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How to build your own render farm

Yourmainworkstationhasalotofpower,sofreeituptodobetterthings.
byDaveGirardMay12,20143:00amCEST

62

Installing our 3D software in Linux

Forthistutorial,ImgoingtowalkthroughthesetupforMayaandtheVRayrendererfromthe
desktop(notremoteshell)notbecauseIthinkeveryonerunsit,butbecauseitshowsyouthebasic
approachandproblemsthatcanarisewithsoftwareinstallationinLinux.WiththeMayaLinux
installerextractedtoafolderonthedesktop,openaterminalwindowandsutotherootuser.From
theMayainstallfolder,draganddropthesetupbinaryinstallationprogramintotheterminalwindow
andhitenter.Afteryouenteryourserial,starttheinstall...anditwillfail:

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HereisyourfirstspeedbumpinthespeedbumpyworldofLinux,and,intrueLinuxfashion,itwillnot
beimmediatelyclearfromanyofthemessageswhyitfailed.Theresnothinginherentlybadabout
LinuxhereitsjustthatthedevelopersassumeyourefamiliarwithLinux,sotheydontdoanyofthe
extraworkofmakinginstallationsfoolproof.Sohereisthesolution:youneedtohavethefolderas
theworkingdirectorytohaveitsucceed.Typecdwiththespaceanddragthefolderintothe
windowsoyougetthis:

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Enlarge/Ofcourse,youcantypethispathifdragginganddroppingistooninetiesforyou.

Hitentertosettheworkingdirectorytothatpath.
Nexttype./setuptoexecutethesetupbinaryfromthelocalworkingdirectory(thatsthe./).The
installnowworks.Youvenowgotonecommoninstallissueunderyourbeltsokeepthisfixinmind
forthefuture.Aftertheinstallisdone,youwillbeabletolaunchMayafromtheGNOME
Applications/Graphics
menu.
Movingon,letsinstallVRay3.0(Imusingthebeta)byrunningtheinstallerasrootitcanbedone
withoutsettingtheworkingdirectoryfirst.MakesurethatRegisterVRayRenderSlaveAsaService
ischeckedon.VRayrenderersneedtobeconfiguredtolookforthelicenseserver,butImgoingto
skipthatportionhere.Aftertheinstallisdone,letsgobacktoourmastermachineandrunMayato
tryoutanetworkenabledrender.IntheRenderSettingspanelforVRay,gotoSettings/Distributed

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RenderingandmakesurethatUsedistributedrenderingisonandthenclicktheSettingsbuttonto
addyourmusclemachinetothepool.SinceyousetupyourrendererwithastaticlocalIP,the
addressyouputinhereshouldneverchange,andleavetheportatthedefaultbutnotethatforyour
firewallsettings:

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IfyouareusingAutodeskMaxasyourhost,thisprocesswillbealmostthesame,sincebothVRayfor
MaxandMayahavesimilarrendersettingspanels,andwecanusethesameVRay3rendererservice
forbothprograms.

ThetransfermissingassetsandusecachedassetsareVRay3.0featuresthatmakemixed
platformrenderingeasy,sinceitalleviatesanyneedtohandlenetworkpathsanditavoidsSAMBA
altogether.ThatalsomeansyoucanrenderfromaWindowsmachinewithMaxtoMacandLinuxV
Ray3.0rendereranditjustworks.Verynice.
Nowtotestoutourdistributedrender.Ifinditeasiertoseewhatsgoingonwithourdistributedtiles
bycreatingaslowtorenderscenelikesomethingwithSSSskinorglossyshaderwithatonof
subdivisions.HitRenderinMayaorMaxandseewhatyouget.Ifallgoesaccordingtoplan,you
shouldntgetanynetworkrendering.Yes,Isaidshouldnt:

Enlarge

Ipurposefullysetusuptofailagain,sowecansolveanothercommonproblemofnetworkrendering.
IfyoudidntrebootyourmachineafterinstallingtheVRayrenderingservice,itprobablydidntload
theVRayrenderingservice,sotherewasnothingforthemastertoconnectto.Fromourmaster
machine,letslogintotherendereroversshandcheckifVRayisrunninganythingnoneedtodo
anyofthisasroot.Typethefollowingandhitenter:
psax|grepvray
psisourprocessmonitorapplication,andwerepipingitsoutputtogrep,atextfilterthatlooksfor
lineswithvrayinitandthenprintstheoutput.Ifnothingisrunning,thenitwilljustprinttheprocess
ofgrepcheckingfor"vray":
30048pts/0S+0:00grepvray
SoletsrunourVRaymusclewithoutrebooting.ForMaya2014,theslaveserviceislocatedat
/usr/ChaosGroup/VRay/Maya2014x64/bin/vrayslave,sotypethatandhitenter.Youshouldsee
somethinglikethis:

Enlarge

HitRenderagaininMayaorMaxandyoushouldseesomemagicstarttohappeninthe
renderer'ssshsession:

Enlarge

Andourrenderstartstoshowtheevidenceoftwomachinesworkingatonce:

Enlarge/Thisiswhereashortnetworknamepaysoff.

Withmy10coreXeonaddedtothemix,wegetatotalof48bucketsonebucketperCPUthread:

Enlarge/Yep.Feelsprettygood.

Sowhatareourrendertimeslikewiththosethreemachineshackingawayatourframe?Well,here's
anexampleofthegainsyoucanget,evenjustfromthatthreemachinefarmwithMacPro8core
3.0GHzE5v2,10core3.0GHzXeonE5v2andi73930Kgamingrigoverclockedto4.4GHz:

Thislowerrenderscorecompletelysavedmyasstheotherdaywitha"needittoday"archviz
jobthathadmeworkingfor13hoursstraight.

Sinceguessingourworkloadbalancefromthosetextoverlaysisabitofastretch,VRayhasa
renderpass/elementcalledDRBucketthatisdesignedtodiagnoserenderbuckets(thosetiles)
withdistributedrendering.Withthataddedtoyourrenderelements,youcangetaveryclearpicture
ofhowmuchofyourrendereachmachineishandling:

Enlarge/ItalsohastheaddedbonusthatitlookslikeaZeldamap.TheislandinthemiddleistheMacProhost
workingwhiletheothersreceivethetexturedataandstarttheirwork.

Ifthecoloredbucketcountisnotproportionaltothemaster/slavescomputingpower,thenyouhave
aproblemtofix,likeanetworkbottlenecksomewhere.IfyouwereusingaWiFiconnectionforthe
muscle,youdprobablyseeadisproportionateamountofthemastermachine'stiles,forexample.
Mixing platforms with rendering?
Atthispoint,youreprobablywonderingifIvecourteddisasterbymixingaMacOSXhost,aLinux
renderer,andaWindowsrenderertorendermyimage.Restassured,everytilelooksthesame
whenIrender,regardlessofplatform:

Thereisnoperceptibledifferencebetweenbucketsrenderedondifferentplatforms.

ButsinceVRay3.0splatformagnosticbackendisverymuchanidealscenario,welllookat
solutionsformixednetworkrenderingwherewedonthavetheluxuryofthesoftwarehandlingthe
assettransferportion.Beforewemoveon,Iwanttoaddressonemoreproblemthatslingering.We
currentlyhaveourLinuxrendererrunninginanopensshsession,but,becausethatprocesswilldie
assoonastheterminalwindowisclosed,wehaveaproblem.Soweregoingtotacklethisthe
intelligentnetworkadminwaybyusingourscreenprogramthatwe'veinstalled.Screenisdesigned
tofixthisexactproblembycreatingavirtualshellthatyourunanotherprocesswithin.So,killyour
vrayslaveprocesswithcontrolcandtypescreenandhitenter.Thenlaunchitagain
(/usr/ChaosGroup/VRay/Maya2014x64/bin/vrayslave).Now,andthisisthegoodpart,hitcontrola
toaddressscreenandhitthedkey.Youshouldseethismessage:

Screenhasdetachedthevirtualsessionsothatitnolongerdieswhenthesshsessionorwindowis
closed.Closethewindowandrunyourdistributednetworkanditwillwork.Toreconnecttothe
rendererprocessinscreen,justtypescreenranditwillcomebackupasbeforebutwithnew
messages,asitneverstoppedworkinginthebackground.Thiswouldseemlikealotofworktosolve
aproblemthatcouldhavebeensolvedjustbyrebootingthemusclemachinesotherenderservice
wouldstart,butrenderslaveservicescancrash,soyouneedtousethisscreenmethodtorelaunch
themremotely.Screenalsocomesinhandytostartaremotecommandlinerenderstartarender
jobandsshsessiononyourphonewhilesunningitupatthepark,forexample.WhiletheUnix
commandlinestuffcanbeintimidatingatfirst,youquicklylearntolovethepowerandflexibility.

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