English
TenPix Cloth

Chapter 5 · Workflows

5.13Rendering on a Farm

TenPix Cloth records its caches on a Thinkbox Deadline 10 farm through two scripts that come with the plug-in: a workflow for Submit Max To Deadline (SMTD) and the job each farm machine runs. Each Solver group is one task and is recorded from start to end on one machine, since every frame needs the one before it. Once the files are written, render the shot from the caches as usual.

To install the farm scripts (once):

  1. Run the TenPix Cloth installer on a computer that can reach the Deadline repository. On its Deadline integration page, check Install the TenPix Deadline workflow and choose the repository's root folder: for a network repository a path such as \\server\DeadlineRepository; if a mapped drive is missing, use its network path. Setup puts SMTDWorkflow_TenPixCache.ms and MAXScriptJob_TenPixCache.ms into the repository's submission\3dsmax\Main\Workflows folder, next to SMTD's other workflows. Nothing of Deadline's own changes; deleting the two files removes them, and uninstalling TenPix Cloth from a computer leaves them in place.
  2. On every farm machine, install the same TenPix Cloth version for the scene's 3ds Max year. The machines need an NVIDIA graphics card and a licence: in the demo a farm machine simulates nothing.

To record the caches on the farm:

  1. Give every garment's Tnpix Cache a file in a network folder the farm machines can write: a drive letter the machines map too, or a \\server\share path. The Cache's frame range is the range recorded.
  2. In 3ds Max, choose Deadline ▸ Submit Max To Deadline and pick the workflow Submit TENPIX CLOTH CACHES To Deadline at the top of the dialog.
  3. On the TenPix Job tab, check the Solver groups to record. Pool, group, priority, job name and limits work as for any job. Use Cache Output Directory Override writes every file into one network folder instead; the scene keeps its own paths unless Make Directory Override Changes Permanent is checked.
  4. Click Submit. The job has one task per Solver group. Submit refuses, with the reason on its tooltip, when no Solver group is checked, a Cache has no file, a file is on a local drive or the override folder is missing.
  5. Follow the tasks in the Deadline Monitor. Each task's progress rises with the frames recorded, its status reads, for example, TenPix Cloth: 82 of 221 frames recorded (Solver group 1 of 1), and its log has a line every 10 frames.
  6. When the job is done, open the scene and click Load on the Caches, or tick Play from cache.
  • A Solver group is every object that carries the pressed Tnpix Cache together with every garment of their Tnpix Solver; objects that share a Cache or a Solver are one Solver group, so no two tasks write the same file.
  • A task fails, with the reason in its log, when TenPix Cloth is not installed on the machine, a garment or its cache file is missing, the cache folder cannot be reached from the machine (checked before anything is simulated), or a Save wrote nothing or stopped before the end of its range.
  • The machine list. The workflow treats SMTD's Machine List as a deny list even when the dialog says Allow. To keep a job on chosen machines, deny the others, or use a group.
  • Without Deadline, 3dsmaxbatch.exe MAXScriptJob_TenPixCache.ms -sceneFile <scene.max> records every Solver group of a scene in one run. The environment variable TENPIX_CACHE_DIR sends every file to one folder, and a report is written beside them.

The farm forms each Solver group the way your workstation does, so the garments keep their places and their default layers, and a Save records from the first frame of its range whatever frame the farm starts on. A farm script of your own can show the same frame-by-frame progress; see the TenPix Cloth MAXScript Guide.