Hi,

Can anyone please advise on setting up x3 PC's for Render Farm?

Will I need to setup a homegroup network on each PC to start with - and is it just a case of all the PC's being conected via a network card(onboard) to a router?

Do I then just install render farm from the Vue 9 Esprit cd to each PC and have it launch at startup on the x2 PC - but not my main PC?

Sorry for the thick question - but not much of a tech when it come to PC networks

Thanks

This is how I would do it.

Step One: Install the render cows on each of the computers, including the main computer

Step Two: Make sure that all the rendercows are the same build number and have the same level of updates etc.

Step Three: Connect all the computers to a router, using a 1/100 (i think?) LAN cable if possible this will make the farm a lot faster becuase information will be transmitted quicker.

Step Four: Start Hypervue and start looking for the render nodes.  

I think that my computers automatically connected to a homegroup on the network (Im assuming you are using vista or windows 7?) and it was fairly straightforward after that.

There are a few guides on the net that might help you, ill hunt them down for you now.

Hope this helps!

EDIT:  This is probalby the only one you will need...

http://www.chromesphere.com/Tutorials/Vue6/Vue_Rendercow.html

Thanks Rich

Yes  I am using Windows 7 64bit

Doe it display the build number once it has been installed on each PC?

Thanks for taking the time to explain - much appreciated.

John

No problem, took me an age to get it to work so its good to pass that on.

when you install the render cow, right click on the little cow icon in the corner, by the clock, and then click "about" and it displays the build and version number.

This will also be displayed when you first open hypervue and it finds all the cows, but its better to do it first, less hassle, moving between computers etc.

EDIT: its a good idea to update them all straight away as otherwise one will update and youll be annoyed..

Okay....

1. You don't have to use a router. A switch will do just fine, as you are not using the actual internet for your connectivity. If you -have- a router with integrated switch, that works just fine. My setup has my main CG box on a router port, my mainbox on another, and a line to the rack I built downstairs off a 3rd switch port. That goes to a 16 port gigabit switch that downstairs and the 6 renderboxes I keep there are connected to.

1. You need to know the speed of the nic on each computer. If all of them are gigabit ethernet, then it is worth the extra cost to make sure you have a gigabit switch and Cat 6 cables connecting everything. The faster speed will really help in loading scene and texture files. However, if any one of the computers only runs 10/100, then don't waste your money on gigabit. Networking logic is designed to run at the safest, most reliable speed. You could have a 48 port gigabit switch, with 47 gigabit capable computers on it. But if that 48th computer is only 10/100, it will slow the entire network down to that speed. So be sure gigabit is worth it before spending the money; a 10/100 5 port switch costs about $20 at the office supply stores. Less if you shop online. a gigabit 5 port switch runs about $54.

Cables show the same thing. Cat 5 patch cords are cheaper than Cat 6 are (oh, and make sure you do =NOT= wind up getting a crossover cable. This is specifically for connecting two computers together with no switching or routing, and is used for file transfers.

1. Install the rendercow on -all three- computers. When the hypervue manager is running, Vue itself is incapable of rendering, as it is supporting the manager. So you need a 'cow on that system as well. And you want to make sure that this system has a little bit more memory than your dedicated render nodes, as there is overhead on hypervue.

1. Make sure your AV software and firewall is behaving. Some AV apps treat the rendercow functioning as port sniffing, and block it automatically. Some apps you can configure to allow the communication, others you simply have to disable the protection.

1. Make sure your computers have adequate cooling space. CG rendering is hard on CPU's, RAM, and hard drives, resulting in a lot of heat. Good airflow is essential to keep your hardware stable, and to not shorten its life.

1. Make sure you can get to your render boxes. If a cow is crashed by a broken render, you'll have to shut it down and restart it again to use it. If the computers are all in the same room, you might want to consider investing in a 4 port KVM switch, if your systems are still wired. That will allow one keyboard, mouse, and monitor to function for all of them.

Thanks Dale this makes alot of sense.

Just to confirm,

1) Render cows are to be installed on ALL computers, even the main PC that will have hypervue installed.

1. The main PC is to be of the higher spec in terms of cpu,memory & graphics card.

3) Only need x1 monitor, keyboard & mouse - if all are connected to a 4 port KVM switch.

4) I only have 10/100 onboard cards at the moment - so best option would be to buy gigabit ethernet cards for each PC, any advice on the card details/model no?

1. set rendercow to launch at startup.

Am I right in saying that rendercow and hypervue only speed up rendering - and does not have any effect for working with in vue i.e speed up tasks when working with vue - importing poser charactors ect?

Thanks guys for taking the time to go through this with me;)

it only helps with rendering yes.

Quote - Thanks Dale this makes alot of sense.

Just to confirm,

1) Render cows are to be installed on ALL computers, even the main PC that will have hypervue installed.

1. The main PC is to be of the higher spec in terms of cpu,memory & graphics card.

3) Only need x1 monitor, keyboard & mouse - if all are connected to a 4 port KVM switch.

4) I only have 10/100 onboard cards at the moment - so best option would be to buy gigabit ethernet cards for each PC, any advice on the card details/model no?

1. set rendercow to launch at startup.

Am I right in saying that rendercow and hypervue only speed up rendering - and does not have any effect for working with in vue i.e speed up tasks when working with vue - importing poser charactors ect?

Thanks guys for taking the time to go through this with me;)

 

1. Correct. 2. Not quite. Having a little more system RAM will help, as your main box is both running Vue and the Hypervue Manager, which keeps track of exactly what each cow is doing. If there is not enough physical RAM to hold all of a processes information, then it goes to the swap file....and hard drive access times remain the greatest bottleneck in computers. Vue doesn't use the graphic card to accelerate rendering, so you don't need a monster card. If you are using one of the upper end Vue's that actually =uses= miltithreading, then a robust multicore processor can be very beneficial. If not, then 2 threads are the max. Processor speed will affect render times, but careful scene optimization can speed things up a lot. The other option is to be very, very careful as to the size of your project, so that you have the memory for Hypervue to use. 3. Yep! And handy little things they are. You have to use VGA connectors and adapters on your video card and monitor. They do make DVI capable KVM switches, but they are $$$..... 4. If you want the gigabit speeds, then that is way to go if the mobo's don't suppor it. Most gigabit NIC's are pretty much alike, when it comes to the basics. Just get a basic gNIC, install it, and load the driver that came with it. And make sure that you disable the onboard NIC, so that they don't get into a fight with each other. 5. Yes. You're welcome. Just wish someone had been around to tell me this; would have saved a lot of experimentation.... :P

Thanks guys for all your advise - I guess the only question I have left is;

I currently have an Athlon quad 300 ghz processor - would I see a real beniffit in upgrading to say an i7 quad?

Thanks again,

John

300GHZ?!! :D

the i7's have hyperthreading which without any fancy talk measnt hey can perform two tasks on each core, so a 4 core processor is seen as an 8 core processor instead.

Thus leading to faster renders, if you get an i7 though I would reccomend getting one that is @ 3.0ghz or above, otherwise you will feel the diffrence when doing single core tasks in other parts of your computer life, which is a realy pain.

Thanks Rich

Regards,

John

Ok guys,

So I have installed hypervue on my main PC along with rendercow - rendercow also install on my 2nd PC. Both are currently contected to a netgear switch via their on board 10/100 cards-for the time being. And both PC are hooked up to a KVM.

However...When working on the main PC - I cannot see if the rendercow is working. And when I render something it only shows my main PC's x4 cores in the bottom resource bar? I cannot see any new option relating to Hypervue in the top tabs - edit, render ect..and there doesn't seem to be anything to show that rendercow is setup or running?

1. do I need to have Vue Esprit 9 also installed on the 2nd PCs along with Rendercow?

2. I am not currently using cat 6 - was going to get some today. Could this be causing the problem?

3. How do I check the builds?

Any advice would be greatly appriciated.

Thanks,

Quote - Ok guys,

So I have installed hypervue on my main PC along with rendercow - rendercow also install on my 2nd PC. Both are currently contected to a netgear switch via their on board 10/100 cards-for the time being. And both PC are hooked up to a KVM.

However...When working on the main PC - I cannot see if the rendercow is working. And when I render something it only shows my main PC's x4 cores in the bottom resource bar? I cannot see any new option relating to Hypervue in the top tabs - edit, render ect..and there doesn't seem to be anything to show that rendercow is setup or running?

1. do I need to have Vue Esprit 9 also installed on the 2nd PCs along with Rendercow?

2. I am not currently using cat 6 - was going to get some today. Could this be causing the problem?

3. How do I check the builds?

Any advice would be greatly appriciated.

Thanks,

 

1. Nope! 2) Nope! 3) The build number of Vue is on the startup page, and you can get it anytime from 'Help- About Vue' on the top bar. For the rendercow, there should be an icon in your system tray. Right click and a menu shows. Select about. Now, Hypervue doesn't have a special icon on the toolbar. Right click the render icon at top to bring up the render options panel. Right below the preset render section is the Renderer section. To use Hypervue, select 'External', then click the edit button to the right of it. There is your hypervue manager window. You have to either autoscan and let hypervue find all the cows on the network, or you can add them manually; either by IP address or by the name of the computer you are adding (I always create a simple name for my render nodes, so that it is possible to quickly add one that might get missed for some reason). Have fun!

Thanks Dan - just when I think I'm getting there-I'm not!

To use Hypervue, select 'External', then click the edit button to the right of it. There is your hypervue manager window.

I did this fine and then I get the following message in a black Vue scrn;

*Vue 9 Standalone Renderer Version 9.00 - Build 9005691 *

Initializing...OK

THIS APPLICATION HAS REQUESTED THE RUNTIME TO TERMINATE IN AN UNUSUAL WAY.

PLEASE CONTACT THE APPLICATION'S SUPPORT TEAM FOR MORE INFORMATION

(Sorry for the uppercase)

I also get a small windows like message saying;

A problem caused the program to stop working correctly.

windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available.

I really dont know what else to try - please help before I throw it out the window!

Thanks