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FIGURE 48.3

Starting the network manager

2. Now start a network server on each computer that you plan to use for rendering. To do this, find and start the Server.exe program just like you did with Manager.exe. When you start this program for the first time, the Backburner Server General Properties dialog box appears. This dialog box is covered later in the chapter. Click OK, and the Network Server window appears, as shown in Figure 48.4.

FIGURE 48.4

Starting a network server. Notice that the server is already looking for the manager.

When the server finds the manager, it displays a message that the registration is accepted. The Network Manager window also shows a similar message.

If the server had trouble connecting to the manager, you need to follow these two additional steps:

1. If automatic detection of the manager fails, the server keeps trying until it times out. If it times out, or if you just get tired of waiting, choose Edit⇒General Settings to open the Backburner Server General Properties dialog box, shown in Figure 48.5. In this dialog box, uncheck the Automatic Search box and type in the name or IP address of the computer that is running the network manager. In this case, the server tried but couldn't quite find the manager, so it had to be told that the manager was running on the computer whose IP address is 150.150.150.150.

FIGURE 48.5

Manually choosing the manager's IP address

2. Click OK to close the Backburner Server General Properties dialog box, and then click Close to shut down the server (doing so forces the server to save the changes you've made). Restart the server the same way you did before, and now the server and manager are able to find each other.

Note

The network manager does not need to have a computer all to itself, so you can also run a network server on the same computer and use it to participate in the rendering. •

Tutorial: Completing your first network rendering job

Your rendering farm is up and running and just dying to render something, so let's put those machines to work.

To start a network rendering job, follow these steps:

1. Start Max, and create a simple animation scene.

This should be as simple as possible because all you're doing here is verifying that the rendering farm is functional.

2. In Max, choose Rendering⇒Render (F10) to bring up the Render Setup dialog box. In the Time Output section of this dialog box, be sure that Range is selected so that you really do render multiple frames instead of the default single frame.

3. In the Render Output section of the Render Setup dialog box, click Files to open the Render Output File dialog box. In the Save In section, choose the output drive that can be accessed over the network and directory that you created earlier.

4. In the File name section of the Render Output File dialog box, type the name of the first frame. Max automatically numbers each frame for you. Choose a bitmap format from the Save as type list (remember, an animation format will not work).

5. Click Save to close the Render Output File dialog box. (Some file formats might ask you for additional information for your files; if so, just click OK to accept the default options.) Back in the Render Scene dialog box, Max displays the full path to the output directory.

6. In the Render Output section of the Render Scene dialog box, check the Net Render option, as shown in Figure 48.6. Change any other settings you want, such as selecting a viewport, and then click Render.

FIGURE 48.6

The Net Render option must be enabled to start a network rendering job.

A Network Job Assignment dialog box opens, like the one shown in Figure 48.7.

FIGURE 48.7

Use the Network Job Assignment dialog box to locate the manager to handle the rendering job.

7. In the Enter Subnet section of the Network Job Assignment dialog box, click Connect if the Automatic Search box is checked. If it isn't checked, or if your servers