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View Full Version : Vue 5/6 and network rendering (newbie questions)

Caine777
03-19-2007, 06:46 AM
I am probably buying a new computer this summer (even though I work with 3d only as a hobby, my old 1.5 GHz AMD just doesn't cut it anymore). I was wondering about this network rendering thing.

1. If I buy a fast computer (I'm thinking a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 or a 6700 if I can afford it or if they are cheaper then) with a bunch of RAM, will using my old computer (1.5 GHz AMD Athlon, 512 MB RAM) make renders faster?

What I mean is: will every little bit help, or will networking a fast and a slow computer together cause more problems?

2. Will it even be possible if I have Windows Vista on one computer and Windows XP on the other?

3. How many nodes are you allowed to have in Vue 5/6 Infinite? On the product page it says:

Node-locked licenses

A node-locked license is specific to your computer (it is locked to it during the registration process). This is typically used when running Vue 6 on a single computer. You can also use node-locked for several computers, but each license will have to be locked to a single computer.

and I'm not quite sure what that means. Will I have to buy licenses to use multiple computers? On the FAQ page it says:
What is a RenderCow?
RenderCow is the name of Vue's standalone multi-processor network rendering engine. A RenderCow must be installed on each computer that is to take part in the network rendering of Vue environments. You can install up to 5 Rendercows with a basic license.which makes it seem like I would be able to use up to 5 computers to render without having to buy a license?

If a slower computer does help rendering I might just end up buying a couple of used computers to use just for rendering at a later point.
mwalter1
03-19-2007, 01:36 PM
You can mix fast and slow computers as render cows and can even mix Mac and PCs. The slowest cow may only render one frame/tile, but that is still 1 frame/tile faster than without it.

Node-locked is the "standard" licience. You can run it on 2 computers, say your desktop and a laptop computer, just not at the same time.

When you buy Vue, you get a 5 cow render limit. You can buy additional liciences, but 5 cows should handle most renders.
Caine777
03-20-2007, 03:55 AM
Thank you, that is just what I wanted to know. :) I have had plans on making an animated short film for quite some time, but never had the computer power or programs to pull it off (lots of outdoor shots with vegetation, things like that), but if I can have up to 5 computers rendering, I know it's possible, even more so now that Vue can import camera movement form other programs. It might even be possible to get down to render times of 2.5 - 3 hours per second (10 mins/frame @ 15fps).

Oh well, still 4-5 months until I can afford a new computer...
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