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Using Third-Party Render Managers with Fusion Studio
You can make use of third-party render manager software to control network rendering. This allows for efficient sharing of your computer resources between the many applications that may make use of them. Examples of such managers are Smedge from Uberware LLC, Rush from Seriss, and Deadline from GetRender. Generally, these render managers use a command line renderer. By default, Fusion’s Render nodes operate as a service to the Fusion internal Render Manager. However, you can also run the Render nodes via the command line for third-party render managers.
Keep in mind that using a third-party render manager will prevent the use of some of Fusion’s network rendering features, such as the ability to create network rendered Flipbook Previews and disk caches.
Command Line Rendering
For studios using third-party render farm managers like Deadline, Smedge, or Rush, the Fusion Render node can be called via command line passing arguments and file paths. In this Windows example, a Render node is called to load a composition called exampleV001, and render 10 frames:
//pathtoRN/FusionRenderNode.exe //pathtoProject/exampleV001.comp -render
-start 101 -end 110 -quit
Command | Description |
"Fusion Server -i" | Installs the license server as a service or daemon, launching it on startup before user login. |
"Fusion Server -S" (capital S) | Causes the Fusion Server to run persistently in the background, until force-quit. |
<filename.comp> | Full path and comp name, like /storage/project/episode/shot/filename.comp. |
-render | Tells the Render Node to render. |
-frames <frameset> | Passes a series of frame ranges to be rendered—e.g., 101..110,120,121,130..150. |
-start <frame> | Sets the start frame of the render. |
-end <frame> | Sets the last frame of the render. |
-step <step> | Normally set to 1, step skip frames for rendering. For instance, 2 would render every second frame |
-quit | Causes the Render Node to quit after the render is complete. |
-join <host> | Prompts the node to connect to a manager at <hostname,IP>, and (re)join any ongoing renders. |
-listen | The node remains running and waits for incoming requests from a manager. |
Command | Description |
"Fusion Server -i" | Installs the license server as a service or daemon, launching it on startup before user login. |
"Fusion Server -S" (capital S) | Causes the Fusion Server to run persistently in the background, until force-quit. |
<filename.comp> | Full path and comp name, like /storage/project/episode/shot/filename.comp. |
-render | Tells the Render Node to render. |
-frames <frameset> | Passes a series of frame ranges to be rendered—e.g., 101..110,120,121,130..150. |
-start <frame> | Sets the start frame of the render. |
-end <frame> | Sets the last frame of the render. |
-step <step> | Normally set to 1, step skip frames for rendering. For instance, 2 would render every second frame |
-quit | Causes the Render Node to quit after the render is complete. |
-join <host> | Prompts the node to connect to a manager at <hostname,IP>, and (re)join any ongoing renders. |
-listen | The node remains running and waits for incoming requests from a manager. |
Command | Description |
"Fusion Server -i" | Installs the license server as a service or daemon, launching it on startup before user login. |
"Fusion Server -S" (capital S) | Causes the Fusion Server to run persistently in the background, until force-quit. |
<filename.comp> | Full path and comp name, like /storage/project/episode/shot/filename.comp. |
-render | Tells the Render Node to render. |
-frames <frameset> | Passes a series of frame ranges to be rendered—e.g., 101..110,120,121,130..150. |
-start <frame> | Sets the start frame of the render. |
-end <frame> | Sets the last frame of the render. |
-step <step> | Normally set to 1, step skip frames for rendering. For instance, 2 would render every second frame |
-quit | Causes the Render Node to quit after the render is complete. |
-join <host> | Prompts the node to connect to a manager at <hostname,IP>, and (re)join any ongoing renders. |
-listen | The node remains running and waits for incoming requests from a manager. |
This would start up, render frames from 101 to 110, and then quit. The following table lists additional command line features.
Description | |
-log <filename> | Causes the Render Node to output information about the render to a log file. This appends to the end of an existing log file. |
-cleanlog | Clears existing text from a log file. |
-verbose | Outputs more detailed information into the log file. |
-quiet | Suppresses pop-ups and interface buttons from displaying and needing interaction. |
-version | Returns the Render Node version number. |
-pri high|above|normal|below|idle | Sets the node’s process priority to high, above, normal, below, or idle. |
-args <arg1> [, <arg2> ...] | Allows storing custom values that can be fetched by calling the script function GetArgs(), which will return a table of { <arg1>, <arg2>, ... } |
TIP: An X11 virtual frame buffer is required to make a headless Linux command line interface work.
TIP: An X11 virtual frame buffer is required to make a headless Linux command line interface work.
TIP: An X11 virtual frame buffer is required to make a headless Linux command line interface work.
Preparing Compositions for Network Rendering
The way you construct a composition in Fusion Studio can help or hinder network rendering.
The media you read in, where plugins are installed, and the mix of operating systems on your networked computers all play a part in how smoothly your network rendering goes. Your setup must include several essential parts before network rendering will work:
— License dongle, Render Master, and Render nodes must be on the same local network (subnet).
— Fusion Server must be running as a background service on the same computer where the dongle is installed.
— All source media from the comp should be placed on a network volume.
— The network volume must be mounted on each Render node.
— Loaders must point to the media on the mounted volumes.
— Savers must write to a drive that is mounted on each Render node.
— The Fusion comp must be saved to a volume that is mounted on each Render node.
— All Render Nodes and Render Masters need read and write access to any volumes specified as a source media location or render destination.
— Make sure all fonts used in the comp for Text+ and 3D text nodes are installed on all the Render nodes
— Make sure all Render nodes have third-party OFX plugins installed if any are used in the comp.