LWSN Network Rendering Setup

[3dreamstudios]

Just another comment, we would not mind paying for additional "Render Node" licenses at a reasonable price, that would be standard for some products. But needing to buy the entire combo package just to render an unmanned station is quite a bit. Would be like buying an entire car just to run the air conditioner in the garage...would rather buy a small air conditioner window unit.....they do the same but you can't drive one and so your limited to only what your wanting to do with it.

Hopefully for Octane and the Lightwave community your licensing could be updated to allow this!

[juanjgon]

There is some public information about the Octane native network rendering, you have a detailed description in the Octane web page FAQ section. The LWSN network rendering with Octane is also covered in the LightWave plugin manual, as you can see in the attached images.

But anyway, as you could understand, a commercial external render engine can't support unlimited network render nodes with only one license, this is a impossible business model. Can you imagine a big studio rendering with hundreds of nodes for only 439€? ... Some vendors could offer few free network render nodes with the first license, but not unlimited, and for the mayor engines out there (Arnold, Renderman, VRay, etc.) you need an additional license for each render node.

The nice point about Octane is that you can build powerful render nodes with a lot of GPUs (from 2 to 8, or even more) and you need only one license for it. You can build a 12.000€ render node with many GPUs and render with only one Standalone license (299€), or with a combo license (439€) if you want to use LWSN ... I don't think that the license cost can be a problem with this configurations. Of course is not a good idea to have render nodes with only one GPU, this like buy Arnold licenses at 1000€ each to work in nodes with dual core CPUs

I am sure that Butterfly can render the Octane scenes, but you could need a custom script to manage the Octane messages. I am not sure if anybody else is using this or other controllers with Octane, but this is something I could study if needed in a studio. Anyway for small farms with up to 12 GPUs it is better, easier and cheaper to use the Octane native network render.

I am sorry to hear the the Octane plugin can't fit in your studio. Perhaps you could think about put all the GPUs in the same machine and replace them with a low cost card in the render nodes, if you are using this nodes for only CPU rendering. I am not sure about the Otoy refund policies, please ask to the licensing team about it.


-Juanjo

[geo_n]

Who should I speak with to inquire about a refund?

We have a small farm and render with 10 machines, only two of these have GPU's that would support Octane. We must use a render controller as we have many scenes we render over night's and weekends.

I can confirm Butterfly Net Render does work just fine on the Demo and was under the impression that the Licensed product would work just the same. I am now finding that is not the case.

There's no refund unfortunately.
Good to know butterfly works atleast. I'm still on bnr 4.
You can always vote here even if they probably will not give any free render nodes
http://render.otoy.com/forum/viewtopic. ... +node+poll

Btw it is also locked to 12 gpus per license afaik so if you go that route don't buy more than that per license.

[3dreamstudios]

So to confirm, because it wasn't answered originally when I asked....do I need to deactivate a standalone or LW Plugin licenese through the web portal every time I need to render with a render controller (Network rendering with Butterfly)? The online portal says I can only deactivate once an hour...????

We are a small studio we have a dedicated render farm but only have two machines/workstations that have GPUs for Octane rendering. This means I will be using my workstation for Octane rendering....but I will also (not at the same time) need it for LW Native IPR rendering etc....

Please advice before I deactivate for testing...thanks.

[3dreamstudios]

So it seems I have deactivated both licenses in my web portal...tried each user# and password combination and LWSN keeps saying it can't authenticate.

What else should I try?

This is def. a License issue, as the trial works great without any modifications to Butterfly, no additional scripts etc..as mentioned. Just works as expected....since it's not trying to authenticate a license.

[juanjgon]

Can you please check if you have a return after the password in the octane_node.cfg file?

If it doesn't work, can you please verify again the both Standalone and plugin licenses are deactivated in your web account. Once deactivated you should be able to use them in the render node without problems.

You could also try to install the Standalone in the render node to see if it works and can be licenses without problems ... and also perhaps you could try to launch a Layout in the render node to see if the plugin is working fine and can be licensed.

Finally, if nothing works, can you please send to me your octane_node.cfg file? ... you can use a PM or send it by email to [email protected]

-Juanjo

[3dreamstudios]

Thanks juanjgon for your patience and help in this.

I do have a return on the cfg file. I did deactivate both licenses, but did not wait an hour before trying the network render....If I read correctly I think that may be a problem. As it seems you can only deactivate/reactivate a license after an hour of wait...?

As for installing the standalone on the machine I'm trying to render with, this is already the case....as I am trying to network render on my local workstation. So this workstation is already licensed and rendering with LW.

From the Lightwave forums I have gathered that even though my workstation is licensed and this is the same machine I'm trying to network render on (without LW running) I would need two full combo licenses. This is huge bummer....

But I also found a way inside of LW to manage multiple scenes to be rendered locally on my workstation that is licensed correctly.

My question now is, as I read the terms and licensing I should be able to have up to 12 GPUS in one MACHINE and only need ONE license Standalone + LW combo and be able to use all of those GPU's correct?

At this moment that is the biggest question I need answered. I will not render through the network if that is the case. How many GPU's can I have and how many licenses will I need on ONE SINGLE MACHINE?

Thanks again.

[juanjgon]

I think that you can deactivate the license in the web and activate it in a new system without wait time, but you can only make this operation once per hour.

In a multiple GPUs machine you only need one combo license to render with all the GPUs available in this computer. I have users with up to 7 or 8 GPUs working in the same machine with only one license, and here I have a workstation with three GPUs working without problems with only one license. I think that the GPUs limit in one machine is 12 currently, but anyway it is not easy add more than 7 or 8 GPUs to the same computer.

-Juanjo

[3dreamstudios]

I think that you can deactivate the license in the web and activate it in a new system without wait time, but you can only make this operation once per hour.

In a multiple GPUs machine you only need one combo license to render with all the GPUs available in this computer. I have users with up to 7 or 8 GPUs working in the same machine with only one license, and here I have a workstation with three GPUs working without problems with only one license. I think that the GPUs limit in one machine is 12 currently, but anyway it is not easy add more than 7 or 8 GPUs to the same computer.

-Juanjo

Sounds good. I think my shock of the licensing is over and I will now begin to work towards a single machine with multiple GPU's now that I can manage multiple scenes rendered over the weekend/night from one machine without the need of a render controller over the network.

Thanks and look forward to having some good experiences with this great product!

[3dreamstudios]

Jaun trying to get LWSN to work and still no go. Have deactivated both Standalone and LW plugin licenses in online portal. Entered LW plugin user/pass in octane_node.cfg file in root of C drive.

LWSN reads file fine but can't authenticate the license. Firewall issue? What should I allow...DLL or LWSN.EXE?

This is very frustrating and insanely constrictive licensing scheme. Please help...