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View Full Version : What cluster solution is best for Maya? (renderfarm...)

NEO^AMiGA
04-11-2005, 07:31 AM
Hello there!

Doing a final thesis where I'm investigating what cluster solution that would be the best for Maya (and what solutions that it would work on). We are talking non commercial preferably openSource solutions. I have looked into Beowulf cluters but since programs need to be specially written to run on those (to utilize PVM/MPI-libraries) I figure that it ain't an alternative?

So then we have grid computing and openMosix solution left. Grid computing solutions like Sun Grid Engine seems to be kinda popular at the bigger houses like ILM? Right? How would a setup with i.e Sun Grid Engine look like? And what diffrent jobs would a solution like that be able to handle?
openMosix it wahat I have found most interesting so far. Can be implemented in almost all *nix distributions and the programs does nothave to be specially written to run on a solution like this. Also there are LiveCD-distributions pre-compiled with openMosix, like Clusterix.

Today we use smedge2 to distribute our renders among the workstations at the university but we would like to expand this with a cluster dedicated for Maya/MentalRay-jobs (and others to if possible...).

What do you guys say? I have harvested the internet for Maya-cluster solutions but there ain't really much information out there. SOmeone here must have some insight...? What does Alias recommend? Havn't managed to get the school to dig up our support information yet so havn't been able to contact alias in person. =( Schools can really be a pain in the "rear end" to deal with. =(
sparaig
04-11-2005, 08:10 AM
Hello there!

Doing a final thesis where I'm investigating what cluster solution that would be the best for Maya (and what solutions that it would work on). We are talking non commercial preferably openSource solutions. I have looked into Beowulf cluters but since programs need to be specially written to run on those (to utilize PVM/MPI-libraries) I figure that it ain't an alternative?

So then we have grid computing and openMosix solution left. Grid computing solutions like Sun Grid Engine seems to be kinda popular at the bigger houses like ILM? Right? How would a setup with i.e Sun Grid Engine look like? And what diffrent jobs would a solution like that be able to handle?
openMosix it wahat I have found most interesting so far. Can be implemented in almost all *nix distributions and the programs does nothave to be specially written to run on a solution like this. Also there are LiveCD-distributions pre-compiled with openMosix, like Clusterix.

Today we use smedge2 to distribute our renders among the workstations at the university but we would like to expand this with a cluster dedicated for Maya/MentalRay-jobs (and others to if possible...).

What do you guys say? I have harvested the internet for Maya-cluster solutions but there ain't really much information out there. SOmeone here must have some insight...? What does Alias recommend? Havn't managed to get the school to dig up our support information yet so havn't been able to contact alias in person. =( Schools can really be a pain in the "rear end" to deal with. =(

I'm a Macintosh fan, so take this with a grain of salt, but consider the following URLs:


http://www.top500.org/sublist/System.php?id=7286

http://www.computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/hardware/story/0,10801,96933,00.html
NEO^AMiGA
04-11-2005, 09:25 AM
I'm a Macintosh fan, so take this with a grain of salt, but consider the following URLs:


http://www.top500.org/sublist/System.php?id=7286

http://www.computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/hardware/story/0,10801,96933,00.html

There's absolutly nothing wrong with mac's, I like them alot. But since we already have the hardware for the cluster I have to take it with a grain of salt. =) To buy new computers when we have like 60 computers hanging around and collecting dust is not defendable.
sparaig
04-11-2005, 10:22 AM
There's absolutly nothing wrong with mac's, I like them alot. But since we already have the hardware for the cluster I have to take it with a grain of salt. =) To buy new computers when we have like 60 computers hanging around and collecting dust is not defendable.

Of course. Pixar still has an Linux x86-based renderfarm, so they didn't go all MacOS for everything. I suspect that had they started from scratch, they might well have used the Macs for the renderfarm though.

Once the MacMini G5 is released (not for at least another year or 2 I'm guessing), it may actually be cheaper to buy a bunch of Minis, rather than convert some old PCs. Time will tell.
NEO^AMiGA
04-12-2005, 11:58 AM
I agree with you. g5 minis might be the way of the future. Small, relativly cheap, hopefully not all to power hungry...

Any ideas of how pixars current farm is set up regarding software?

I bet a bunch of the people in this forum works daily in a cluster environment so please share your knowledge. =)


Of course. Pixar still has an Linux x86-based renderfarm, so they didn't go all MacOS for everything. I suspect that had they started from scratch, they might well have used the Macs for the renderfarm though.

Once the MacMini G5 is released (not for at least another year or 2 I'm guessing), it may actually be cheaper to buy a bunch of Minis, rather than convert some old PCs. Time will tell.
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