#Network Rendering Probl
9 messages in this thread
When I render a animation in our Novel 3.12 network I sometimes have the
following problem:
At this time our network includes a Pentium/66 and a Pentium/100, both with 64
MB RAM (I call them "fast PC`s"). It also includes a 486/66 with 32 MB RAM and
two 486/66 with 16 MB RAM (I call them "slow PC`s"). Well, this is not the
problem.
When I start a render job with very complex scenes and the "slow PC`s" need a
few hours to render one image, I see this PC`s as FAILED in the netqueue. But
the slow PC`s are rendering the images without any error; they only need a lot
of time…
When I turn an other PC to slave mode (for e.g. a "fast PC") this new slave
tries to render the same image then the "slow PC`s"! I think it`s because the
new slave thinks that the other PC`s are hanging and so it tries to re-render
the "failed" image.
BTW: when a slave has rendered an image (maybe after a few hours) it deletes
the frame number from the to-do-list and goes to the next frame.
Now the question: why do the PC`s (not only the slow but sometimes also the
fast PC`s) fail (only in the netqueue entry) when they render a complex scene?
And what can I do to refuse that the new slaves try to re-render the same image
that is already rendered by the old slaves.
I believe it`s because of a time-out problem but I don`t know how to solve it
(setting up the NET-TIMEOUT option?).
Yep, very long description but I want to make sure that you understand my
terrible english…<g>.
Michael
Michael,
It sounds like this could be a network timing issue. Are all your slave
machines date/time synced with the 3DS Server machine? If not, that is most
likely your problem. You need to resync your machines before every time you do
a network render.
-Brian
Hi Brian,
>> Are all your slave machines date/time synced with the 3DS Server >>machine?
Aehm… Well, it`s incridible hot here in Germany and I`m very close to my
holidays (T minus 12 days <g>) and I believe I`ve lost my brain sometimes last
week. But I don`t know what you mean with "synced with the 3DS server machine".
I think the 3DS server machine is the one where I started the rendering job.
But how can I sync the slaves to this machine?
Maybe it`s time to re-read the network rendering chapter in the 3DS manuals
but can you also explain what do you exactly mean?
Thank you very much in advance…
…sun burnded and braindead… Michael
Michael,
Time and date stamp sync is not something you do in 3D Studio, it is something
you do on the network before starting 3D Studio.
Every network has some way of synchronizing the system clock of the system
logging on to the network, to some master clock. In the case of 3D Studio, we
recommend that you perform this syncronization everytime just before you start
network rendering. 3DS network rendering relies on the fact that all the
machines have the exact same date and time, differences of even a second or two
can cause problems on certain networks.
When I say "synced with the 3DS server" what I mean is to use the computer that
is the repository for the 3DS network control files as the "master clock" that
all the other computers syncronize their clocks with. (It really doesn't matter
which computer you use, though, as long as all the system clocks are running
exactly the same.)
-Brian
Brian,
ah, now I know what you mean <g>. Well, I believe that Novell 3.12 updates the
date of a workstation with the server date when the workstation is logging into
the network. I don`t know what happens with the time but I`ll run a little
test…
BTW: in the case that Novell put the server date and time to the workstations
what can I do to solve my problem? In this case sync doesn`t seem to be the
bug.
Michael
Michael,
I think the date/time sync is a configurable option. It might/might not be on.
Run systime from the DOS prompt before starting network rendering. (on all
machines).
If network rendering works for small projects, but not for long periods of
time, your clocks might be going out of sysnc as time goes by. Render from
Video Post and set up a batch file that will automatically call systime between
renders.
If that or Steves tip doesn't work, e-mail me a copy of the log file from a
project that crashes.
-Brian
Hi Brian,
thank you very much for your tips. I`ll keep you up to date with the sync
problem…
Michael
Michael,
Try setting the NET-TIMEOUT-CHECK in the 3DSNET.SET file to NO. Since your
machines are taking a long time to render, it may be too long between
"squawks".
Also, type SYSTIME before putting your machines into slave mode. This will
synchronize your newtare machines to the server.
– Steve Ormonde
Steve,
thank you very much for the tip. I`ll try it.
Michael