Network rendering; System requirements

[DonChunior]

Hi together,

we are thinking about introducing network rendering.

Currently we are rendering pictures (TIFF with Alpha channel), which take us some 8 hours till they are finished.

The existing rendering workstation has following system specification:
Workstation: HP Z800
Processor: 3.2 GHz, 6 physical cores + 6 virtual cores (activated by hyperthreading)
RAM: 24 GB
Operating system: Windows 7 Enterprise x64 SP1

We want to reduce the rendering time from 8 hours to 2 hours.
What are then the system requirements for the slave computers when using network rendering?

Best regards, DonChunior

[Speedster]

Hi Don;
I'm thinking the same thing.  I'm running 8 cpu's @ 16 gigs, which is pretty fast.  As part of your search, take a look at the Boxx Render Farms.  KeyShot had one running at last year's Siggraph, which I believe had 72 cpu's in it.  http://boxxtech.com/products/RenderBOXX/rendering_Series.asp  Look especially at the Pro series.  It's the one I'm looking at.
Bill G

[guest84672]

If you want to reduce render times by 75% you will need to add 3 more cpu's of the kind you described.

We are currently testing our new network rendering and are seeing some great results. We have tied in all of our machines in the office right now and are just ripping through stuff. Give it a few weeks, and NR will be available.

@Speedster - we were running on a 24 core system (12 physical / 12 virtual cores). Make sure to check out other providers like PSSC Labs - www.pssclabs.com. Another option is to build a couple of computers yourself and network them. This is certainly the cheapest option.

[br3ttman]

Looking forward to Network Rendering!    We just submitted our "KeyShot optimized" workstation orders over the past few days and it'd be great it we could also network them together.

[DonChunior]

If you want to reduce render times by 75% you will need to add 3 more cpu's of the kind you described.

We are currently testing our new network rendering and are seeing some great results. We have tied in all of our machines in the office right now and are just ripping through stuff. Give it a few weeks, and NR will be available.

Ok, in principle then I need 4 Slaves with 12 (6+6) cores.

And what's about the RAM? Does also each slave need 24 GB?
Or does only the master need so much RAM (because it puts together the results)?

Network rendering for version 2.3.2 is already available, isn't it? That's what our reseller said.

What will be the major enhancements of network rendering in version 3?

Regards, DonChunior

[guest84672]

Yes - you want the same amount of RAM on the slaves. Your own machine can act as a slave as well.

The new network rendering has the following improvements:
- Easy install and administration
- Auto-detection of slaves and master
- Add and remove slaves easily, even while rendering
- Network render queue
- Load balancing based on available cores per machine

It really is no comparison to what we had for KeyShot 2.

[Imz]

Hey Guys,

I have access to a Boxx RenderPRO12, which sits on my officemate's desk; I would really appreciate a pointer to a discussion on how to tap into it!!

[PhilippeV8]

will it be possible to setup slaves that only become "available" outside office hours ?
further more, if you work on a PC, will it be possible to add a mac as slave ?

[guest84672]

Yes Mac and PC can be masters and slaves. The whole scheduling thing and so forth will be part of version 1.x.

[DriesV]

Will the new network rendering stuff be a part of the KS 3.1 update? Will it be available to all KS 3 Pro users?
We currently have one KS 3 Pro NL + animation license. I would love to go the distributed rendering way.

greetings,
Dries

[guest84672]

Yes Network Rendering will be part of the 3.1 release. Initially it will be only available to KeyShot 3 Pro users at an additional fee.

[PhilippeV8]

Thomas,

I have just received my late Xmas gift here at work ... when I came in this morning there were 2 pc's at my desk.  So I'm wondering ... the slaved pc's, will they need KS installed/licensed ?

[guest84672]

No they don't. It is all controlled through a license file that contains the number of cores that you can add to your network render farm.