Render Clusters

[Anonymous]

Rendering detailed and or large/complicated models take a serious amount of time and slows the computer down in the process. Here is an easy method of operation that would bypass these issues by using a “Render Cluster”.

1. Master computer with ArchiCAD and licence dongle opens the CAD Project file with the elevations/views to be rendered.
2. Additional computers are started with ArchiCAD but without a licence dongle. Instead of opening ArchiCAD in “Demo” mode, ArchiCAD is opened in a new mode called “Render Cluster”. This mode has the same restrictions as “Demo” mode but with the addition of allowing ArchiCAD to render for another computer which has a licence dongle.
3. On the Master computer, ArchiCAD has a new option in the Publisher called “Render Cluster”. In the settings for “Render Cluster”, computers set up as in item 2 are added to form a “Render Cluster”.
4. When all these are set up, the ArchiCAD on the Master Computer publishes all the elevations/views to be rendered to the “Render Cluster” which render them and send the final images back to ArchiCAD on the Master Computer which then can save them onto the local hard disk.
5. While all this is happening, ArchiCAD on the Master computer can be used for normal tasks without being slowed down by the rendering process.

This would be a great selling point for ArchiCAD and save users serious mounts of time.

Regards,

Nick Harvey

[Karl Ottenstein]

I doubt if this wish would prove economical for Graphisoft, as lack of network rendering is probably not anything that is either limiting sales, or limiting upgrades... and the development cost for your wish could be substantial.

Graphisoft's answer for network rendering (at an additional cost to the user of course) is to use Cinema 4D, which is what Cinerender is based on, and perform network rendering there:
http://www.graphisoft.com/downloads/addons/cinema_4d/cinema4d_download.html?_ga=2.220169361.96245773...

Of course, there are other products such as Artlantis, Twin Motion, etc for external rendering as well.

For most users, the built-in Cinerender is adequate, and you can set up your renders in publisher sets to batch render overnight so that you don't need to be concerned about your computer slowing down while you are in front of it.