LWSN Network Rendering Setup

[3dreamstudios]

We just purchased the Octane Standalong + LW plugin package. We used the demo testing things with our systems with no issues.

Now when I try to launch a network render I get a Live Account not active error...and some logs showing that it's looking for a octane_node.cfg or something on any drives A-Z.

I have activated my Live account on this machine and inside LW everything renders and saves fine.

What am I missing? Thank you for any help.

[juanjgon]

To make possible the network rendering using LWSN, for each render node you need a combo license (Standalone+plugin). Also in each node you need a config file with some information about the LightWave plugin license and render parameters. The config file name must be "octane_node.cfg" and you should put it in the root folder of any drive from C: to Z:

The config file has this format:

UserID
UserPassword
Out-of-core enabled (0 or 1)
Out-of-core RAM usage limit [GB]
Out-of-core GPU head room [MB]
GPU0 enabled (0 or 1, optional)
GPU1 enabled (0 or 1, optional)
GPU2 enabled (0 or 1, optional)
GPU3 enabled (0 or 1, optional)
...

For example, this is the config file with the LightWave plugin license userID and password, and with the parameters to enable the out-of-core with 8 GB of RAM available and a GPU head room of 300 MB (remember to add a return after the last parameter in the file)

82310293842
ieurqwpeoiuhjruyer
1
8
300

-Juanjo

[juanjgon]

But if you want to use the native Octane network rendering, currently limited to 12 GPUs, you only need one Standalone license in each render node.

http://render.otoy.com/manuals/Lightwave3D/?page_id=543

-Juanjo

[3dreamstudios]

Ok something isn't working right. I have setup an octane_node.cfg file in my root C drive. It is being read but it says during load up:

Error: Can't authenticate the plugin Octane license
Invalid OctaneLive plugin account or wrong liveid / password combination

But I've tried both license information in my account, both standalone and lightwave User/Pass combinations. They are copied and pasted from my user account on otoy.com They both show active in my account.

What am I missing?

[juanjgon]

In the LWSN config file you must set only the LightWave plugin license ID and password, not the Standalone license. The Standalone license is required by LWSN only once the first time you launch the Standalone or the LWSN apps in this computer. Both Standalone and plugin licenses should be deactivated, that is, not activated in other computers.

Can you please enter in your Octane live account and deactivate the Standalone and plugin licenses that you want to use in the render node with the "deactivate" option?

Once you have both licenses deactivated in your web account page, I think that should try to run the Standalone app in your render node first. If it works, this means that your node Standalone license is enabled and working fine. Later you can try to run LWSN with the plugin license in the config file.

Remember that you need a free, not activated, Standalone+plugin licenses for each LWSN render node.

-Juanjo

[3dreamstudios]

In the LWSN config file you must set only the LightWave plugin license ID and password, not the Standalone license. The Standalone license is required by LWSN only once the first time you launch the Standalone or the LWSN apps in this computer. Both Standalone and plugin licenses should be deactivated, that is, not activated in other computers.

Can you please enter in your Octane live account and deactivate the Standalone and plugin licenses that you want to use in the render node with the "deactivate" option?

Once you have both licenses deactivated in your web account page, I think that should try to run the Standalone app in your render node first. If it works, this means that your node Standalone license is enabled and working fine. Later you can try to run LWSN with the plugin license in the config file.

Remember that you need a free, not activated, Standalone+plugin licenses for each LWSN render node.

-Juanjo

I really appreciate your help...this seems like a lot of hoops to jump through, but learning and enjoy figuring things out.

So you can fully understand what we want to do, use Lightwave Native app and IPR on single machine with one GPU (we bought single combo license). We then want to be able to NETWORK render using Butterfly Net Render/LWSN on two machines each with one GPU.

Do I need to activate/deactivate when I want to do this each time? I won't need two standalone + LW license to do this correct?

When I get back to the office I will try what you have mentioned and let you know. Thanks again for all your help.

[juanjgon]

If you have one license activated in your workstation, and you are not going to use this workstation for rendering, you can deactivate it and use this license in one of the render nodes, but to be clear: a Octane license only can run in one computer at the same time.

If you want to render with two render nodes using LWSN, you need two combo licenses (Standalone+plugin), one for each system. Octane doesn't have free render nodes. Like other render engines (Arnold, for example) you need one license for each render node.

But you have some choices: first, you can put the two GPUs in the same machine, then you only are going to need one license. A lot of people put two, three, four our even more GPUs in the same machine to get a lot of rendering performance with only one single license.

And second, you can use the Octane native network rendering. With this option you only need one Standalone license in each render node (not a full combo license), so you can save some money. With the native Octane network rendering all the nodes are going to work in the same image while you render from Layout with F9/F10, or even with the IPR.

-Juanjo

[geo_n]

And you also can't use butterfly with octane. It only supports lightwave renderer and kray if you have it.

[juanjgon]

The Octane plugin works seamless inside LWSN. In theory any network rendering controller should be able to support it, but perhaps you could need to modify the rendering scripts to support the Octane plugin messages and so on.

Anyway for small farms, I think that it is better and cheaper use the Octane native network rendering.

-Juanjo

[3dreamstudios]

If you have one license activated in your workstation, and you are not going to use this workstation for rendering, you can deactivate it and use this license in one of the render nodes, but to be clear: a Octane license only can run in one computer at the same time.

If you want to render with two render nodes using LWSN, you need two combo licenses (Standalone+plugin), one for each system. Octane doesn't have free render nodes. Like other render engines (Arnold, for example) you need one license for each render node.

But you have some choices: first, you can put the two GPUs in the same machine, then you only are going to need one license. A lot of people put two, three, four our even more GPUs in the same machine to get a lot of rendering performance with only one single license.

And second, you can use the Octane native network rendering. With this option you only need one Standalone license in each render node (not a full combo license), so you can save some money. With the native Octane network rendering all the nodes are going to work in the same image while you render from Layout with F9/F10, or even with the IPR.

-Juanjo

Please point me to where I missed reading that Octane does not support Lightwave Render nodes without License (this is native to LW and since it was not specifically mentioned anywhere one would assume the same with this product)? I agreed to purchase reading I could use up to 14 GPU's.

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.