DR tab

This page provides information on the Distributed Rendering (DR) tab in the V-Ray Renderer parameters.

Overview

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Distributed rendering is a technique for distributing a single render job within a single frame across many computers in a network.

 

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UI Path: ||Parameters tab|| > DR tab (with the V-Ray Renderer node selected)
 

 

Parameters

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Enable – Enables additional parameters and settings needed to distribute the rendering across additional computers.

Transfer Missing Assets – Allows render servers to automatically download missing rendering assets from the client machine,  including textures, V-Ray proxy files, IES profiles, GI solution caches (irradiance maps, light caches), etc.

Use Cached Assets on DR – Tells the render servers to keep the downloaded rendering assets between different DR sessions. If disabled, the render assets are automatically deleted once the render server disconnects from the client machine at the end of the rendering. When enabled, assets are kept in a folder on disk.

Cache Limit Type – Allows you to specify under what conditions the assets cache is cleaned up. The possible values are:

None – Assets are never deleted from the render servers' cache.
Age (hours) – Assets are kept for the specified amount of time. At the end of the rendering, the render servers will delete assets that have been transferred before the specified time limit.
Size (GB) – When the size of the assets on a render server exceeds the specified amount, least recently used assets are automatically deleted at the end of each render until the folder size is less than the limit.

Cache Limit Value – The specific value of the limit for the asset cache. This is either hours or GB, depending on the value of Cache Limit Type.

Overwrite local cache settings – Available when Transfer Missing Assets and Use Cached Assets on DR is enabled. Enabling will make the render nodes ignore their local settings for how long they'll keep a transferred asset if any such settings have been placed. Instead, the nodes will use the settings from the host's Maya render settings.

Default Port – Specifies the default port number at which the DR server operates. The default value is 20207.

Number of Hosts – Specifies the number of hosts to use for DR. This value controls the number of host input fields below.

 

Step-by-Step DR Set Up

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1. Set up the Render Servers. You can do that in two different ways:

2. Set up the Render Client. In the Houdini interface, open the V-Ray Renderer properties and navigate to the DR tab. Add all the Render Hosts by inputting their IPs. You can include or exclude the servers in the list in the current rendering by toggling the Enabled option.

 

Notes

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