8

Distributed Bucket Rendering Rollout (mental ray R enderer) 123
copy of 3ds Max: four dual-processor machines or
eight single-processor machines (or equivalent).
1. Choose which machines (other than machines
A, B, and C) w i l l serve as satellites, install
3ds Max on each, and write down each
machine’s IP address.
2. Use the Windows Notepad program or
atexteditortoopenthe
max.rayhosts
file on machine A, located in C:\Prog ram
Files\Autodesk\3dsmax8\mentalray\
.
3. In the max.rayhosts file, under the “localhost”
entry enter the IP address of each satellite CPU
to be used; up to eight in all (see Figure 1).
Figure 1 - Example of a rayhost file
4. Repeat the previous step on machines B and C
w ith t he remaining IP addresses.
5. Launch Backburner M anager on the machine
submitting the job or any other machine.
Launch the Backburner Server on machines A,
B, and C.
Wa rn in g: It is necessar y for the machine running
theBackburnerServertohave3dsMaxlicensed;a
mental ray standalone license will not enable you to
use the distributed bucket rendering feature, and
Backburner will prompt you with a license error.
6.
On the machine submitting the job choose
mental ray as the renderer, and then turn on
Use Placeholder Objects, Use mental ray Map
Manager (see Figure 2), and the Distributed
Render (see Figure 3).
Figure 2 – Translator Options
Figure 3 – Distributed Bucket Rendering
7. Submit the job to the Backburner network
rendering farm.
The job is submitted to the network rendering
farm and is pick ed up by machines A, B, and C.
Each machine uses its internal CPU as well as
its eight satellite CPU s to render the job.
Interfa ce
Distr ibuted Render—When on, the mental ray
renderer can use multiple satellite or host systems
for distributed rendering. The list specifies which
systems to use. Default=off.
Note: The Net Render option on the Common
Parameters rollout has no effect on distributed
bucket rendering.
The other distributed rendering controls are
unavailable unless Distributed Render is on.