Render Farm?

[Walter Soyka]

Here it is:

https://library.creativecow.net/articles/rabinowitz_aharon/multi_machine_rend.php

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[James Miller]

Heya,

thanks for the link it was exactly what I was looking for. Can I just ask if anyone has had managed to set up a render farm using AE’s render engine successfully? I’ve set up the watch folder as per AE’s instructions, saved my project and have an image sequence in the render queue. However when the machines with the render engine on them scan the watch folder, they bypass the project, seeming to flick up something about it being invalid. I can’t for the life of me figure out whats going on. I’ve tried a bunch of different image sequence settings, and now I’ve followed this video and he’s settings are the same as mine…. I’m a bit lost. My laptop is saying 8 hours to render a 2.5d still thats 10 seconds long if I do it locally…. I’m thinking either my computer has an issue or AE’s render on a mac sucks balls.

Cheers for any insight

If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving isn’t the sport for you.

[Walter Soyka]

[James Miller] “Can I just ask if anyone has had managed to set up a render farm using AE’s render engine successfully?”

I’ve done it, both with the watch folder method, and by manually invoking aerender.

It works, but network render requires fast storage and a fast network.

[James Miller] “However when the machines with the render engine on them scan the watch folder, they bypass the project, seeming to flick up something about it being invalid.”

What exactly is the error message? Does it create an entry in the render engine’s log?

[James Miller] “My laptop is saying 8 hours to render a 2.5d still thats 10 seconds long if I do it locally….”

Yikes. Sounds like something is amiss with your machine or configuration. You haven’t shared any details about your system configuration, so I’ll just advise that you turn off multiprocessing if it’s on (most laptops don’t have enough RAM for it), and check out this page on improving performance.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[James Miller]

Walter Soyka: I’ve done it, both with the watch folder method, and by manually invoking aerender. It works, but network render requires fast storage and a fast network.

I’ve got both fast storage and a fast network so it really should work. I’ve done the folder method and the scanner can see the folder, it just doesn’t pick up the project so to speak.

Walter Soyka: What exactly is the error message? Does it create an entry in the render engine’s log?

It doesn’t create an entry in the render log. Basically the flashing text that says ‘checking in 5, 4, 3….’ when it gets to 0 flicks up with the folder name and says invaid or something similar. It’s almost too fast to see, but its there. The odd thing is that the machine that created it doesn’t seem to have a problem. I wonder if there is an update issue between versions?

As far as machine spec, macbook pro, 4 GB ram, 1/2 tb 7200rpm drive, dual 2.3 Ghz processor, latest OS, CS5. Things like FCP work like a charm but AE just grinds to a halt and takes the machine with it every time.

I’ll read through that doc on performance and hopefully something will shine through. Just used the 8 core macpro downstairs for the same job, and it took an hour. long but not THAT long. Cheers for the help

If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving isn’t the sport for you.