More and more professional-grade renderfarms are beginning to offer support for Blender. Deadline(tm) is offering two render nodes to the Blender community at no charge!
The integrated submission script allows for submitting Blender render jobs to Deadline directly from within the Blender editing GUI. The integrated render job submission script has been tested with Blender 2.x.
Mark Theriault (of Deadline) writes:
...I just wanted to let you know that there is a renderfarm software that is made by the VFX company I work for. Most people don't realize it, but there is a great renderfarm software that supports Blender called Deadline. It actually has 2 free render nodes. It is a pay software but they allow you to have it for free and give the ability to use up to 2 render nodes. It's great software and its really easy to use. Nothing like free software to help in the littlest of ways.
Currently, the software is for Windows(tm)-based systems only. They are planning to offer support for OSX and Linux so, we'll keep you posted.
- Get the latest release, here.
- Installation Guide
- View the Network Rendering Guide, here.
- Script Setup
- Tech Support Forum
NOTE:
...you have to have more than 1 machine. It is not getting rendered on our renderfarm. It is a piece of software that you run on all the machines you have that allows at home renderfarms.
...It allows 2 free nodes, meaning if you have your main machine and two render slaves it will render your project on those two machines and you are free to use your machine to continue on your own stuff.
22 Comments
I can't find which version of Blender are they using.
It's 2.42 according to the 2nd screenshot on "View the Network Rendering Guide, here." page.
Deadline is awesome. Used it on a 90min HD show last year on a tight schedule, 33 node farm (maya and after effects) deadline was absolutely rock solid.
@Pitel
I've tested it with the latest build and had no problems.
Appears to be Windows only.... *sigh*
So do we need to get a license to use the two free nodes? or is it absolutely free?
No license required. Absolutely free.
Man, I am having a hard time trying to set it up to use it on two machines. It is giving me an error every time I am trying to open the program. Python is not working either. I guess I will try and figure it out tomorrow.
If you need help there is a great forum that is set up that you will get personal responses from the actual developers. The site is: http://support.franticfilms.com/wb/ you will have to create an account to post. Hope this helps a bit.
Does 2 free nodes mean I need 2 machines myself or does the deadline also offer a renderfarm itself to render?
LOGAN, 2 free nodes means that if you already have two or three PCs (each with any count of CPUs and/or Cores), you can control up to two of them for free. Deadline is being developed by Frantic Films - a Canadian Visual Effects company who worked on two of the three Academy Nominated movies this year (Superman Returns and Poseidon). Obviously, Frantic's farm is busy enough to be rented out... so no, no free renderfarm included. :o)
Even if you have just one machine, you could use Deadline to queue dozens or hundreds of render jobs (or any other processing jobs) and leave them working overnight unattended. In fact, on top of supporting about every 3D and 3D package that runs on Windows, Deadline allows generic scripts, software compiling tasks, network management tasks etc. to be executed once or scheduled for multiple runs.
2 free nodes means 2 free nodes on the Deadline renderfarm. It has nothing to do with how many machines you have of your own.
Kernon, where did you get that idea from?!?
URL:
http://software.franticfilms.com/index.aspx?page=deadline/freemode
Quote:
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Deadline - Free Mode
Free Mode allows you to run up to two Deadline Slaves without requiring a license. To run Deadline in Free Mode, Download the Latest Deadline Build and follow the steps listed in the Deadline Installation Guide (excluding Step 4).
his mode is fully featured, and the only difference you will see is that FREE MODE is displayed on the Slave. Deadline will continue to run in Free Mode providing that no more than two slaves exist in the repository. As soon as a third slave is added, you will need a valid license to continue to use Deadline. If you wish to return to using Free Mode, you will have to delete any extra slaves from the repository, which can be done from the Deadline Monitor.
If you wish to trial Deadline on more than two slaves, you can request a trial license...
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I was responding to Logan.
Quote:
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Does 2 free nodes mean I need 2 machines myself or does the deadline also offer a renderfarm itself to render?
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You don't need two machines. And, Deadline is, in fact, the renderfarm.
Kernon, I was responding to you, because your claims are misleading.
Deadline is a Network Manager software you use to control your OWN machines. You don't get access to a remote render farm, you build your own using your own PCs, then render on them.
Trust me, I am involved in its development.
Oh. Okay, well I guess I'm a little confused. :)
I did, however, submit a test job and it was rendered on your machines, not mine. I didn't take time to setup anything on my end. And, there was no processing on my machine. So, now I'm really confused...
Kernon,
We (Frantic Films) do not provide rendering services (yet), so I am pretty sure it was not our farm you used. BUT you might have submitted a job to some renderfarm that uses Deadline as its management software. This would explain the confusion.
This article above is mainly about the fact that you can download the full version of the Deadline Network Manager and run it at home or your office with up to two render nodes without license or any feature limitations. (Funnily enough, I was the one who proposed this free mode to our management several years ago, and it was finally available with version 2.5 last Siggraph).
Regards,
Borislav "Bobo" Petrov
Technical Director VFX
Frantic Films Winnipeg
Thanks for clarifying things. I'll update the article.
oh, very nice, cant wait for the linux version, though i guess it probably will take time.. that long i can use the 2 windows machines in the network here, i suppose! ^^
is this the same as dr queue but not opensourced?
Hi ı need a renderfarm machines ı wanna more ımformatıon about systems and machınes.thanks a lot
Some really interesting points you have written. Assisted me a lot, just what I was looking for : D.