The professional Render Farm Manager
Point Release 10
Release notes
RenderPal V2 Version: 2.10
RenderPal V2 Copyright © 2008-2014 Shoran Software
All rights reserved.
RenderPal V2 Release notes
Page 1
What’s new in RenderPal V2 Version 2.10
Automatic executable searching
One of the first things after installing a RenderPal V2 Client is to configure the executables for the renderers it shall use.
Even though this can be done remotely and in bulk, it nevertheless has to be done. With RenderPal V2 2.10, this is no
longer a necessity, as the client can now automatically search for renderer executables.
To achieve this, search paths can now be configured for each renderer, and we already filled in the standard installation
paths of all major renderers. As soon as the client receives a job for a renderer the client has no executable configured
yet, it will search for a fitting one on the given search paths. These search paths can be, of course, fully customized. This
way, the client is instantly ready to do its work after installation.
Editing frame lists and splitting
Sometimes, just in the middle of an ongoing rendering, you realize that your initially entered frame list was too short, or
that the chosen frame splitting doesn’t suite the current job very well. This usually meant that the entire net job had to
be restarted and rendered anew. The same goes for removing a camera (or changing similar, ”chunk-relevant” settings)
to be rendered or turning on additional splitting.
In RenderPal V2 2.10, this behavior has now changed. When editing settings that determine how chunks will be created for the job (such settings include the frame list and frame splitting, the scene list of a job and any settings that can
be used for additional splitting), the job will now keep the chunk status wherever possible, so that simply increasing the
frame range to be rendered will no longer cause finished chunks to be lost.
Editing render sets
In previous versions, editing the render set of an existing job always caused the entire net job to be restarted; even if
only the renderer’s verbosity was changed, the job had to be restarted. With this new point release, this behavior has
now changed, and editing a render set will no longer cause the net job to be restarted. This means that you can change
the verbosity or increase the thread count of a net job on-the-fly; the job will simply continue to render, using the new
settings (a few settings, like image dimensions, will still require a net job restart; RenderPal will warn you in these few
cases, of course).
Database management
RenderPal V2 now includes a simple database management which can be used to backup the current server database
and restore previous backups. But most importantly, the database management can also be configured to create automatic, periodic backups of your database, so that you can always, if ever needed, revert to an older version of your data.
Renderer System
Environment variables
It is now possible to define a set of environment variables for each renderer, which will then be used by the rendering process. Many renderers use environment variables to modify certain settings (like thread count), and with this
new feature, such settings can be changed easily. It goes without saying that you can use any render set setting for
environment variable values.
License management
Many renderers these days also support plugin renderers, which often come with their own license count. However,
these licenses are usually not standalone, so they will also consume a license of their host renderer. Such a licensing
scheme can now be easily realized: For each renderer license, a host renderer can now be defined. This way, when
a license of the (plugin) renderer is used, a license of its host renderer will be used as well.
RenderPal V2 Release notes
Page 2
Client scheduling
In previous versions, you could only schedule when a certain client pool should do its work and when not. But what if
a single client is available for rendering for even less time than the entire pool? In previous versions, you had to create
an entirely new pool just for that client. In this version, though, clients can be scheduled as well. If the entire pool is on
schedule but certain clients in that pool aren’t, they won’t be used for rendering anyway. This allows for even more finetuning of your farm’s rendering schedules.
Email notifications
We added a new email notification to send emails about net jobs which were either paused or cancelled due to an exceeded error count (this is a setting already present in net jobs). This way, you will be informed about malfunctioning net
jobs right away, so you can correct whatever might be wrong with them.
We also added an option to only send one email about chunk errors per net job, so even if the job will cause one chunk
error after the other, you won’t be flooded with error emails.
Remote execution
Client remote execution is a handy way to control clients and perform tasks on them which are not directly related to
rendering (like cleaning up directories or even installing software). This new version makes this feature even more
comfortable to use by introducing remote execution presets: They allow you to preserve tasks that you will perform
frequently via remote execution.
User Account Control
If UAC is turned on a client node, the RenderPal V2 Client will now inform the user about this and offer to turn it off. This
is necessary due to the fact that UAC can cause many problems when rendering via a 3rd party application like RenderPal (scenes/assets not found and similar). Disabling UAC is not enforced, but highly recommended.
To get a full overview of all changes, scroll down for the full changelog of RenderPal V2 2.10.
RenderPal V2 Release notes
Page 3
Full changelog for RenderPal V2 Version 2.10
+-- Legend ------------------+
| + New feature
|
| # Modification/Improvement |
| ! Bugfix
|
| * New/changed renderer
|
| - Removed feature
|
+----------------------------+
[+
[+
[+
[+
[+
[+
[+
[+
[+
[+
[+
[+
[+
Global]
Client]
Server]
Server]
Global]
Global]
Global]
Svr/Cl]
Server]
Server]
Svr/RC]
RmCtrl]
RenSys]
Renderer system: Search paths for renderer executables can now be defined for each renderer
If no executable for a renderer is specified, the client now searches for one automatically
Added a database manager to the server
The server can now automatically create periodic backups of its database
Renderer system: Environment variables can now be defined for each renderer
Renderer licenses can now have a host renderer (useful for managing plugin renderers)
Clients can now be scheduled
The RenderPal V2 service can now be started with a delay
Email notifications: An email can now be sent if a net job caused too many errors
Email notifications: Added an option to only send one chunk error notification per job
The Remote execution dialog now supports presets
Console RC: Added a switch to set the start date and time of a net job (-nj_startdate)
Added a new callback function (ImageRendered) to the renderer script
[#
[#
[#
[#
[#
[#
[#
[#
Svr/Rc]
Svr/Rc]
Svr/Rc]
Client]
Global]
Global]
Svr/RC]
Svr/RC]
When changing the frame list of a net job, RenderPal will now keep chunk states
When changing the frame splitting of a net job, RenderPal will now keep chunk states
Editing the render set of a net job no longer causes the net job to be restarted
The Windows client will now warn the user if UAC is enabled on the system (and offers to disable it)
Made some performance improvements in the various item lists (net jobs, clients/pools etc.)
Improved the overall redrawing logic (can increase visual performance)
When loading a renderer failed, a more detailed error message will now be shown
Other smaller improvements around the places
[! Svr/RC] When the renderer management created a def. version for a new renderer, duplicated tab pages appeared
[! Global] Environment variables were case-sensitive
[! Global] Fixed several other smaller bugs
[* Render] Added executable search paths to several renderers
[* Render] Updated the Arnold for Maya renderer to support Maya 2013 and higher
[* Render] The After Effects renderer now requires a comp name if an output file is specified
RenderPal V2 Release notes
Page 4
Contact
Shoran Software
Heidekamp 1
48268 Greven
Germany
Phone:
+49 (0)2571 - 953 353
Fax:
+49 (0)321 - 213 188 78
E-Mail:
[email protected]
http://www.renderpal.com
http://www.shoran.de
RenderPal V2 Copyright © 2008-2014 Shoran Software
All rights reserved.
RenderPal V2 Release notes
Page 5