Render File Preparation

Currently, distributed rendering is set up via 3DS Max, and can be used with any rendering engine available via MyUniApps (Scanline, VRay 3.1, Corona). Additional software plugins will not be available.

Tile Rendering while using V-Ray GPU is not functional at the moment. If you will be tiling your image, please set up your scene using an alternative (V-Ray CPU)

Checklist for File Preparation

It is important to ensure that you have set up your render completely before submitting your job. If there are issues with your file, you are not only delaying yourself, but may stall the entire system as a result. Make sure you have gone through the following checklist to make sure your file is ready to be submitted:

• Set up your cameras and key-framed as required.

• Set up the render setting with compatibility for 3DS Max 2020 and V-ray 5.00.04 or Corona 4

• Rendered a test draft to ensure there are no errors with the final image using small crops or lower resolutions.

• Each rendering Task has a time limit of 1 hour, so ensure you have tested various regions of different materials in preparation for tiling the render.

• If you are saving down to 3DS Max 2020 from a newer version, or using external plugins, please check out the Working with Plugins Article as well.

pageWorking with Plugins

Packaging Files

You will first need to package your file to collect all your assets so that it can be transferred onto a networked computer:

Ensure that all files referenced by your scene are unique and have unique filenames. Please ensure that you DO NOT HAVE - Two identical assets that are in different locations. - Two different assets with the same filename.

1. Use one of the following options for packaging your file:

   1. (Recommended) From the Utilities Panel, click [More] and find the [Resource Collector] utility.

   2. OR from the [File] Menu, use the Archive function.

2. Enter a location for the resource, and make sure you include the MAX file, and compress it as a Zip. By default, this will be located in the ‘archives’ folder in your 3DS Max project folder.

Resource Collector Utility

The Resource Collector utility will replace filenames so you might lose an asset! For example if a chair and a wall are using two different textures but they have the same filename will result in only one of the textures collected (whichever comes first).

The Archive function will warn you if you have duplicate filenames, DO NOT ignore this and please address the files in question.

If you are facing issues in this step, please refer to the following troubleshooting article.

pagePackaging and Re-linking Assets

Moving your files to Cloud Storage

You will now need to move your files to a cloud storage location (e.g. Google Drive, One Drive, Dropbox).

As you will be using a remote desktop session with the MSD Render Farm, you will need to be ready to work from the cloud, minimising any local files on the remote desktop.

Your Unimelb student account has access to a Google Drive storage if you do not use one already.

While it is possible to directly drag and drop files from your (after providing permission for the Virtual Desktop to access your local computer folders), this is a slow method and should only be considered for small sized files only.

Now you’re ready to move to MyUniApps! Click the Next button at the bottom of this page.

Encountering issues?

If you encounter any issues please see the troubleshooting section first. If your issue is not resolvable with the information provided here please log it with Stop1.

Please note that any issues with the Render Farm must be lodged via Stop1 for us to be able to process. Thank you for your help in establishing and making this new service more robust; We can only fix problems that we know about. So please log any issues you encounter with Stop1.