PDG batch render network slaves not available

[Barry Convex]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to setup some render manager to batch render multiple scenes on a single machine using a ROP fetch in PDG. Unfortunately, it's not using the network slaves. Any idea as to how I could make this work ?

Thanks in advance
Ben

[juanjgon]

This is a good question. The rendering using PDG is done by launching hython instances. The plugin currently doesn't have any special tool or command to configure the network rendering from the command line, but in theory, it should use the network rendering configuration available in the system from the plugin or from Standalone. For example, if you enable the network rendering from the Standalone to save this configuration to the system, can't hython (or PDG) use it?

Thanks,
-Juanjo

[Barry Convex]

Hey Juanjo,

Thanks for replying!

Unfortunately, setting the slaves from the standalone interface didn't work. I also tried to create an Octane ROP in the scene from where the PDG graph is executed and then set the network options from there but it didn't work either.
It seems that it happens on a per-session basis as I noticed that I have to steal back the slaves everytime I launch a new Houdini.
If you have any solution, that would save me a lot of time! We can't afford the Engine licenses for the render farm and I did try Hqueue on a single machine but couldn't figure how to make it work.

Thanks for your time,
Ben

[juanjgon]

Ok. In the upcoming Octane 2020.2 plugin build, I've added a couple of hscripts commands to enable/disable the network rendering from hython. Also, the plugin is going to enable the network rendering automatically by default when running inside hython, so I hope this could help with your problem.

Thanks,
-Juanjo

[Barry Convex]

That's great news, thanks Juanjo !

[Barry Convex]

And I forgot to ask... Any idea when this would be released out of beta?

[juanjgon]

We want to release a new Octane 2020.2 RC7 plugin build this week, probably the last one before the final release.

Thanks,
-Juanjo

[jahl519]

Hi there! I was running into the same issue..

The culprit:
Houdini Octane main plugin (octane rop) is binding to the slave therefore making it unavailable to PDG/hython.exe octane. You should turn off network rendering in the octane rop network options, or:

Open Texport and run a command prior to running PDG.

Code: Select all

Octane_disableNetworkRendering

This turns off network rendering/unbinds the slave from the main octane plugin (octane rop) in Houdini and makes it available for PDG/hython.exe octane to use

tested using Octane_2020.2.0.4_Houdini_18.5.462_Win64

Thanks to Juanjgon for the time you took to help me troubleshoot this!

[Barry Convex]

Hey everyone!

Thanks jahl519 for the tip!

Unfortunately, I'm still unlucky at running this succesfully.
I'm loading the scene files using a Ropfetch and Houdini version is 18.5.408.

I attached a simple example using my setup. Just dive into /obj/LC_Control_Center1/batch_render to get to the PDG setup. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance

[jahl519]

Hi Barry - I took a look at your scene - I'm using Houdini 18.5.462 and Octane_2020.2.0.4_Houdini_18.5.462_Win64.. It worked! Maybe try updating..

Also watch your Render Node Daemon and make sure it's not already connected to another machine.

Good luck!