Even when I put everything in the same folder I get the same error.

Can anyone shed some light on this??? Sony???

Thanks,

MadMikey

Sounds like you need to:

1) Share the folder(s) containing the media in your project.

2) Add File Mappings in the render service app to tell it how to convert local directory paths to universal paths.

Please let us know if the instructions in Vegas' help under the topic of Network Rendering are not clear.

Sony PJM,

I would say that the directions are lacking in some detail. I'm pretty computer savvy and I've had to experiment on a few things to get it (after your other note, I read the help files but was still left wondering on some things).

I posted a follow-up in my other thread with an error message. Am I missing something else simple (I didn't see anything related in the help files on this one).

Rick

I've eliminated the error and have rendered a file. But the status of the computer with the Render Client software remained as "Ready" through the whole process. How can I tell if this computer is actually doing anything? It would seem the "Status" should say "Rendering" as it does on the host computer.

I agree the instructions are not very detailed. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

MadMikey

One thing that wasn't clear to me in the help file was that File Mapping is for the MEDIA files which are being rendered. I originally thought File Mapping was for the SHARED RENDER DIRECTORY. Once I got this straight, things seemed to work OK. It would be nice if there was a Browse button in the File Mapper, so you don't have to sweat the exact syntax of the directory.

I agree, it would make more sense if the Renderer said "rendering," rather than "ready" when it was actually doing work. The only way I could confirm that my network renderer was actually doing something was to open up Task Manager CPU Utilization on the second machine.

I can't tell yet about any performance boost from this method. My second computer is pretty underpowered (Athlon T'Bird 800Mhz, 384MB PC133 RAM). My main editor is an Athlon XP 2700+ with 512MB of PC2700 RAM. The two machines are networked by 100Mbps Ethernet. Based on SonyPJM's earlier comments, I may have to wait until I upgrade the old T'Bird before I see a substantial decrease in render times.

But, at least everything seems to be working as it's supposed to.

Updating the status fields in the Renderers tab currently need to be
done manually.

Select a renderer by clicking on the left-most table cell for the
renderer in question. Then right click to bring up the context menu.
Then select the Update Status context menu item.

We chose not to have all the renderer status fields constantly update
to cut back on extraneous network traffic and object locking. Once
you've started the service and set up your renderers, we figured
you're typically interested in the Progress tab which tells you job
status.

The File Mappings are for both media directories and output
file directories... both need to be shared.

I get the impression you have not been looking at the Progress tab of
the render service app while work is being done... that shows the
status of each job and, if you drill down into the details of a
distributed job, it tells you exactly which renderer is working on
which segment.

Thanks, Paul.

Good info. I'll try it out and see how it works.

Can you get this information (just as you explained it above) into the help file? Or did I miss it?

I see a need for a network rendering tutorial, with some sample exercises. I'd understand if Sony had other things on their plate right now.

SPOT? Edward? BillyBoy? Care to take a stab at this?

Yea, I do see the need for more detailed help in Vegas and a separate
help file for the Network Render Service app (VegSrv). Also perhaps
a white paper with "best practices" and some benchmarks.

Terrific! Thanks!

OK, I checked the "Details" on the host computer and the segments are "Unassigned". Only the host computer is rendering. On the computer with the Render Client installed it says failed...

Temporary Video Project Not Found...

The problem I see is that the client machine points to the D: drive, but on the client machine the shared directory is mapped as U:. It's D: on the host computer. The file mappings on the client machine are set to U: but the host computer must be sending it the D: reference.

Does this provide a clue??

Thanks,

MadMikey

Change the File Mapping on the client so it reads "D:" for the "Local," and the network address for the "Universal."

Map both the shared directory and the directory(ies) for the original media files, as SonyPJM suggests above.

The meida directory and the output directory are the same. On the host computer the directory is shared as \\hostcomputername\video local mapping is d:\video

On the remote render computer the above \\hostcomputername\video is mapped to U: In file mapping I've set it as local U: and UNC as \\hostcomputername\video

I still get the same error.

OK, it looks like I got this to work. I created a directory for the output on an external drive. The key I think is that the external drive is mapped to the same drive letter on both computers. Therefore no File Mapping is needed in the Network Render Service itself.

In the details view on the host it still does not show any segments being assigned to the remote render computer, but the CPU is definitely being used on the remote computer. And the remote does indicate it's working.

I'm going to try and run some tests with and without the Net Rendering.

MadMikey

You only need to set up file mappings on the editing (host) machine
because that's where the project's media paths get remapped. Still,
what you've done should work if permissions were set up
properly.

One common problem is that the remote user first needs to log in to
the editing machine to gain access to the shared directories. Before
starting the network render, bring up the '<Start Menu>-Run...' dialog
on the remote machine in Windows and type:

\\hostcomputername\video

If Windows prompts you to log in, that was likely the problem. Go
ahead and log in and afterwards you should be OK.

Also make sure that the remote user has permission to read and write
files in the output directory.

Yea, in some cases you can use drive letter mappings rather than
VegSrv's File Mappings... but I imagine you'd usually rather use your
D drive than an external drive. Hopefully the hints in my rely to your
previous post will help.

To see the segment assignments, expand the details row for the render
job by clicking on the little '+' in its left-most table cell. Then
click on the "JobSegments" link to drill down into the segment list
sub-table.

Thanks SonyPJM,

I did click the plus sign but it shows segments as "unassigned" except for the one the hostcomputer is working on. It never shows one assigned to the remote rendering computer. I do show continuous CPU activity on the remote rendering computer and the status says "working".

So I think it's working, but it's not clear from the details information.

MadMikey

Sorry this isn't clearer in the online help, everyone. We'll get it cleared up as soon as possible.

I'll be updating the help and can make the revision available to you when it's completed.

In the meantime, if you're having specific troubles or have issues you'd like to see addressed in the help topic, please list them here, and I'll make sure they're addressed.

Thanks to all for using Vegas,
-Kevin

Ok - here goes:

- More clarity on what folders need to be shared (perhaps it the explanation about why).
- More detail on mapping to the shared folder (it could be simplified also - not sure what percentage of the audience will know what UNC is).

Rick

I have been playing with how my workflow will work(I love it by the way). I've been trying to decide if I want to edit on a slower machine and have the render version on my faster machine or the other way around. So I have been installing, uninstalling, and installing the render version/full version on the same 2 machines to test.

Now I am trying to install the full version back on the machine I had the render only version on. It seems that I can not load the full version now... it always goes into render only mode - even if I choose full install. How do I get the full version working on this machine again.

Help!!!

Could you write something that would poll all the media on your timeline, find out the "local" and "universal" descriptions for each event, format it correctly and stick it into a text file? The text file could be pre-formatted to include instructions about which text to copy and paste into the appropriate sections of the File Mapper for each renderer.

Is this possible?

As someone with 15 years experience in 3D animation by far the best way to go with network rendering is:

- work on the fastest computer you've got
- network render on a mess of slower CPUs

If a network render computer takes 10 hours to render something that you can render in 3 on a dream box who cares - that's 3 hours you have on the workstation you wouldn't have had without network rendering. Plus, you can a whack of P333's for the price of one P3K's. Always edit on the fastest machine you can get your hands on. - R