rendering station

dakotapod

dakotapod

Veteran
I've heard the mention of using a second computer as a rendering station. Can someone give me a quick comment on how this is achieved? Is this doable with just a second PC via a simple network setup or is special software and/or hardware required?

Thanx
 
Re: rendering station

Depends on the software you're using. With Vegas it's really simple, you network two PC's together, run the "render client" on the second computer, and then tell Vegas to render on the main computer and "distribute rendering". It'll break up the job and distribute it among various computers.

Part of the success of rendering depends on your network... 10mbps Ethernet is so slow that it will get in the way, whereas 100mbit Ethernet is pretty good.

Firewire between two XP computers is great, it's 400mbit. I have my laptop chained to my desktop as a rendering station, and now that I upgraded the laptop's memory, it's quite competitive. I can now render Vegas jobs in about 55% of the time it used to take.

Other programs, like 3D applications, probably have distributed rendering options as well.
 
Re: rendering station

I've heard it's a huge production if you want to set up a rendering farm for Maya
 
Re: rendering station

If you have a home network or work network you can borrow on the weekends you can get an amazing boost in render times :). Definitely worth the effort IMO.
 
Re: rendering station

Holy crap, just noticed your new avatar BLUESPIDER! Where DO you find these things?!
 
Re: rendering station

Holy crap, just noticed your new avatar BLUESPIDER! Where DO you find these things?!
Click to expand...

These kids keep sending me these things. I just put them up for them. If it looks cool/funny/weird/nasty, I'll put them up.




Can Premiere Pro be able to do network rendering?
 
Re: rendering station

Sounds like Vegas has really stepped up to the plate with features since last I looked at it! I'm using Premiere Pro 1.5 and AE6 but I put this here because I wanted a broader response. A firewire network is easy enough and I love the concept of faster render times.

Anyone link two PCs via firewire to do this with Adobe?
 
Re: rendering station

I know that After Effects comes with the necessary software. I'm not sure about premiere.
 
Re: rendering station

Ya thanks, I looked and After Effects has the tools for multiple machines but nothing I can see in Premiere Pro. I guess you could export the project to AE. Not sure how well that would work. New with the AE.
 
Re: rendering station

I use Pinnacle Liquid Editon and I have 4 hard drives on my computer. One is for render files. One is for raw footage. One is for Fused Clips and dvd images. One is the system drive. Liquid renders all effects in the background as you edit. It is an extremely efficient and fast program. I have it link to other computers on my network for for still images and music, but I don't need to farm it for rendering.
 
Re: rendering station

Hi Barry

How do you hook FW connection from xp to xp? simply plug a cord from one to the other? Does 2nd XP machine automatically recognize first xp?

I assume you have to then set preferences in VV?
 
Re: rendering station


other than what was already said, if you spend a LOT of time rendering in premiere you might want to consider a dual cpu machine.

dual xeon's have come way down and the speed is truly amazing.

i have dual xeons and when premiere (or any of the adobe video software like encore) give me an estimated time it still finishes way sooner.

i've had stuff tell me it will be an hour but i goto the fridge and come right back and it is done.

hopefully that multiple machine software for after effects will be upgraded to work with premiere since they keep making premiere pro more AE like!

matthew
 
Re: rendering station

[quote author=Boomerang link=board=Links;num=1101595304;start=0#13 date=11/29/04 at 23:17:41]Are they external HDs[/quote]
I now have 5 HDD. I have it set up like this.
C:40GB System Drive --Internal
F: 250GB Media(Raw Footage)/Render--Internal
H:120GB Music/Fused(Finished Clips)--External
I: 120GBDVD Images/VOB Files/emrgency Fused--External
T: 160GB Media/Raw/Render--Internal

So to answer...3 internal / 2 External
 
Re: rendering station

I have a firewire hub, and I just plug both computers in and they recognized each other...

You have to configure Vegas, it's pretty easy to do, there are step-by-step instructions in the help file.
 
Re: rendering station

Vegas also asks you when you first install if you want the program OR render client (or whatever its called) - So when you install it to the second PC it will more or less walk you through it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top