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188 Chapter 17: Rendering
• Decide on a machine to accept final output.
It should have enough disk space to store the
largest completed animation file you’re likely
to render .
• Create or choose a directory for final output.
• Share that directory as a resource available to
the network.
Creati ng a Local Output Di rector y
A local output directory lets you use available
storage on each rendering server. Rendered frame
files are sequentially numbered w hen assig ned
by the network manager. When you collect the
finished frames, they automatically s ort in the
proper order. When creating a local output
director y, follow these g uidelines:
• Usethesamepathandnameforall
local directories. For example, use
\3dsmax_files\images\.
• Specify this path for the output directory when
you start network rendering. All rendering
servers will then send their output to this local
director y.
On any one rendering job, use either a common or
local output directory. They cannot b e mixed.
See also
Mounting a Directory (page 3–188)
Using Configure User Paths (page 3–189)
Sharing a Director y
You share a directory from the machine where the
directoryislocated. Thisgivesothermachines
on your network access to that director y.
The instructions below are general. See your
Windows Vista, Windows XP, or Windows 2000
documen tation for details.
Procedure
To share a directory:
1.
Go to the machine that contains the directory
you want to share.
2. In Windows Explorer, right-click the directory
to share, and then choose Sharing from the
right-click menu.
3. If using Windows XP or Windows 2000, on
the Sharing tab, choose the Share This Folder
option.
4. Use the default Share Name.
5. Click Permissions and make sure permissions
are set to Everyone/Full Control. Click OK to
exit the Permissions dia log.
6. Click OK to accept the changes.
Note: If you plan to use more than 10 rendering
servers, both the output path and lo cation of
all scene maps should be on a system running
Windows XPor Windows 2000 S erver, as both
Windows XP Professional and Windows 2000
Professional ha ve a limit of 10 simultaneous
connections.
See also
Mounting a Directory (page 3–188)
Using Configure User Paths (page 3–189)
Mounting a Director y
You can mount a directory to a drive letter as an
alternative to using U NC names (page 3–1028).In
mixed UNIX/XP/2000 networks, for example, you
might need to mount the output directory.
For network rendering, you mount (or map) the
directory on all machines in the network. This
gives all rendering servers access to the shared
directory.