topic Re: Rendering on a remote computer/farming in Visualization

Rendering on a remote computer/farming

Anonymous — Thu, 11 May 2023 10:23:06 GMT

I haven't looked too far into this yet, but could someone point me in the right direction for information about archicad's abilities to allocate rendering to a remote system or network. native, via lightworks, 3rd party renderer, you know, whatever's clever.

Thanks.

Re: Rendering on a remote computer/farming

Dwight — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:00:10 GMT

Distributed Lightworks : fuggedaboudit!

You need Cinema 4D or another professional tool to do this and ONLY for multiple frames. Single frame rendering remains limited to one machine at a time.

"Render King" is a site you should investigate since they support distributed processing for many rendering systems.

But the phrase "render farm" is silly, considering that it conjures bucolic scenes of happy animals lowing calmly and chewing cud and not row upon row of humming, faceless automatons like in a larger architect's office.

Re: Rendering on a remote computer/farming

Anonymous — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:18:24 GMT

>>You need Cinema 4D or another professional tool to do this and ONLY for >>multiple frames. Single frame rendering remains limited to one machine >>at a time.

I think you can do single frame rendering using multiple machines. VRay will do that and so will Maxwell.

Re: Rendering on a remote computer/farming

Anonymous — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 17:42:25 GMT

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.

Re: Rendering on a remote computer/farming

Palawat — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 05:32:40 GMT

Apart from Maxwell, which plugin's already be made for Archicad, you can also try Indigo.

Re: Rendering on a remote computer/farming

muzedesigns — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:55:55 GMT

Hello Dwight,

You mentioned Cinema 4D for multiple frame rendering..

How difficult is the process to merge/import the archiCAD file into Cinema 4D - does it take all the textures or do you have to reapply to each surface or element..? Also, does that mean ArchiCAD is 'freed up' when rendering in Cinema 4D? So you are able to work on a different project in ArchiCAD whilst CD4 Spits out the Animation?

What about importing camera paths and settings and lighting - or are they all applied in CD4?

Chrissy

Re: Rendering on a remote computer/farming

Dwight — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 15:56:56 GMT

You'd use Cinema 4D for better results. But your questions indicate that you have much research ahead in the rendering game before you jump into something like Cinema:

- The material names transfer when you export the file - you will have made your Cinema materials ahead of time in Cinema since they are more sophisticated than in Archicad.

- Archicad is freed up but your computer is not. You want to let all of your computing power address the rendering. You can also send your file to a place like "Render King" http://www.renderking.com/

- Never apply cameras or lights in Archicad when you plan to export the file since they are clunky compared to what you can do elsewhere. Lights are located but values are wrong. This isn't so bad if you use my cinematic lighting techniques.

Re: Rendering on a remote computer/farming

Dwight — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:02:58 GMT

But Cinema can send the file to all of the other machines in your office and it works in the background on all of them. Each does a frameatatime.

Re: Rendering on a remote computer/farming

muzedesigns — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 22:46:00 GMT

I would definitely work on a different machine when rendering.. I am scared to sneeze near a computer when it is in progress! I should have said that my 'Wibu Box' Dongle would be free to roam to another computer..

I have Cinema 4D - but just haven't had to time to look into it yet.. it just sits there.. I love Light Works.. but want to take my work to the next level, and really want to look into exporting to another program for the animations for a combination of reasons..

In your opinion; Does a animation program like CD4 handle the process of rendering an animation 'better' when used in conjunction with archiCAD?
Is it less fragile with the multitude of objects and lighting etc? - I guess what I am trying to ask is if more powerful? If you had it you would would not hesitate to use it over archiCAD for the rendering process of an animation?

Re: Rendering on a remote computer/farming

Dwight — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:11:15 GMT

I have always liked Cinema 4D since it is easy to understand and they give it to me for free. Archicad users looking to the next level should seriously consider Artlantis because it makes much better light and i fundamentally easier to use than LightWorks is.

Artlantis currently cannot distribute processing among several computers.

Considering Cinema 4D, or any professional-level rendering/modeling application leads you to a new profession. Mastering cinematic modeling/surfacing/lighting takes all day. All week, perhaps. Maybe an entire month. Or longer. A year, even. Professional rendering applications offer:

- faster rendering
- distributed processing of single frames and animations
- materials with sophisticated light reflection behavior [Cinema 4D has several hundred adjustments you might make to any surface]
- sophisticated camera controls, animation timeline
- fast previewing of effects

You simply don't export your Archicad file to something like Cinema and get a usable product - the environment behaves differently - more like a
studio, but once you have created an environment with compatible materials and lighting, it is routine to bring in an Archicad model.

It goes without saying that modeling is quicker in Archicad.....

Re: Rendering on a remote computer/farming

muzedesigns — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:19:27 GMT

So if i was to stop today and say i wish to focus on high end architectural visualization and animation.. you would say look yourself in a room with CD4 for a few months?

Re: Rendering on a remote computer/farming

Karl Ottenstein — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:57:13 GMT

Dwight wrote:
Artlantis currently cannot distribute processing among several computers.

Just to clarify (Dwight knows this), Artlantis will use as many processors as you have available, though. So, things will zip along on a 4 core or 8 core machine.

Cheers,
Karl

Re: Rendering on a remote computer/farming

Dwight — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:59:34 GMT

The problem is where do you want to go? [What is your story?] I think that individuals drawn to architectural design have potential to excel in the computer imaging and animation field, but it is truly crammed full of dullards. In Vancouver we have a computer visualization school on every streetcorner. This is why there are so many Starbucks - filling the caffeine needs of obsessive young adults busy making dancing, sparking, smoking buxom ballerinas holding ray guns or light sabers.

Cinema can help you progress your art and it has many tools to achieve this.

If you simply want a smooth animation and have access to several fast computers for distributed processing, a basic understanding is adequate.

They had this great tutorial where you made a rotating TV logo that exploded. In one or two days, you could complete this tutorial and would then go to work at a TV station making exploding logos. haha. A whole weekend used and just a taste of what can happen in the vast seas fo a professional rendering application....

In addition to the photorendering aspects, Cinema has an exquisite sketch rendering engine. And a thing called "Toon." Each of these is worth 100 experiments.

So, if you really like the idea of being a computer visualization expert, great, but do it within the confines of your firm because attempting real life buildings is the best way for an a d u l t to learn. But cut your hair and forget the disco because it is going to take a lot of extra time to become fluid with this technology.

And i don't mean that Cinema is difficult. It is that we, architects, don't have the lingo to cope with the concepts that render surfaces. "Sub-surface scattering" is easy enough, but "Stochastic" and "Mumbleicious" are difficult. Okay. I made up "Mumbleicious." But if it was real it would probably describe an attractive cheek muscle.

The last thing is vision. In the years I have spent writing and teaching on this topic, the problem most users have is "Vision." I got good at this stuff because I got angry that Archicad [in 1993] made bad renderings. "How could it be tweaked to give reasonable results?" I had a vision and tried to meet it. This being Martin Luther King Jr Day down in the Excited States "I had a dream!"

The myriad of controls in Cinema bewilder a person without vision for two reasons:
1: they don't see their final product with clarity, so what to do for refinement isn't clear to them: "Vision;Imagination"
2: they don't have the doggedness to constantly experiment, refine and redo their work to get to the next level. "Persistence; Obsession"

For instance, in my book there is an entire article on adjusting lighting and materials for a large commercial building. The objective was to match a photograph of the finished building. It is absurd in the billable hours environment, but in learning LightWorks behavior and its new lighting and material settings, that rendering took 60 hours. At the end of that process. I knew a lot about LightWorks and how to match a photo - more difficult than making a mere rendering that could have been done in less than one hour.....

Re: Rendering on a remote computer/farming

Dwight — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:05:33 GMT

Karl: Great new avatar!!

I was doing renderings last week on an eight core Mac of a city block-sized hi-rise development with buzzillions of tree polygons and had 6500x4000 pixel renderings simply spilling out of the box all over my shoes, so there is no doubt that Artlantis is speed king for now.

Re: Rendering on a remote computer/farming

Dwight — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:21:22 GMT

hahaha. the word "adult" is censored!!

That's even if you put it in quotes.

a d u l t.

Krikey.

Re: Rendering on a remote computer/farming

muzedesigns — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:22:58 GMT

Apologies if i have come across as your run of the mill coffee junkie ankle biter.. this is not the case at all..

My main focus is on animations.. fly-through.. etc.. my aim is to make images look as real as possible..

I am not an architect - i don't want to design the building - i see visualization as a form of art.. the lighting the texture the composition..

I want to be devoted more than ever to achieving 3D Photo Realistic Illustrations and Visualisations. However I have bills to pay and my main work lies with architects who don't work on computers and aren't after the most high end visuals.. its about drafting their plans and illustrating their vision..

I am dedicated to growth and encouraged by challenges – learning CD4 is not daunting.. it will be time consuming, but it will be worth it.. Its just that work has to come first.. bills need to be paid.. and I am an office of one.. so the buck stops with me.

In Sydney, Australia it doesn't appear to be as as prominent as in sounds Vancouver.. yet.. it is picking up with universities actually making specialized 'degree's' for of architectural computing and digital architecture (commencing this year).. But even if it is full of 'dullards'.. the future of all forms Digital Design is an exciting prospect to be involved in.. And people like yourself and Link are at the inspirational forefront, leading the way with your books, experience and knowledge.. for the lesser

It might be a passion for some of us obsessive young non caffeine drinking vegan adults.. we just need more hours in the day to explore it.

Re: Rendering on a remote computer/farming

Dwight — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:31:56 GMT

I absolutely take your question seriously. Even if there is a marijuana leaf on your baseball cap.[joke].

Cinema 4D , since you have it there already, is an excellent start in the high end products.

Post some results.

Re: Rendering on a remote computer/farming

muzedesigns — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:48:36 GMT

Ha.. It is the silhouette of a girls face.. But fair assumption..

I’ve got plenty of catching up to do, but you guys offer the motivation to strive further.. Seriously – I have your book, its like a bible – but just like you have I wanted to see if I should go beyond Lightworks in AC to working on a more powerful engine in CD4 or 3DS.. and how difficult working between the two would be once I was fairly familiar with the program..

I was just telling you ‘my story’ and wanted to clarify that is my passion, if I haven’t had the chance to make it a hobby of mine just yet.. I don’t want to think that you answering my questions was pointless cause you had put the effort in it..

Some of us young ones are in it for the ‘art’ of it.. And it is an art..
I was just inquiring into if CD4 was a better varnish to use over the oils of ArchiCAD.. and you answered my question. so thank you.

Now I better update that silly old photo to a more ‘respectable’ one.

Thanks again, to both you and Karl,
Chrissy

Re: Rendering on a remote computer/farming

Djordje — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 16:34:19 GMT

Time spent versus results, Artlantis is unbeatable. While it is not in the C4D league, for a one woman office, it will probably bring you more money in the same time, as you can render megagigulons of stuff while you sleep ...

... you do sometimes sleep, don't you? 😉

Re: Rendering on a remote computer/farming

muzedesigns — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:20:35 GMT

Ha, yes.. sometimes I sleep.. you guys are funny!

And 'silly' Chrissy you'd be glad to know has just realised that Artlantis Studio now exists.. My whole problem with Artlantis is that it didn't do animating.. Artlantis Studio is now up and running!

Now if I OWN CD4 ..
Should I try to spend time learning it - OR
Cause time is tight as always, BUY ARTLANTIS STUDIO and just Render in that over LIGHTWORKS.

If my ultimate goal is high end visuals etc do i spend all my time on that or keep it in the background whilst I punch out client on STUDIO..

hmm.. either way - you guys agree take it external of ArchiCAD?

What a conundrum..

I am just so sick of the not enough memory the render error - I am only punching out a 27s animation! and there are no cars - no people - just tree bitmaps! (and the actual building of course)