8

Using Configure User Paths 183
Before beginning this setup, choose a common
drive letter for all servers to mount. If you have
other drives mounted, you might need to switch
assignments to free the drive letter for this mount.
If a Map or Target directory is on a rendering
server, mount the directory on this machine like all
the others, even if the directory is on the lo cal disk.
When using a mounted director y, be sure that the
directory to be mounted is correctly shared. When
assigning bitmaps, always use the path with the
common drive letter.
The steps below are general. See you r Windows
XP or 2000 documentation for more details.
Note: During the w riting of these procedures,
Windows XP was set to display a Classic Windows
interface.
Pr ocedur es
To ma p a director y to a dr ive let ter (W indows 2 000
or X P ):
1.
In W indows Explorer , choose Tools > Map
Network Drive to display the Map Network
Drive dialog.
2. SettheDrivedrop-downmenuvaluetothe
common drive letter you’ve chosen.
3. In Folder, enter the exact location of the output
directory, using UNC con vention.
You can also map a directory to a drive letter
by choosing the machine and shared directory
with the Browse button in the Map Network
Drive dialog.
4. Click Finish to complete the mount.
Note: Ifthedrivemapstoaserveronalarge
corporate network, you may be required to
enteryourusernameandpasswordtogain
access.
See also
Sharing a Directory (page 3–182)
Using Configure User Paths (page 3–183)
Usi ng Confi gur e User Pa th s
Render-only machines do not require any form
of au thorization. However, you cannot use
unauthorized versions of the software to access
the
Configure User Paths dialog (page 3–852) to
specify alternative locations for servers to search
for bitmap files.
If you do not want to concern yourself with
configuring paths on render-only machines
(servers), then turn on the Use Alternate Map
Path or Include Maps option on the
Network Job
Assignment dialog (p age 3–184)
.
TheUseAlternateMapPathsoptionletsyou
specify an alternate folder where the rendering
server can look for bitmaps if they are not found in
the primary bitmap path.
If using Include Maps, network rendering will take
care of making copies of the bitmaps and send
them to the server assigned for rendering. When
the rendering job is done, the copies are erased
from the server hard drive. The files are placed in
a
\network\serverjob subdirectory of the software.
If a server cannot find a bitmap image in the
path specified in the fi le, it then searches the
paths listed in its own Bitmaps panel. Only after
searchinginalllocationswilltheserverfaildueto
missing maps. If you have followed instruct ions
in the previous topics (
Setting Up Directories
(page 3–181)
, Sharing a Directory (page 3–182) ,
and
Mounting a Directory (page 3–182) ), then
you know that a common map directory on
the network is the best way to proceed. Use the
following steps to properly configure your paths
on the machine running the authorized copy of the
software and on the servers meant for render-only
purposes.