net render only black frames[works,you need proper netdrive]

[rovak]

Hi all,

Have been trying to render over the network with no success.

this is the setup:

server: G5
client1: Macpro intel 2x2.16
client2: Macpro intel 2x2.16

vray is installed and working in all 3 machines. I can also render nornal jobs through the network with out any probs.

any time I send a job to be rendered in vray, the clients will only render black frames and very very fast.

is there something I'm doing wrong?

help please

[RenatoT]

Hello Rovak,

sorry for the delay but we are a bit busy.
I'm thinking on this.
The last release have some fix that can resolve the problem.

cheers
Renato

[scotthik]

Hi.

Any progress on this? This error cripples the effectiveness of VrayforC4d for me. I have idle Macs and a deadline coming.

What release do you mean? 10.5?

Thanks Renato. :)

[sbecker]

I seem to be getting the same problem only slightly different situation. I have a mixed Net Render cluster of Macs and PC's. When I submit a job the PC's have no problem rendering the proper image, but the Mac's render only black and very fast. Anyone else with solutions or similar problem?

[Carl]

I have no luck either...

[sbecker]

Seems to be something that the VRay crew will have to look into further. I just hope it's not to far down the growing list of things they have to do. I've got a few 8 Core MacPros sitting here that I can't use. Well let's keep our fingers crossed that it's resolved sooner rather than later.

[stefan]

i am not yet a mac pro user yet, but isnt there a way to make a netdrive in osx?
(i have also several macpros 8 cores here but netrender under winxp at the moment).

anyway we work on that of course, we will add relative paths for the gi files so you can put the gi file in the netrender/text folder...
cheers
stefan

[stefan]

ok i just talked to an osx pro user,
he said it is no problem to share the user folder and mount it to all macs that do netrender. it has the same path then everywhere.

please try this, on the main mac you of course have to save this also to the mounted volume.

then vray should render fine. the back frames just indicate that it could not have acces to the gi files.
s
cheers
stefan

p.s. here also some info about shared things in osx, dont know maybe helps:
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20011108161839416
http://macs.about.com/od/osx/a/shared_public.htm
http://www.bresink.com/osx/143439/Docs-en/Share.html
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106461
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20011108161839416

[Carl]

Stefan, thanks for your struggle.
But, I assume that this is just a temporary workaround until the update, whereas all the files needed for a correct net render should be on the netrenderserver...

[wizman]

We have 9 Mac computers
Always we use NET Render with web interface
ALL files locate on netrenderserver, result save to netrenderserver
Vray not render! Blank files in 1 second.
(Sorry for my english)

[nboy]

Me also but on Win XP PC's. Just rendering black images via Netrender. Vray plugin recognised fine by the client machines. Using C4D ver 10.111. Do I need to upgrade...... I really need this plugin to work over the network. Can anyone help....

Nboy :cry:

[hrundi]

yeah, still the same here under OS X with three intel-macs + 1 G5.

would be nice if someone could explain how this "shared user-folder"-procedure works step by step...

[sushicargo]

where are these fabulous users that actually got vray over netrender to work under os x?
the average mac user should get a shared folder or network drive to work. this is not a problem.
the problem remains in spite of using shared folders or a shared drive: even if the gi solution path points at these locations, it produces black frames.
so please, if anyone had success with this method, give us insight into the details of your magic.

[stefan]

we will provide relative paths for gi files in next update to make that easier. the gi file can then be in the text folder. we put that on high priority.

also make sure to not use blanks in the name of the gi file, net seems not to like this. maybe that helps.

cheers
stefan

[wizman]

It's will be nice if the problem is relative paths for gi files and you are solve a problem

[stefan]

i tested it works very well also now,
under osx, you juts need to mount an osx volume or drive to all clients.
you can even use a pc drive or server and use this a s shared drive.

cheers
stefan

[kraemchen]

under osx, you juts need to mount an osx volume or drive to all clients.


Hi Stefan,

sorry I`m an OS X "amateur" and I can`t get the net render with prerendered irridiance cache to work. Can you give a follow-along-description how you "mount an osx volume to all clients". What does that mean?
Thanks in advance!

Markus

[stefan]

well i can only tell you as i have it here my macs are on 10.5 now:

i have filesharing activated, then you see all macs(and also pcs) in the finder.
click on the one you want to use for sharing, then you get a volume or netdrive. (i dont know the proper osx naming for it, i am no osx specialist my self, i am new to it too)
you must of course have permissions set so you are allowed to read/write on all macs.

on all clients i mount the same disk on same mac, you can even mount a pc and use this if you want.(i use sometimes my pc raid drive for net)

on macos 10.4 i think there was a menue where you could connect to servers or other computers.

the important thing is that the need the same path on all clients.
we also try to work on a kind of help wizard for beginners to make it easier.

cheers
stefan

[kraemchen]

Hi Stefan,

thanks a lot for your explanation. I now get what you mean and I have set up a network of 3 PPC Macs and dedicated one to hold the GI files visible for all clients, BUT...

Now I have a much more basic problem! I get black renders even when I turn off GI! I have set up only an area light without any GI, it renders on the main/server machine, but the clients only render black. As soon as I switch to the C4D renderer it renders perfect over the network. I installed the plug in and the lib files on all clients, both with version 1.5 or 1.8 - no success.
It took me the hole day without getting any result. Sorry for the inconvenience.. I`m running on osx 10.4.11, C4D 10.5.06, are there any happy network users out there?

Thanks,

Markus

[dann_stubbs]

Hi Stefan,

thanks a lot for your explanation. I now get what you mean and I have set up a network of 3 PPC Macs and dedicated one to hold the GI files visible for all clients, BUT...

Now I have a much more basic problem! I get black renders even when I turn off GI! I have set up only an area light without any GI, it renders on the main/server machine, but the clients only render black. As soon as I switch to the C4D renderer it renders perfect over the network. I installed the plug in and the lib files on all clients, both with version 1.5 or 1.8 - no success.
It took me the hole day without getting any result. Sorry for the inconvenience.. I`m running on osx 10.4.11, C4D 10.5.06, are there any happy network users out there?

Thanks,

Markus

it is very hard to trouble shoot network issues from far away with so little info - but yes i am a happy network user - i have not updated to 1.0821 as of yet but 1.5.1 is working fine on my farm - renders fine with a network path to the saved GI files.

i know that does not solve your issue (not enough info to do that) but just so you do know that it DOES work.

i am running OSX Servers and XP Pro render clients

dann

[kraemchen]

Hi Dann,

many thanks for your post. It`s at least good to know that your renderfarm is running fluid. That gives me hope!
What information could be useful for troubleshooting in your opinion?

Thanks,
Markus

[dann_stubbs]

Hi Dann,

many thanks for your post. It`s at least good to know that your renderfarm is running fluid. That gives me hope!
What information could be useful for troubleshooting in your opinion?

Thanks,
Markus

first make sure there are not spaces in the saved GI file names

mount the shared folder (where the GI files are located) on each mac

find out what the path to the shared GI file is (/harddrive/user/documents/savedgifolder/gifilename but take off any frame numbers if they are on there)

now copy that path and paste that into the place in the VRAY plugin so it knows where the GI files are located. save the file and net render it - it should then be able to "reach" the GI files and load them on every machine that way.

sounds basic but not sure at this point if it is anything more complex like networking issues etc...

dann

[kraemchen]

Hi Dann,

thanks a lot for taking you time to explain the setup. I will follow this tomorrow and I think I understand it now. Today I wanted to check if I could render a basic vray scene without any GI via net render. My thought was first to check this before going into GI prepass and net volume stuff. But even with this simple task I did not succeed. I got black renders although everything is fine when I render with standard C4D net render. Shouldn`t a vray scene without any GI render without any trouble since there are no extra GI prepassfiles involved? I installed the vray bridge folder in the plugin folders of all clients and put the 3 lib files in the macos folder of the client and server packages. I saved the project into the user folder of the c4D programm folder and renderd via browser interface. I have a Dual 2GHz G5 on which the main app, the net server and client is installed. On two G4s are the clients installed. The client on the G5 renders fine, the two G4s render black images. As soon as I render out a AR scene, all clients render fine. Do you have an idea?

Again thanks for your support!

Markus

[stefan]

are you sure you installed vray on all your netclients to? dont forhet you have to put those libs also int he c4dnet app and the server!
cheers
stefan

[dann_stubbs]

Hi Dann,

thanks a lot for taking you time to explain the setup. I will follow this tomorrow and I think I understand it now. Today I wanted to check if I could render a basic vray scene without any GI via net render. My thought was first to check this before going into GI prepass and net volume stuff. But even with this simple task I did not succeed. I got black renders although everything is fine when I render with standard C4D net render. Shouldn`t a vray scene without any GI render without any trouble since there are no extra GI prepassfiles involved? I installed the vray bridge folder in the plugin folders of all clients and put the 3 lib files in the macos folder of the client and server packages. I saved the project into the user folder of the c4D programm folder and renderd via browser interface. I have a Dual 2GHz G5 on which the main app, the net server and client is installed. On two G4s are the clients installed. The client on the G5 renders fine, the two G4s render black images. As soon as I render out a AR scene, all clients render fine. Do you have an idea?

Again thanks for your support!

Markus

i'm not sure at this point - but what types of paths are you using? are you sharing a sharepoint with AFP or SMB?

it seems that they still may not be able to find GI - but a render without a saved GI should render - so that may be the incorrect installation of the plugins? (you can actually just copy your working G5 C4D folder and move it onto the G4's so you know everything is in there correctly)

somehow we need to confirm that your VRAY is running correctly on the client G4's then we can get back to the network part with saved GI

dann

[kraemchen]

I can`t believe it,...
vray & netrender is working!!! Dann, thanks again for your helping advice! I did exactly how you suggested and copied the whole C4D Folder (with plug ins, net render client...inclusive) to the net machines and opened the net clients within the copied C4D folder. For the first time all clients render perfect, even with precalculated GI files!!! It´s such a relief!
But nevertheless I don´t quite understand why it is working now and why it didn`t work before with the proper installed versions of the net client. I for shure installed the vray plugin + 3 libfiles 10 times into the net clients even copied them from the working client from my main machine to the other clients, so I dont`t believe it was wrong installation of the plug in. Is it possible that vray needed some data from within the C4D folder which wasn`t available in the C4D netrender folder?
So although there are still some questionmarks I´m very happy that it works now this way!
Dann, Stefan, thanks a lot for your help!

Markus

[dann_stubbs]

So although there are still some questionmarks I´m very happy that it works now this way!
Dann, Stefan, thanks a lot for your help!

Markus

great news!

dann

[adri]

Hi

We've invested in 10.5, various modules and Vrayforc4d. We're on an all OSX network and when we render a simple animation using a couple of nodes using the default rendering engine in the base C4D package it renders out fine.

When we try VrayforC4D all we get is black frames. I think it's down to the clients not being able to see the textures. We've followed the instructions as far as I can tell. Could anyone tell me how to make sure that the net clients can see the textures on our OSX server?

Tried all the usual stuff like setting up a sharepoint and logging the clients onto the sharepoint...all the permissions are r/w too...

I'm stumped.

Anyone?

I have to add that I think that there should be a manual for this. VRayForC4D is not cheap and we should have a manual that covers setting up net render on OSX which the current 'beta' manual doesn't.

TIA

Adri

[dann_stubbs]

Hi

We've invested in 10.5, various modules and Vrayforc4d. We're on an all OSX network and when we render a simple animation using a couple of nodes using the default rendering engine in the base C4D package it renders out fine.

When we try VrayforC4D all we get is black frames. I think it's down to the clients not being able to see the textures. We've followed the instructions as far as I can tell. Could anyone tell me how to make sure that the net clients can see the textures on our OSX server?

Tried all the usual stuff like setting up a sharepoint and logging the clients onto the sharepoint...all the permissions are r/w too...

I'm stumped.

Anyone?

I have to add that I think that there should be a manual for this. VRayForC4D is not cheap and we should have a manual that covers setting up net render on OSX which the current 'beta' manual doesn't.

TIA

Adri

did you go through any of this thread? or did you just cut and paste your question from Cgtalk?

have you put your paths in the VRAY plugin? can you post what you put in the paths

you can log onto the sharepoint from every OSX client (and it is mounted on the macs right?)

you'll have to provide more info to get any more detailed responses

dann

[adri]

yes the question is cut and pasted but only because we need an answer to this asap. apologies.

Thanks for the reply Dann. So far I'm not sure that I've seen anyone here get net render working in a purely MAC environment which is a little worrying.

As for installing the full C4D package on all net client machines (which I think I've seen reference to somewhere here) that's a no no because the IT manager won't let us do it and MAXON UK also said that they don't like the idea.

To summarise.

We have 1 MAC Pro with the full C4D package + Vray plugin + the net render server running.

1 MAC Pro with the net render client running with Vray installed (actually copied because the installer doesn't seem to know it's just a net client) into the plugins directory.

We have opened the C4D Package and copied and pasted all the VRay libs into the net clients/server.

And we have a Shared folder (sharepoint) on our OSX Server (separate dedicated server with Raid) which is dedicated to net render clients and the clients have connected to that sharepoint.

From what I can see/remember (I'm at home now) the paths to the light cache and the IR Map are such that any machine which has the sharepoint mounted should be able to see the files.

All the files in the sharepoint have R/W permissions.

What else could there be......

As I've mentioned in another posting I think this kind of setup instruction should be part of a manual. Seems a bit like leaving it too much to the users to fumble about and waste lots of time in the process.

Thanks again for your help

Adri

[dann_stubbs]

yes the question is cut and pasted but only because we need an answer to this asap. apologies.

Thanks for the reply Dann. So far I'm not sure that I've seen anyone here get net render working in a purely MAC environment which is a little worrying.

As for installing the full C4D package on all net client machines (which I think I've seen reference to somewhere here) that's a no no because the IT manager won't let us do it and MAXON UK also said that they don't like the idea.

To summarise.

We have 1 MAC Pro with the full C4D package + Vray plugin + the net render server running.

1 MAC Pro with the net render client running with Vray installed (actually copied because the installer doesn't seem to know it's just a net client) into the plugins directory.

We have opened the C4D Package and copied and pasted all the VRay libs into the net clients/server.

And we have a Shared folder (sharepoint) on our OSX Server (separate dedicated server with Raid) which is dedicated to net render clients and the clients have connected to that sharepoint.

From what I can see/remember (I'm at home now) the paths to the light cache and the IR Map are such that any machine which has the sharepoint mounted should be able to see the files.

All the files in the sharepoint have R/W permissions.

What else could there be......

As I've mentioned in another posting I think this kind of setup instruction should be part of a manual. Seems a bit like leaving it too much to the users to fumble about and waste lots of time in the process.

Thanks again for your help

Adri

unless i am reading wrong - kraemchen and one other user here use macs and it works.

i don't understand the sentence about maxon UK would not like it? all you are doing it moving a known working install to another computer - once it is moved delete the Cinema4D app and you then have a nice perfect copy to run NET with - that way you are positive the VRAY and other plugins work fine - there is no serial numbers needed and no installers either - as long as you have write permissions you can install a NET client this way.

it would be helpful to see the exact path you are using - are you using \ or / etc

are you using an AFP or an SMB sharepoint on your OSX server?

is the drive/share point mounted and sitting on the desktop of the OSX NET render clients?

thanks and hopefully we can work this out quickly for you

dann

[adri]

well it's good to hear that others have it working!

I'm not following your reasoning for installing the full package on the client machines. As I understood it you only should need to install the net render client + any modules + any plugins. That's what MAXON had to say anyway.

IIRC and I'll confirm tomorrow our paths have whatever OSX paths have which is the 'nix path format of '/'

AFP. I did wonder if it had to be SMB but that was grasping at straws...

drive/sharepoint is 'connected to' and appears on the left in finder. so, yes it's mounted.

I'll have another go tomorrow but it'd be nice to have a simple step by step network rendering on MACs guide....moan moan moan...

:-)

Adri

[dann_stubbs]

well it's good to hear that others have it working!

I'm not following your reasoning for installing the full package on the client machines. As I understood it you only should need to install the net render client + any modules + any plugins. That's what MAXON had to say anyway.

IIRC and I'll confirm tomorrow our paths have whatever OSX paths have which is the 'nix path format of '/'

AFP. I did wonder if it had to be SMB but that was grasping at straws...

drive/sharepoint is 'connected to' and appears on the left in finder. so, yes it's mounted.

I'll have another go tomorrow but it'd be nice to have a simple step by step network rendering on MACs guide....moan moan moan...

:-)

Adri

it is so much quicker to just move a known and successfully running copy of the Maxon folder over - otherwise it is near impossible to know if VRAY is installed correctly on a NET client - it also makes it easy to keep all installed plugins to match (many plugin developers do not make it easy to track their serial numbers to keep things current on many computers)

the sharepoint should work with either AFP or SMB - that is why i was asking... but for SMB you have to use windows path of \ - i asked cause many users mix them up and use the wrong ones.

for AFP do you use the prefix AFP:// in the paths? not positive if that is needed (use SMB here) but it may...

maybe after we work this out i'll write up some quick thing for setup of VRAY network rendering for posting

dann

[adri]

you're a star Dann.

I'll have another play at work tomorrow to see if we can bottom this out. I'll have to speak to the IT manager about moving C4D folders about. We're not worried about other plugs just yet but I can see your point about moving a known working setup. Is that a simple copy and paste exercise? Won't that screw up permissions? Dunno but I'll give it a go tomorrow (IT manager allowing). His argument is that we have purchased only 1 box of C4D and therefore that can only be installed on 1 machine. That seems right to me too and given that we can use net render to render out non VRay animations it's perhaps in the slightly dodgy workarounds zone...

Anyway, we'll have another crack at it tomorrow.

Many thanks

Adri

[dann_stubbs]

you're a star Dann.

I'll have another play at work tomorrow to see if we can bottom this out. I'll have to speak to the IT manager about moving C4D folders about. We're not worried about other plugs just yet but I can see your point about moving a known working setup. Is that a simple copy and paste exercise? Won't that screw up permissions? Dunno but I'll give it a go tomorrow (IT manager allowing). His argument is that we have purchased only 1 box of C4D and therefore that can only be installed on 1 machine. That seems right to me too and given that we can use net render to render out non VRay animations it's perhaps in the slightly dodgy workarounds zone...

Anyway, we'll have another crack at it tomorrow.

Many thanks

Adri

just drag the working maxon folder to the other computers you need it on - you can move it to a file server then load it from there - or you can put it on a DVD etc - makes for a nice backup copy too (i do that here) just write the date on the DVD in case i need it - that way you have a nice copy of all plugins etc all ready to run should disaster happen.

you can also run it right from the desktop etc of the new computer - it doesn't care where it runs from - so there are really no privileges needed i know your IT guy will hate that - i'm a senior level IT in my day job too : ) permissions should go with it so as long as you don't change them there should be no problem - worst case you just reset R/W to the maxon directory (recursively of course) you moved over and it will work fine.

all you do then is delete out the C4D app and NET Server too on the render clients - the NET Render app client is freely shareable that is why there is no serial number needed for it - the same with VRAY etc - they only need serials on an interactive version of C4D for NET rendering there are no serials needed.

dann

[adri]

Dann,

I had to work on other stuff today as I'm the CAD manager for the office too.

I had a quick play but no joy and I'm off work till Monday now. Perhaps the VRayForC4D team could put together some instructions as to how to get this working in the meantime...I won't hold my breath but as I say it is an expensive product and...etc etc etc

Thanks for your help on this.

Adri

[charlemagne]

Hi Adri,

have you solved the netrender problem already? I still get black frames.
I have copied the original C4D folder from my workstation to all the clients, even tried rendering a simple scene on the client-stations C4D main app before removing it, worked fine.
but netrender keeps on returning black frames (no GI involved)

:evil:

some more ideas?

ch

[HAUSrucker]

i´ve also the problem with the black frames.

i installed netrender and netclient on the same maschine (mac) and cinema 4D.

i use no gi-file.

do i ve to install also the vrayplugin in the netrender/netclient folder?
where i ve to put the vraykey-file?

thanks
markus

[chefbrody]

Hi,

I have the same problem... I've read all treads but....

Is it possible to make a step by step netrender with vray procedure for everybody?

Thanks for your help.

Pierre

[sushicargo]

i had this problem for a long time, and it seemes solved. this sticky on the topic worked for me, check it out:
http://www.forum.vrayforc4d.com/viewtopic.php?t=3455&highlight=netrender

our problem was that we have a 'mixed' intel and ppc mac environment. the ppc macs have different libs and a different vray key (from stefan).

now they all work and render happily together, no more black frames.
cheers

[chefbrody]

for my case I have 3 mac intel

[sushicargo]

we have several mac intel and mac ppc (server is ppc). i don't think it matters.

[chefbrody]

I'm sorry but your link doesn't work.

[stefan]

the link works i just tested, here it is again:

http://www.forum.vrayforc4d.com/viewtopic.php?t=3455&highlight=netrender

if yu follw this is works. only what is not "allowed" is mixing ppcs with intel processors. amd and intel are ok.

cheers
stefan

[sushicargo]

why is it not allowed? it seems to work here...

[chefbrody]

Strange, on my firefox the link doesn't work but it works fine on safary...

ok net render works fine now.

Thanks for your help.

Pierre

[stefan]

maybe flush your cookies, firefox sometimes reacts strangewith old cookies....

fine it works now

cheers
stefan

[animaatn]

The link also doesn't work for me - not in FireFox and not in InternetExplorer, still not after flushing cookies ... "404 - Page Not Found"

[stefan]

animaatn (javascript:insertnick('animaatn','-1');) this link is from 1.1 and ovwer 1.5 years old, it doesnt exist anymore.
but simple go to downloand page , there is the file netrender 1.2

or direct here:
http://www.forum.vrayforc4d.com/showthread.php?t=6179

by the way i just tested all NETsetups again here, also mixed pc and mac, it works.
also the auto load save does.

cheers
stefan

[animaatn]

Ah, you mean the txt-file. It solved most of our NET render problems - thanks stefan!
But we still have problems using multiple cache files (anim render mode) when net rendering. I will e-mail the file to you tomorrow, now I'll make Feierabend for today ;-)

[stefan]

ok :-)
cheers
stefan