Distributed Rendering issues
Problem
My Forest objects render fine locally, but fail using Distribution Rendering. What is the problem ?
Solution
There are two common causes for this issue: the plug-in is not properly installed, or there are missing textures/proxies. As a first step, try this:
- Create a test scene with a simple object (as a teapot) scattered with Forest. Don't use any textures in the materials.
- Render it using Distributed Rendering.
If the object is visible on DR nodes, the plug-in is installed correctly. In this case, go to step B), if not continue with A)
Step A: Installation Error
Probably the plugin is not properly installed in the render nodes, or it's from a different version. For each slave node:
- Be sure Max and VRay Spawner (if using VRay) are stopped.
- Delete ForestVRay150sp3.dll, ForestVRay20.dll and ForestVRay30.dll from the Max root folder (some files may not exist, depending of the VRay version), and ForestPackPro.dlo from "plugins".
- Reinstall Forest using the setup program, or manually as described here.
- Repeat the rendering test.
Step B: Missing textures/proxies
If the teapot renders correctly, you should check that all textures and external references used in your Forest objects, can be loaded by the render nodes.
- Textures not included with Forest (as HQ Plants or XFrog maps), must be added to the Max configuration using Customize->Configure User Paths->External files, or editing directly the file 3dsmax.ini. The ini file is stored here
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\3dsmax\<max version>\enu\3dsmax.ini
See the [BitmapDirs] section (you can copy it from a installed workstation). Repeat for each render node. - For VRay proxies, use always UNC paths. Be sure DR nodes have permissions to the shared network folders (if used). Anyway, with Forest it's not necessary to use proxies; you can use the geometry directly or as XRef objects. Internally all items are handled as native instances of the render engine.
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