Renderfarm for DAZ iray?

AndyGrimmAndyGrimm Posts: 910

well - i just asked myself if there is a renderfarm which supports daz iray native ?

Is this a market? Maybe for DAZ? .... i would support DAZ as a customer if i could just buy Render hours in my account, upload my scene - and get my Renders back in resonable time.

I would love to play with animations but doing this not professionaly (yet :-)) -it dosent make sense to invest in a pair of titans which are outdated in 2 years..... but for a commercial provider this could be a good business...


Are there any plans to offer such a service? Maybe even a PA with free render capacity could offer that to the community.

What do you think? As for myself i would be willing to buy some hours monthly regular.

Post edited by AndyGrimm on

Comments

  • SixDsSixDs Posts: 2,384
    edited December 1969

    upload my scene

    A little problematic, taken literally. You could upload a .duf file that was a saved scene without assets, but the render host would need to have all the content required themselves. You couldn't upload any content, since that would contravene most EULAs. You could upload a render file, like a RIB, but DAZ Iray doesn't support that yet, as far as I am aware.

  • mjc1016mjc1016 Posts: 15,001
    edited December 1969

    SixDs said:
    upload my scene

    A little problematic, taken literally. You could upload a .duf file that was a saved scene without assets, but the render host would need to have all the content required themselves. You couldn't upload any content, since that would contravene most EULAs. You could upload a render file, like a RIB, but DAZ Iray doesn't support that yet, as far as I am aware.

    RIB are Renderman compliant, scene files...so, no, Iray does not and probably will not, ever, support a RIB file. Support something like it...maybe. But since this is an Nvidia product and has a built in 'network' rendering function (at present only supports/supported by specialized Nvidia products), it's not something that DAZ has much control over. Support like that would have to come from Nvidia.

  • AndyGrimmAndyGrimm Posts: 910
    edited July 2015

    You could upload a render file, like a RIB, but DAZ Iray doesn’t support that yet, as far as I am aware.

    For Max Iray exists reality server - which let's you access the server (aka GPU host) as a network node - this would be one of the possible ways how to do it.

    Another would be to have a virtual desktop in the cloud on a server with a lot of GPU Power - this is done allready (aka rent a mac in the cloud 30 hours = 30 usd)......


    Then there are many renderfarms which support max3d iray allready.... some offer plugins to upload or connect to their GPU server or Data server which is then connected via node to a GPU workstation.


    I am a small fish - but if their is enough Interest from other DAZ users - i am sure it is possible to convince a new renderfarm provider to support DAZ3D.. But first the demand must be proven :-)

    Post edited by AndyGrimm on
  • jrlaudiojrlaudio Posts: 47
    edited July 2015

    The full version of IRAY does have this ability, its called Photoreal and Iray Server. Unfortunately these are not available in the basic version of Iray integrated into DAZ. Its not a matter of renderfarm providers supporting DAZ, it's a matter of DAZ not having the proper modules in Iray to support this form of export to render servers.

    So the answer is no, this ability you ask for is not available. For whatever reason DAZ did not include these extremely advantageous Iray modules into it's version of Iray. About your only option to maximize render times is to invest in a GPU card that has the most CUDA cores and VRAM, such as a GeoForce Titan X.

    I use LuxRender for this reason, which I can run local farms or online servers to do the work. Locally I have ten blades running 80 threads and render the most complex scene files in minutes, and in seconds on remote LuxRender farms. And the calculations are deeper since it's using CPU and not low level GPU instructions sets, which results in much lower pixel noise in the final render.

    Another advantage of this option is the fact (depending on your DAZ exporter to LuxRender) you can export the render files, all the object plys, and all the textures to a separate NAS (Network Accessible Storage) drive and run the renders on a separate machine or node(s), keeping your art workstation free from the task of final rendering.

    Post edited by jrlaudio on
  • AndyGrimmAndyGrimm Posts: 910

    jraudio thank you - Iray server is what i am looking for. On Nvidias website they say "coming soon"...   so it seems only a beta test version is available yet. 

    http://www.nvidia.com/object/iray-server.html

  • EsemwyEsemwy Posts: 578

    Iray server is expected to be released in weeks rather than months, according to an NVidia sales person I spoke with the other day, and DAZ Studio already has a Cloud (Beta) tab under Advanced in the Render Settings pane. No telling what the mode of operation or the price will be.

  • AndyGrimmAndyGrimm Posts: 910

    yes - it is allready there, i see. And because Iray server is application neutral - we can soon use any renderfarm which supports iray server as far as i understood.
     

    So it is just a question of time. Thx.

  • fastbike1fastbike1 Posts: 4,077
    edited July 2015

    Frankly I don't get the comment about the Titans. In 2 years they will render just as fast as they do today.

    Taken to a logical conclusion you'll never upgrade your system because it will be obsolete in a few years, yet without the upgrade . . . .  it will be obsolete in a few years.

    Post edited by fastbike1 on
  • AndyGrimmAndyGrimm Posts: 910
    edited July 2015

    the logical conclusion is that i dont need to update my system - if i can RENT cpu/gpu power when i need it. I am one of those which paid more then 100k for my first CAD workstation. i learned it the hard way smiley....    

    It dosent mean that i wont buy a second hand cheap titan or tesla sooner or later - because they are all outdated allready with 4 or 6gb ram and yes they render as fast as they did 2 years ago.
     


     

    Post edited by AndyGrimm on
  • mjc1016mjc1016 Posts: 15,001
    AndyGrimm said:

    the logical conclusion is that i dont need to update my system - if i can RENT cpu/gpu power when i need it. I am one of those which paid more then 100k for my first CAD workstation. i learned it the hard way smiley....    

    It dosent mean that i wont buy a second hand cheap titan or tesla sooner or later - because they are all outdated allready with 4 or 6gb ram and yes they render as fast as they did 2 years ago.

    That is supposing you do have a great Internet connection...to be able to take advantage of the 'rentable' rendering.  Or aren't doing a ton of rendering.  Depending on quantity it may be cheaper to upgrade than pay for renting.  But that is something that has to be individually decided. 

    I'd rather have the option to use a renderfarm and not use it, than to not have the option at all.  There may be a time when, for one reason or another I will need it and without the option, it would be impossible.  Every once in a while I'll co-opt all the computers in the house to run a Luxrender render...because I can <evil grin>.

    One thing I would love to see, with the Iray options, though I'm not sure how it would be implemented...scene/materials setup in the 32 bit version of DS and then passed off to the renderfarm for rendering.

  • AndyGrimmAndyGrimm Posts: 910
    edited July 2015

    I could host my cad content and apps on a webserver in the cloud - set up my own virtual desktop and that means full 10gbs  upload speed to a render farm. Costs..  well it is affordable. 

    a virtual desktop works fine with 20mbs download internet connection in real time - That means i could have real time view with a large cad scene even on a tablet - while we sit somehwere in the garden...  Well this is still "fiction" for a small end user like me - but more sooner then later it will be standard also for GPU processing.

    some years ago i did the decision to use only labtops and forget desktops and laud ventilation in over heated office rooms ...  

    Working on a 1 mio polygon mesh does run smooth even on a mid range labtop for 600 usd....  

    At the moment the cost for a GPU single image in high resolution with 5000 iterations are somehwere around 1 - 2 usd......     this prices will drop... but for the price of a new up to date desktop and 2 good cards..  well i can render 2 - 3 k images - i dont do more then 200 final images a year. ...   

    For tweaking and ligth setups - even  a entry 740m is fast enough to get some iterations to see what should be changed... for sure it would be nice to have this close to realtime but it is not a must. (i remember when i had to wait 48 hours to start and tweak parameters. So my next labtop must be top level again with a 980m or better... 

    Also when i buy a desktop and a pair of fast second hand cards - i would want make sure first that i can use the gpus with every other device too... because the last thing i wont go back is living in the middle of cords, routers, plugs, ventilation and pc towers again-.

    Post edited by AndyGrimm on
  • Yes there is, and it works pretty dam good!

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