C4D Net Server – Render farm – workstations – compatibility

[archiform3d]

Hello everyone, I just completed the first step of my migration to the Octane Render engine for C4D and am thrilled so far.

I have to rebuild my render farm this week to handle some processing and have some critical questions.

I already have one combo Octane license and one C4D plugin license. Can I just buy C4D plugin licenses for each render client ,or do they even need a whole new license at all? Can they just run off my current license considering they are only headless render boxes? Do I get a combo license? Same goes for the net server – would it just be treated as a regular slave? I can't find a straight answer to this anywhere and I don't want to buy 31 standalone and 31 plugin licenses for each machine...... If it is one whole software package per machine I would be better off throwing some machines away and getting a couple of expansion chassis instead.

Do I have to buy a whole new combo license for my staff or just the C4D plugin? Can I upgrade my current license to a 3 or 5 pack? If each PC needs a full octane and a full C4D then why do they sell multiple licences packs of C4D plugin without the standalone license in the first place?

Also, it looks like V3 supports C4D but I see mixed reactions to it. What is everyones general opinion of it now? I am fearful of upgrading if it messes up this month's production line.

Steve Bell
http://www.archiform3d.com

[bepeg4d]

Hi archiform3d,
you need a combo update for each workstation that needs to work with c4dOctane, while you need only a standalone license for every slave in your LAN with a maximum of 20 GPUs per Master.
ciao beppe

[archiform3d]

Hi archiform3d,
you need a combo update for each workstation that needs to work with c4dOctane, while you need only a standalone license for every slave in your LAN with a maximum of 20 GPUs per Master.
ciao beppe

Does this mean I must use the Octane net render option instead of just running it through the built in Cinema4D net render server? So it would mean each client runs the Octane standalone license instead of the regular C4D client with the plugin? I have projects that will require both the old an new system and I would rather just put them all through net server for now.

[bepeg4d]

Hi archiform3d,
for c4d teamwork net rendering you need a combo license for each node, while with octane net rendering system you need only the standalone license for slaves and combo for Master only. It all depends from your specific needs
ciao beppe

[archiform3d]

So it looks like the short of it all is:

1/ Running anything with Octane on it requires a whole license.
2/ C4D Net Rendering and Octane Net Rendering are completely different, the latter requiring C4D to be running on the server and the jobs to be sent from it (batch rendering I guess).
3/ C4D Net Rendering will work with Octane but I assume stuff like rendering a still image across multiple machines will not be compatible. Animations should be fine.

Given that I am only going to immediately turn 3 machines into GPU power houses this month I might get full Octane + plugin on each of those so I have the option for both.

It is exciting switching to this new tech. Geeking out here.....

[bepeg4d]

Hi archiform3d,
just to clarify the difference between c4d team render and Octane net render:
1. c4d team render need that all the machines involved have all plugin installed (even QuickTime) because the entire scene and assets must to be sent to all machines.
You can use the total power of team render only in Picture Viewer /Batch.
2. Octane net render is different, slaves only need a standalone license, while the master can have any kind of plugin. The scene is prepared by the master to be sent to internal GPUs firstly, and then to the slaves without the need to share assets or plugins (less errors and incompatibility between different OS). The power of net render can be used in any time in both Live Viewer and Picture Viewer, from material creation to the final render.
Only disadvantage... when you understand the power, Octane net render could be addictive
ciao beppe

[archiform3d]

Thank you for the clarification, I appreciate it.

I now think I should just shut down C4D net render altogether. I wanted to keep it going for a while fearing that my memory requirements on external scenes would often require the old system. Well, I just did my first exteriors using Octane and they barely hit the 6GB in the cards. SWEET!

[bepeg4d]

And you have the Out-of-core option to move all the textures from VRAM to system RAM. You loose 10/20% of rendering power but you free up a lot of VRAM for geometry
ciao beppe

[rschrem]

c4d team render need that all the machines involved have all plugin installed (even QuickTime) because the entire scene and assets must to be sent to all machines.
You can use the total power of team render only in Picture Viewer /Batch.

Does this mean the C4D octane plugin does NOT support the Cinema Team Render Server?

We tried it and it works except one little significant detail that is broken:
the Cinema Team Render Server does NOT distribute any textures from the Team Render Server to the Team Render Client machines. Is there any fix to this?
Not properly supporting Team Render Server would mean we need a full C4D Studio license just to be able render C4D files using the picture viewer on some machine that is fully blocked while rendering anything...

[bepeg4d]

Hi rschrem,
no sorry, you have misunderstood, I was talking about the differences between Octane net render, where no assets must be shared, and Team render that needs to do that.
There is any incompatibility between c4DOctane and Team render, if you set up everything correctly everything works as expected.
If you wasn't able to make it work, most likely there was a problem of writing permission between the slaves and the server. Try with c4d standard engine first, if it works there, then it works also with c4dOctane.
As I said, Octane net rendering doesn't have this kind of issues because the master doesn't need to share any assets, reducing the headaches.
ciao beppe