How do you link computers together for rendering?

[hdjohnson]

I keep running out of system memory when rendering and I was wondering if there was a way to link computers together so that you can use their resources as well. I know some companies have a render farm, but I'm not sure if Revit can take advantage of one. Does anyone know how to create one?

[hand471037]

To create one, you'll have to use a different rendering engine. Accurender can't use a renderfarm.

VIZ & MAX do have the ability to renderfarm; this is done by running special software on each machine that's part of the farm. The render is broken up into many parts, sent to each machine, rendered, and then put back together.

A cluster is a group of machines that, again via special software, act as if they were one very large machine. This is how Pixar and such do thier renderfarms; the 'machine' is actually a cluster of identical G5 acting togther like a supercomputer. Problem is, that unless your rendering software supports multipule threads (more than two) it won't be able to use the whole cluster for a single image, and probably won't be able to use the cluster for animations, either, for it won't be able to mach each frame of the animation a sepirate process. In other words, your 32 processor computer will only be able to render an image at a time, using one processor, with the other 31 sitting idle.

So, if you want to renderfarm, you're gonna have to buy VIZ, or MAX, or some other 'pro' rendering software & export your Revit model to it.

[hdjohnson]

jeffrey mcgrew,

Thanks for your response. I was wondering...do you think Viz is worth getting if they incorporate a Revit plug-in (one that will allow you to bring over your materials and that will update the model when it changes in Revit)?

[hand471037]

That depends on how much rendering you're going to be doing, how much you're willing to learn, and how good of images you require.

If you're doing a ton of rendering, like animations, VIZ is going to be faster than Accurender at rendertime.
If you're wanting a fast solution that's easy to use, VIZ is NOT the way to go. It will be faster & easyer to model and set up views & materials and start rendering in Revit than in VIZ (even tho Accurender will take longer to produce the same image as VIZ would).
If you're willing to deal with a more complex product, with a steep learning curve, and have the time to get up to speed with it, VIZ could be the way to go.
If you require the very best images, and 'good enough' isn't going to be, then you might want to use VIZ.

[hdjohnson]

Thank you for your response. I guess that's what we're going to have to way: quality versus quantity. I think for now we'll stick with Revit.

Once again, thanks.