[Cosmasad]

For those of us who are new to this, can anyone give us a tip on how expensive or difficult it is to put together a small render farm? Maybe something that will cut down the rendering time to half or a third?

Is it something one can buy -- or does one make it?

We are a group of architects who want to be cranking out renderings -- not animation -- of architectural interiors. Maybe 2-3 a day. At the same time we don't want to be "paralyzing" our computer when it does that. Any suggestions you can offer us would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Cosmas Demetriou

[Half Life]

Maxwell scales nearly linearly -- so twice the computing power will result in nearly half the render time... likewise 3 times the computing power will result in the render time being reduced to nearly a third of the original.

This can be accomplished in 3 ways:

1) Multiple processor motherboards -- this is more common now than it has been in the past. The idea here is essentially to have multiple computers in one case. This strategy tends to be much more expensive per unit (computer) but less expensive overall because you spend the money where it counts (on processing power). Typically these are server/workstation type machines made for proffesional use... start here: http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory ... therboards

2) Multiple Computers linked via a network with an equal number of Maxwell render node licenses -- this is the better option if you already have alot of computers and a network and just want to leverage existing power.

3) Send the work to a existing render farm service -- there are many to choose from, and while this is the most expensive option in the long run, it requires the least amount of effort and time from you (which has it's own merit).

Best,
Jason.

[QuakeMarine1]

5 pc or maybe 10 pc will speed up your render for the first 6 month only
sooner or later you put more emmiters more resolution and more from all
at the end your rendertimes are again too high and you need more power

dont overlook the maintenace for the hardware - in theory its easy and simple to setup some PC but real world is different - if you not have skilled admin avaliable you will fight hours of hours to get a job to render or debug a missing texture error

find a balance between
investment vs farm usage vs stress factor the farm give you

maybe, using a profesionell renderfarm service is the better choise
it take you 5 seconds to submit a job
http://www.rebusfarm.com/Video_Tutorial ... AXWELL.wmv
click and forget

andre

[RenderFred]

Hello Cosmas,

Ah well, since our good friend Andre jumped on the subject I feel authorized to do so too

You can also try to render on the RANCH: 10 minutes on the RANCH Runner = 8 hours on 12-core/24-thread MacPro = 20 hours on a Core I7 computer. Our RANCHecker software will let you estimate precisely the time and cost to render your projects, and as a new user you would get a $50 free trial too...

Cheers,

Fred