Carrara Grid question

Mosk the Scribe

Anyone have experience with Carrara Grid?

And what are the rules for using Carrara 8.5 Pro on multiple computers?  Would I need to purchase multiple copies to use on different home computers to make Grid usable?

And is this significantly better than any built in ability to render from Carrara on more than one computer?  (I seem to remember you were able to do that, though haven't done so in years (if ever) - so might be remembering that wrong.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Dartanbeck

I don't have Grid, but I do know that you only need the ONE copy of Carrara. 

Carrara comes with a separate install: Render Node. This is what goes onto the other computers in the network. If you're never going to actually use the Carrara interface on these computers, the Render Node is all you need on them. Otherwise, a computer with both Carrara AND a Render Node can be used as the controlling Carrara machine as well as a Node within a network, in the case where that might be your workflow.

Grid is only needed if networking computers brings you over 20 cores, I think the number is. However, if we have more than 20 cores on the main machine that runs Carrara, we don't need Grid to run over 20. I think there is a cap on that, as can be read in some of the threads around here.

I imagine that some of the Grid users with chime in soon, though ;)

Dartanbeck

I also cannot remember if further copies of Grid will allow for more than the 100 cores that one copy of Grid grants.

Do note that each network computer's Render Node must be running in order to be used by the network and that, depending upon the speed of the network, there may be some lag before all of the network cores contribute to the rendering process. 

chickenman

Here look at this one

 

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/2914041/#Comment_2914041

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/112451/carrara-not-using-all-of-my-render-nodes-solved#latest

 

Mosk the Scribe

Thanks - appreciate the info (and Render Node is indeed what I kind of sort of remembered trying way back when . . .)

Dartanbeck

Yeah... I started going through looking for those threads Chickenman found. That second one is awesome, which is the second one started by jonstark when he decided to start buying up multicore laptops as an on-the-cheap render farm. He eventually reached the cap limit and needed to buy Grid. It's a cool thread with gobs of info. 

I'm still looking forward to the day I buy myself a rather awesome and nostagic HP Z600 or 800!!!