Return-Path: Received: from atl4mhob17.myregisteredsite.com ([209.17.115.57] verified) by media-motion.tv (CommuniGate Pro SMTP 4.2.10) with ESMTP id 5432566 for AE-List@media-motion.tv; Mon, 14 Apr 2014 12:57:29 +0200 Received: from mailpod.hostingplatform.com ([10.30.71.208]) by atl4mhob17.myregisteredsite.com (8.14.4/8.14.4) with ESMTP id s3EAxGrv018017 for ; Mon, 14 Apr 2014 06:59:16 -0400 Received: (qmail 12988 invoked by uid 0); 14 Apr 2014 10:59:16 -0000 X-TCPREMOTEIP: 60.225.102.245 X-Authenticated-UID: chris@chriszwar.com Received: from unknown (HELO ?192.168.0.4?) (chris@chriszwar.com@60.225.102.245) by 0 with ESMTPA; 14 Apr 2014 10:59:16 -0000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Mime-Version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 6.6 \(1510\)) Subject: Re: [AE] AE network rendering questions From: Chris Zwar In-Reply-To: Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2014 20:59:14 +1000 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-Id: <2FA9173E-8EB3-41A8-A51A-A94765E25B2D@chriszwar.com> References: To: "After Effects Mail List" X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.1510) On 12/04/2014, at 5:06 AM, David Torno wrote: > I am more curious about real world experience with these setups. = Looking for recommendations, pitfalls, etc... Hi, I have worked at several places with Deadline render farms. Version 5 = had some quirks, but version 6 has been great. I know others on this = list have been happy with Smedge but if I was to set up a render farm I = would have no hesitation using Deadline. Also the monitor screen looks = very techie, so having the Deadline monitor window open gives the = impression you are doing a lot of serious work even if you're just = browsing Facebook. And I don't know much about Smedge, but Deadline = also works with Cinema 4D, Maya, 3DSMax etc etc. There are the obvious pitfalls regarding plugins and fonts, but the real = issue is actually network infrastructure. Software is cheap and easy to = upgrade in comparison. You will need a serious plan for long-term storage and a very serious = network router/switch. Once you start working at resolutions higher = than HD, and with 16bit files it can only take a few computers to bring = a router to its knees. The unfortunate problem facing render farms (an = inconvenient truth I suppose) is that you need to plan the network = hardware right at the start, meaning a large initial outlay even if you = only start with a few render machines. You might find yourself looking = at hardcore routers that cost $50K+ just to ensure they can cope with = the loads you might have. If your router is struggling then you can get = missing frames, or AE will render colour bars for one frame only and = so-on and you won't get an error message. I love render farms and they change the way I work, but the seriously = hard part isn't setting up the network render software, it's setting up = the network drives and network hardware. -Chris