Can anyone give me a step to step walkthrough with how to setup rendercow? I have p4 desktop (win xp pro ed) and p4 laptop(win xp home ed)which I would liek to use for vue. Desktop will be main machine I want to use laptop as a render server. few basic questions ]Do they have to be network setup for rendercow to work? by this I mean not just physically hooked to the router but actually setup through the network wizard? ]Can this be performed with wireless or do they have to be connected via solid network cable through the rounter? ]What software to install on what machine?ie my desktop and laptop both have vue pro installed on them, is that good enough? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou

Okay, here we go... (1) The computer that you actually construct the Vue scene with will be the actual distributed render controller; when the RenderCow option is used, Vue itself does no rendering. So you need to install a RenderCow on that system. All that needs to be installed onto any other renderboxes is the RenderCow itself; Vue is not needed on each box. (2)No. They do not have to be routed through the wizard (and frankly, I don't want to even guess what would happen if they were....). And you don't -need- a router. Vue and the Cow's talk to each other via the TCPIP stack, so a simple switch is sufficient. Or if you only have one extra box, a simple patch cable. One thing to keep in mind is that there were some bobbles on the CD's for Vue Pro. The RenderCow on the first pressing was an older...let us say dubious...build. So you will need to download the patch from E-on that upgrades VuePro. In the Vue folder will be a Rendercow update executable, and you will need to run it on every box that has a Cow on it. You -may- also have to go hunting for a couple of .dll's from Microsoft; they are files you would have if you did software development, and might not have otherwise. They should be available at the MS site. Once you install the Cows, and they come on when you reboot the computer(s), the only thing left to do is let Vue know they are there. The simplest way is to identify them by name, or let Vue find them. But first make sure that any antivirus software, and firewall software is disabled. Many of them will treat Vue trying to talk to a Cow as an intrusion, and lock the port being used. Just set up a bland render (a field of nothing, with an animated atmosphere loaded; that should bring up the animation toobar.). Click on the start animation render icon (the one on the extreme top right), and at the bottom left of the window that pops up, click and check on 'enable hypervue render' option. When you click render, and new window should pop up. On the right click on the button marked 'add'. Another popup should appear that identifies the rendercow on the main box, by name and IP address. Click on the okay, and that node should appear in the previous box, with the message 'idle' to the right of the identifier. You can then click on 'search' and let Vue try to find the other Cows, or click 'add' and identify them by name or IP address (whenver I set up a renderbox, I right click on 'My Computer', then options. Choose the Network Indentification tab, and click on the 'properties' button. This will allow you to rename the computer as it would be seen by the network. I use simple names like bossy, rose,...something that is easily remembered). Any other Cows should show by the computer's name with the 'idle' message. All that's left is to click on the render button.