Hi, Mirko, Simon, thank you for all your tips and help. I finally got Deadline to work with my machines. I originally asked for an eval version 5 and so I installed it. This is the workflow I followed:
1. Installed Repository on "master" machine 2. Installed .exe on the "slave" machines. 3. Started softimage, and created a project not as local, but in a "mapped" drive letter (W:/) The mapped drive, pointed to a local shared folder, so all network will have access to it in the format: W:/XSI_Project/ 4. From there on, all the paths were configured with the mapped drive and thus I work on my project. Do texturing, lighting, etc. Time to render... 5. Send project to deadline, and activate slave machines (2). 1st slave is the origin machine, and the 2nd one another machine on the network. with USE XSI BATCH option activated. 6. I open a Deadline Monitor on the Original Project Machine (Slave1). And effectively I´m watching my frames render swiftly!! FINALLY! Now I would like to know how many frames I can assign to each slave. Say I´d like to do a 100 frame animation (test) 20 - 20 each. I will monkey around some more, but any additional tip, would be so helpful! Thank you guys. David. On Monday, December 2, 2013 8:06 PM, David Rivera <[email protected]> wrote: Hi Mirko. I mapped a drive in the slave machine2, so it can be accessible from all locations as W:\XSI_Project\Render_Pictures On the Render manager on xsi, I go to the render channels output and configure it as: W:\XSI_Project\Render_Pictures On the Archive tab, I also configure it like so: W:\XSI_Project\Render_Pictures All this on my origin machine (slave machine1) from where the job is sent to deadline. I tried checking: "Submit .xsi scene file to deadline" and it´s no good. Also I tried unchecked and sending the job, but still Slave 2 machine DOESN´T add itslef to render the job.. Does anyone have a videosetup and the steps to be taken in softimage to render something in free-slave mode demo with their Deadline free to try mode? Thanks. David R. On Monday, December 2, 2013 2:19 PM, Mirko Jankovic <[email protected]> wrote: You can map any drive letter you wan't, my main comp has like 3 additional drives, while other computers have only 1 ssd with system, and they are all working from mapped drive letter which is on my main computer on raid 10 drive. Not sure maybe I misunderstood current problem but hope you find good answer :) On Mon, Dec 2, 2013 at 6:41 PM, David Rivera <[email protected]> wrote: Simon, thanks. I think that //[path] in the original Softimage file is my problem. >I will try that option as well. >Mirko, I just realized my original machine where the Softimage project was >created, >has an extra drive letter, the other slave machine doesn´t have. So I can´t >map it the way >you mentioned. Though I will try to recreate the path from the HDD on the >origin machine >and the slave as a test aside. > >Thank you guys. I hope this will get me through. Otherwise I will have to >think on satellite >rendering from softimage. And that I already tried asking around the list in >about may, this year. > >Bests. >David. > > > > > > > >On Monday, December 2, 2013 6:03 AM, Simon Reeves <[email protected]> >wrote: > >If you used the default scene output (mine is set to which might be default I >can't remember) which is [Project Path]/Render_Pictures/[scene] >and that gives me the output of >\\server\share\projects\project\Render_Pictures\Scene > >and that suggests to me that my project (or scene) was saved through the >network path originally (we have a mapped drive to so it could have said >M:/project/) > > >In fact I tested it and it does do that. > > >So maybe try saving your scene by browsing to \\machine_a\ ? > > > > >Mirko's way will also work but I like network paths :) > > > > >Simon Reeves >London, UK > >[email protected] >www.simonreeves.com >www.analogstudio.co.uk > > > >On 2 December 2013 09:33, David Rivera <[email protected]> wrote: > >Thanks Mirko, that´s a great hack. I´ll try it once I get to the office. >>I really hope it works. I´ve been pulling my hair out over this the whole >>week. >>Even wrote to the Deadline software guys... >> >>Bests. >>David. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >>On Monday, December 2, 2013 4:30 AM, Mirko Jankovic >><[email protected]> wrote: >> >>What I found helpful is to have for example setup like this: >> >> >>1st computer: hard drive with letter W: and projects on it >>2nd computer: mapped hardrive also to use letter W: but pointing to network >>location ie shared drive from 1st computer. >>In that case you don;t need to think about all those network paths and >>stuff... it will always be W:\[project folder] no matter which computer you >>use. >> >> >>So w: is assigned letter to 1st computer work hard drive with projects on it, >>that whole drive is shared and then on second computer you map network drive >>and assign it same letter, in my case w: >> >> >>Hope it helps >> >> >> >>On Mon, Dec 2, 2013 at 10:01 AM, David Rivera >><[email protected]> wrote: >> >>Hi, I recently wrote to the guys at Thinkbox software: Deadline, to get a >>free evaluation from them. >>>I got the software download link, and installed the Repository on my >>>"server" machine (which is another normal machine on the network), and the >>>executable apps (monitor, launcher, slave, etc..) on the slaves. >>> >>>I created my scene on a slave machine named "A_machine" and send the current >>>job to deadline. >>>I activate my second slave "B_Machiner" (I´m on free version with 2 or less >>>slaves), and on the monitor (I activate the monitor from A_Machine, to put >>>my B_Machine available as slave for the render). >>> >>>My softimage project targets the output render to itself through network >>>path : //Machine_A/xsi_project/Render_Pictures so my B_Machine could have >>>access to the render. I also shared the folder so it can >>>be accessed through the network. >>> >>>But my Machine_B keeps thinking the render should be locally (as the local >>>path of my A_Machine) and thus >>>generates ERROR 200 - file location not available. >>> >>>I´ve read the manual and it mentions all locations should be available not >>>as relative but as complete path location, which is what I´ve checked >>>through the entire process. >>>I might be overlooking somewhere, but I have no previous experience with >>>Deadline. >>> >>>Could someone lead me into the right process of creating jobs and sending >>>them through a network of 2 machines? Please? >>>Thanks. >>> >>>David. >> >> >> > > >
