Enjoy our next roundup of software updates on our render farm. Over the past two months, we’ve been working on improvements to the plugins for Modo, 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, Blender, SketchUp, LightWave and Rhinoceros 3D. Read on to learn about the updates to Web Manager and check our new video tutorial that shows how to use our plugin for After Effects to render your compositions on a cloud render farm.
- Added prompt for “Adaptive light sampling” switch when using V-Ray render engine with strips mode
- Added prompt for spaces in render passes names
- Fixed asset relinking procedures
- Fixed IES lights asset intensity changed after saving/reloading scene
- Plugin communication with renderBeamer is switched to sockets
- Fixed issues with “Adaptive light sampling” settings for V-Ray lights
- Improved upload and download data security
- Added autosubmit for Redshift Standalone
- Added Spanish language support
- Improved API server connection
- Added warning about OCIO environment variables detected
- Added checking file existence in embedded plugin UI
- Added support for multiple cameras and scene states from a single scene in 3ds Max Vray autosubmit
- Added mode selection (cameras or scene states) for 3ds Max Vray autosubmit templates
- Improved the alternative connection ports switch (no restart required)
- Added the possibility to easily repeat connection tests
- Added checking write/read privileges for the temp directory
- Added checking if the temp directory exists
- Added GPU (Optix) device in the Blender autosubmit template
- Added a guide for Redshift Standalone in the plugins tab
- Added file browser improvements in embedded plugin UI
- Other minor fixes and improvements
- this is now the minimum required version to connect to the server
- Fixed issues with pre-cached GI maps relinking (Corona 8)
- Fixed support for Ornatrix Ox Animation Cache files
- Fixed plugin crashes on 3ds Max student edition. Added additional info to plugin operation log file
- Fixed “save render elements separately” switch behavior
- Added support for alembic sequence caches
- Added support for OSL assets
- Added support for %04d name prefix in VDB sequence caches
- Workflow for 3ds Max with V-Ray has been optimized and is now the same as the optimized workflow for other renderers (i.e. Corona and Redshift)
- Users can now render a project using a single scene upload. The plugin will process the scene only once regardless of the number of cameras or scenes states used in the project. Previously the plugin would process the scene and upload it once for every camera in the scene which meant more data to upload and thus longer upload times.
- All the necessary scene render data such as cameras, scene states, still shots/strips settings are now saved in the setting file (.gfs) and can be accessed directly on Web Manager without the hassle of multi-upload.
- Removed "bake jobs/nodes count" setting in camera multi node bake mode, now this setting is set automatically based on the number of frames in the animation
- This is now the minimum required version to submit jobs
- Added the possibility to render multiple cameras in separate jobs
- Added the possibility to set different frame ranges per render layer/camera when using "Render each layer/camera in a separate job" option
- Fixed payment issues on macOS Safari
- UI improvements (panel names, CPU/GPU queue switching, new icons, layout fixes)
- Camera name as separate column with ability to sort (REST update)
- Added 2FA authentication
- Frame buffer preview "show preview" option is now available for all 3ds Max renderers and also handles 3ds Max's native frame buffer, previously it was only available for V-Ray, Corona & Redshift
- Render output path directories are required to contain "-Renders" in directory name
- Web Manager job options for 3ds Max with V-Ray render engine have been updated along with 3ds Max plugin v158 & renderBeamer v1.408
- Process pipe communication is set to socket API
- Fixed output path length checker
- Added check/prompt procedure for empty material operators with connected textures
- Fixed reading output format
- Fixed reading pre-cached GI maps for Irradiance Map and Light Cache GI engines
- Fixed forwarding strips orientation
- Improved handling of missing assets in plugin “Asset tracker”
- Improved UI - arrows, selection boxes, and lists
- Single frame range is now set with a single value number (frame 0 instead of 0to0s1)
- This is the minimum required version
We have expanded the node pool on our farm, and now we’re also offering AMD nodes. These nodes are much more powerful than our current Intel Xeon V4 nodes, while they’re more energy efficient. The development is still in the early stage, and availability is limited. We’ll be increasing the node pool over time.
Nodes specs:
- AMD Epyc 3rd gen 32 cores
- 120GB RAM
- 2.44 GHz
- Cinebench 23: 31,222
- Price: $1.80/h Low priority | $3.60/h Medium priority | $7.20/h High priority
Full specification can be found here.
You can choose the new nodes in the job submit window under “Preferred hardware”:
- Fixed plugin GI setups. Now all possible combinations are forwarded correctly.
- This includes pre-cached GI maps usage
- Improved support for image sequences assets
- Extended support for the procedure of checking missing assets
- Fixed incorrect colour space issue with Redshift renderer
- Fixed OCIO correction issues
- Fixed blocked .gfs creation. The issue existed with Chinese character tags
- Fixed plugin startup issues on C4D R21
- Fixed reading XParticles version for Cinema R19/R20. If XParticles version is not detected (but used in scene) we added an additional prompt with “contact support” info
- Fixed Redshift Dome Light asset links
- Added validation for “render all takes in single job” , this mode requires a scene with a single frame
- Fixed plugin prompts for Redshift IR cache
- Fixed copying of cache assets directories with too long paths
In this video, we are focusing on our plugin for Adobe After Effects.
- Plugin communication is switched to sockets
