Multiple machines, different results(Deadline)

[horizonmark]

Okay, well I figured out PART of the problem. When you submit your C4D/Octane file to Deadline, you MUST click "export Project before submission"

From deadlines documentation

"In order to perform cross-platform rendering with Cinema 4D, you must setup Mapped Paths so that Deadline can swap out the Scene and Output file paths where appropriate. You can access the Mapped Paths Setup in the Monitor while in super user mode by selecting Tools -> Configure Repository. You’ll find the Mapped Paths Setup in the list on the left.

When submitting the Cinema 4D job for rendering, you should enable the Export Project Before Submission option, and choose a network location when prompted for the export path. This will strip any absolute asset paths and make them relative to the scene file, and will also ensure the option to submit the Cinema 4D scene file with the job is disabled.

If you don’t enable the Export Project Before Submission option, you need to manually export the project to a network location. Then, you must submit the exported scene file from the Submit menu in the Monitor and you need to specify the output and/or multipass output paths in the submitter. Make sure the option to submit the Cinema 4D scene file with the job is disabled. If you leave it enabled, the scene file will be copied to and loaded from the Slave’s local machine, which will break the relative asset paths."

While this solved our original problem - the machines are still rendering differently from each other. Just much less now. (For example, depending on the HDRI file size, it won't render it at all on some machines)

[thanulee]

I know its not the solution ur looking for, but network rendering has been working very well here for 1 year on 3.07 version.

Only bug i found was with random color and instances for that matter. Nothing can be missed via network if ur master pc is working well, everything works well. I used to backburner many years (while max and vray). While it seemed safer, i had a lot more issues than distributed rendering. I tend to think that this is the same risk now. In one case, if ur master crashes u lose all, in other case if 1 pc missing a map u lose all again. Deadline has some flexibilities, but in the end i think its another lvl of complexity added on top.

I was thinking of deadline myself, but i dont have a reason to not trust network rendering of octane any longer. U can give it a go cheers

[horizonmark]

Well this is not very smart. If someone else changes their ENV color from the default grey, to black, because that's what they prefer - One computer will render the scene with a brighter background and the other machine will render with a darker background when it comes to global illumination.

THAT was the flickering problem. So for anyone rendering across multiple machines, make sure your ENV color is default grey or all set to the same color. This should be fixed, personal preferences shouldn't have any effect at all on renders.

[frankmci]

Well this is not very smart. If someone else changes their ENV color from the default grey, to black, because that's what they prefer - One computer will render the scene with a brighter background and the other machine will render with a darker background when it comes to global illumination.

THAT was the flickering problem. So for anyone rendering across multiple machines, make sure your ENV color is default grey or all set to the same color. This should be fixed, personal preferences shouldn't have any effect at all on renders.

Yeah, that just bit me in front of an audience during an Octane demo for our local animator's group last week. I didn't have time to figure it out, so I just had to skip it and move on. Seems like that setting really should be saved in the scene file, and only affect new scenes created with any account.

[horizonmark]

Not only that, but the ENV color is penetrating through HDR files/envrionments too. This should definitely not be happening.

[tomsvfx]

Hey horizonmark!

Me and my colleagues had recently tracked down this same bug, you can check my bug report here:
viewtopic.php?f=86&t=68693