Table of Contents

This page introduces and provides information on setting up Distributed Rendering.

 

Overview


Distributed rendering is the process in which several machines in a network are used to render a single image. The machine which distributes the tasks is called a Render Client and all other machines are called Render Servers.

 

Render Servers Setup


To set up a Render Server you need to run V-Ray Standalone. In the console type

vray -server -portNumber=n

where n is the network port number that is going to be used for Distributed Rendering. Please make sure it matches the one set in the Render Client setup.

 

Render Client Setup


In the Render settings, open the System panel and click Enable Distributed rendering . This will enable a new panel called Distributed Rendering which holds all the options seen below.

 

 

 

Set the port number. Make sure it matches the port number set for the render servers.

Add render servers by pressing the +/- button on the right. Specify an IP address or host name. You can use the check box on the right of each Render server to quickly include or exclude it from the distributed rendering.

All machines need to have access to the scene assets. V-Ray automatically transfers all needed assets when Asset Sharing to V-Ray Transfer (default).

If you choose a different asset sharing method (not recommended), you will need to manually specify the type of network used and the location of all render assets.

 

 

V-Ray supports DR. It divides the frame into regions and spreads them across the participants in the distributed rendering. This is done completely through TCP/IP protocol which is the standard protocol of the Internet and thus the most common protocol that is supported by the hardware. V-Ray itself does not need additional file or directory sharing (note that you may actually need some file/directory sharing for the bitmaps or other additional files used during rendering). The distribution management is divided into Render Clients and Render Servers.

Render Client is the computer that the user is currently using and from which the rendering is started. It divides the frame into rendering regions and spreads it across the render servers. It distributes data to the render servers for processing and collects the results.

Render Server is a computer that is part of a so-called render farm - it requests render data from the render client, processes it and sends the results back.

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