( 5 nodes max allowed with your Infinite licence) But you'll definitely need a computer with Vue installed on it.

RenderCow only functions within the Local Area Network though.

That's right, the computer running Vue will have to be present in the network.

Anothing thing that is not widely known is that this is only effective for animations. Rendering a single image really has no effect in the renderfarm. THe rendertime will not be increased as Vue renders each frame on a seperate computer and not multiple machines on a single frame. THerefore the renderfarm advantage would not work on a single still render. It's a bummer, I know. I was disappointed when i was informed of that.

Actually that's incorrect - but I think I know where you might have been confused with this (easily done). >8o) When HyperVue+RenderCows are used on a single frame (i.e. non animation), that frame is split into a number of tiles depending on the number of Cows. (This is different to animations where each frame is handled by a different Rendercow). Each RenderCow then works on a tile, and the resultant render is assembled by HyperVue Manager. It is true though that if the scene is fairly small (or doing preview renders), that the overhead in distributing the scene initially to each of the RenderCows is not probably worthwhile - so i'd recommend doing low resolution previews on just the single machine. Also some types of effects are not possible with HyperVue due to the requirement to analyse adjacent tiles, but alternative render methods are available for these situations e.g. DoF / Motion Blur 2.5D Hope that helps clarify - Lots of other info can be found on the Cornucopia3D Forums too if interested - and great example tutorials of RenderCow tests by Frederic Louguet and other can be found there. Kind regards

Roderick is right, here, it works for stills also, and I use it a lot for big scenes, rendered at high quality settings, and big sizes. Small scenes won't benefit from Hypervue, it can even get slower than rendering on one machine. Shame hybid DOF can't be network rendered.

To conclude, I can only render a VUE file on a computer that has VUE installed. I cannot use a third-party utility that can render VUE files.

No, you can render Vue files on a network of computers, and in this network the main computer must have Vue installed. Or you can use a remote renderfarm like Respower, and pay the price.

Hi Viche I think the part that may seem unclear is how the network machines are connected. If you have a LAN + 3 PCs PC #1 = Vue Installed (HyperVue Manager) + RenderCow Client PC #2 = RenderCow Client only PC #3 = RenderCow Client only RenderCow Client is a small utility included with V5I that you can install (License included for 5 nodes) on systems you wish to work on renders/animations. So - only ONE of your systems needs to be running Vue, which contains a HyperVue Manager which manages the 'Cows'. Now technically you might be able to Render across the internet (e.g. friends PCs with RenderCows), but the real-world issues are security/firewall and slow upload speed of the internet (not download) when HyperVue Manager sends scenes from your system to the remote RenderCows. So... the long winded explanation of what Bruno said >8o) of why: Yes - you can render on 3rd party systems with RenderCows installed, but they will almost certainly have to be on the same LAN. Hope this helps!

If you can make a VPN connection to the school network, your Dell machine with Vue installed will be part of the school network, and you should be able to reach the rendercows. You'll have to install the rendercows on the school computers though. The main problem is not technical, but political - you'll have to get permission to install those rendercows, and you'll have to get permission to make a VPN connection to your school network.