[Leonardo]

I'm sure there are a few good guides on how to set Maxwell to render in cooperative, but some one just asked me in a e-mail so I decided to type another guide.

The person had 3 pcs... So in some places I reffer to those 3 pcs (you can do it with as many pcs as you have)



1st: you need to install maxwell in all three pcs (w/ licenses) and make sure they are working.

2nd: you need a network hard drive (or a place where all three pcs can access the information). In my case, I didn't have a network hard drive so I created a folder in one computer. Then, I changed its attributes so it can be shared. After that I went:
windows explorer > tools > Map network drive; (and I assigned the letter "Z" for that folder)
BTW... you need to Map your network drive in each pc (with the same letter... in my case "Z/:>")

3rd: start "MANAGER" and "SERVER" in one computer, and only "server" in the remaining 2 computer

4th: create an Icon (the easy way) with a target like: "C:\Program Files\Next Limit\Maxwell\mxcl.exe" -d

"-d" will make Maxwell to open the window so you can choose your project

5th: mxcl.exe" -d > FILE > OPEN MXS (and choose your options... test a small file, set it for 5min )
- your .mxs file should be in your network drive (in my case "Z"). you should also make a folder in "Z" with your textures (and type the location under "Bitmaps")
-choose to save your files in "Z" too (so all computers can access it and save it)

6th: go to the network tab > connect (if it doesn't connect, go to options and choose the right IP add like: 192.168.1.100 - example )
EDIT= "the right IP" is ofcourse the IP of the computer that is running the manager

7th: add job (all the right info should be there) > check cooperative


You're set.
leo


Questions?

[deadalvs]

thanks Leo !

my question:
what's the problem if i do this and the manager says of all servers «receiving scene»... but after many minutes it still won't start to render ?


ps. 6th is the IP of the manager...

* * *

deadalvs

[Leonardo]

did you try a small scene? I have got the same problem on really big scenes, and I figured that perhaps my other older pcs where not able to handle the scene

[w i l l]

Thanks! Not that I have a network... yet.

[Maxer]

thanks Leo !

my question:
what's the problem if i do this and the manager says of all servers «receiving scene»... but after many minutes it still won't start to render ?


ps. 6th is the IP of the manager...

* * *

deadalvs

This happens when the server program crashes or can't find a map, there is nothing you can do to recover this and you have to shut the manager and all the servers down and restart everything.

[Neil Evans]

I have loads of problems like this so I have started testing RenderPal, it works really well for animations, not tried saving out mxi files and doing a manual coop yet..

[Maxer]

I don't know about the new plug-in but the old one really didn't have a very good cooperative render system, if you had more than 10 machines working on one job at least one or two of them would crash.

[aitraaz]

I have loads of problems like this so I have started testing RenderPal, it works really well for animations, not tried saving out mxi files and doing a manual coop yet..

Renderpal with maxwell? Does it work well? Is coop render (multiple slaves for a single render) working?

[Neil Evans]

For rendering animations it works perfectly, I am running one at the moment. For coop rendering not sure, I need to test it.

[aitraaz]

For rendering animations it works perfectly, I am running one at the moment. For coop rendering not sure, I need to test it.

Cool, i'll look into that, thanks for the tip

[Neil Evans]

No problem, took a while to work out how to get renderpal/maxwell to render anims so if you need some tips let me know.

[Leonardo]

is renderlpal free?

[Neil Evans]

for 30days, trial version... But it is reasonably priced. 295 euros for 10 user lic. There are other options as well.

Check them out renderpal.com

Another one that run maxwell is deadline but it is more expensive, although you can run two rendernodes in free mode for as long as you like.

[Leonardo]

for 30days, trial version... But it is reasonably priced. 295 euros for 10 user lic. There are other options as well.

Check them out renderpal.com

Another one that run maxwell is deadline but it is more expensive, although you can run two rendernodes in free mode for as long as you like.

what does "10 user lic." means? 10 maxwell license? (40 cpu/cores)?

[Neil Evans]

No it means you can run it on 10 machines..