Workflow & app guides

Install the renderBeamer app and start it. Once renderBeamer is done with the installation process, you need to choose the default download directory. This path will be used as the main output place for all your renders. Next, just log in using the account ID you received or your account email. Please keep in mind that the app should always be running in the background whenever uploading a project or downloading rendered frames.

Once renderBeamer is installed and you’re logged in, you’ll see the Plugins panel. Plugins installation panel should automatically open after the first renderBeamer startup. You can also open it anytime you need to install additional plugins for your 3D apps.

Please keep in mind that each 3D app (DCC) you use needs to have a plugin installed to properly connect to and render on our farm.

After launching renderBeamer, launch Blender and navigate to Preferences. In the addons tab, search for “renderbeamer”. Once renderBeamer is added to Blender UI you can continue with the scene preparation.

By default, our plugin has the "Upload project with packed assets" option disabled - this means that the plugin will automatically prepare the project for uploading in such a way that it will collect all resources that have been linked in the scene and place them next to the scene file in your GarageFarm directory. This workflow is advised because when uploading subsequent scene(s) from the same project, our plugin can detect if the same assets were used in the project and if so, it will not upload them again.

However, if your project contains assets packed into the .blend file and you want to be sure that the structure of the project is kept unchanged and assets not be extracted by our plugin, enable the option: "Upload project with packed assets"

This option is recommended when the default workflow (without selecting this option) does not work properly. When this option is enabled, please bear in mind that the entire project data will have to be uploaded each time you make a revision, in contrary to the standard workflow where assets pertaining to a project are uploaded only once.

Prepare the scene

Open your scene in Blender and prepare it for rendering on a render farm.

Scene files should be saved in .blend format - version 2.68 and above.
All assets used by the scene should be accessible for Blender and properly linked. We recommend using relative paths (Assets\Asset.png) instead of absolute paths (like C:\Project1\Assets\Assets.png), but both should work fine.
Scene should be free of missing assets when submitting to render farm
Please always remember to check the % bar under the resolution setting. It has to be set to 100% unless you are sure other settings are appropriate.
Please set the Threads option to Auto-detect to use 100% of CPU power.
If there are dynamics features / physics simulations used in the scene, you should create a cache file for them and properly link it in the scene. Some physics types can work without external cache, meaning the cache can be saved directly in the scene. Here are general guidelines https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/physics/baking.html.
Plugins - we support a lot of Blender plugins & addons, however, if you are using some extra add ons, please send us the info. We will check for the plugin availability and purchase options.
V-Ray for Blender - GI setup should be prepared for multiple machines rendering. If you are not sure about the GI setup - please contact us
Eevee - rendering is fully supported. To ensure the best results, please run a test job before submitting your final animation.
Output - Please set a proper file format for rendered frames and set the output path as relative or absolute. Output path for the main output cannot be empty or set as default (tmp). Please select the folder icon and put a path for saving outputs. Otherwise, it won't work with our plugin.

Please check the Metadata setting, so that a stamp will not be added to frames unless it should be there.
We do not support the “Auto Run Python Scripts” option by default. If you need this enabled, please contact our support before launching your job.
We support Optix denoiser only on GPU nodes on our render farm. Additionally, all other denoisers available in Blender are fully supported on both CPU and GPU-based nodes.

Use the plugin

If you haven’t activated our plugin yet, please go to Preferences > Add-ons and look for “renderBeamer”.

Once your project is prepared, please locate the renderBeamer menu in Blender (in the main "Render" tab). Depending on the project you are going to render, there are two modes to choose from:

Animation - If you are going to render an animation, the ideal solution is to select the "Beam it up Animation" mode. Our plugin will prepare your project based on the frame range you have set in your scene settings.

Still frame - If you need to render one single frame in high resolution, select the option: "Beam it up Still Frame". By using this mode, our plugin will prepare your scene and use the active frame in the timeline.

Regardless of the mode you choose, our Blender plugin is a “one button” solution. You don't need any additional setup to render your scene on the farm. Everything including frame range, resolution, quality settings and output format will be rendered just like the settings you have in the scene.

Upload the project

Once our plugin completes the scene export, your project will be redirected to renderBeamer to be uploaded. In a nutshell, renderBeamer is a standalone uploader/downloader application that works in conjunction with our plugins. Simply put, it takes care of the file transfers.

After the scene has been fully uploaded, the app will show you a window with a direct link to your scene on Web Manager (web dashboard). To continue use the click here to submit job button. If for some reason you closed the window with the link or it didn’t work, don’t worry, you can locate your project in the web dashboard and submit your scene by clicking on the scene file any time (more on that in the next step). You can also copy the link to clipboard and manually paste it into your web browser.

Submit the job (add the job to the render queue)

Now that your project is uploaded you will need to follow the final step - creating and submitting a job to render farm. Web Manager is a home to all your projects and render jobs.

If you followed the link generated earlier by renderBeamer, you will now see the job submission window with several fields and settings. If you didn’t follow the link or it didn’t work, you can do it manually by locating your project in the projects panel, finding the scene file within the project folder (in your folder structure look for the folder called “data”, i.e. Project_name/data/SceneName.blend), and clicking on it to open the job window.

Our system automatically detects your settings in the scene and uses them to render the job. Before submitting the job to the render queue, please make sure that everything is correct and make adjustments if necessary.

Enabled 'test job' switch where the range for test job is automatically defined

test/full job - by default, this switch is enabled (set to the "test job" option) for animation ranges containing more than 5 frames in total. This means that our system automatically sets up your scene's range to render every n-th frame. We always recommend performing a test render before proceeding with the final render. This allows you to identify potential errors and estimate costs. If you want to define the test range manually or want to render the full range without prior testing, simply toggle the switch to the "full Job" option.

For more details on the benefits and usage examples of this option, please refer to a separate article.

Frame range - use this field to put in the frame range you want to render. Frame range example for animations: 1to780s1 - this is a sequence of 780 frames in total and all the frames 1 to 780 will be rendered. The parameter "s1" means that every subsequent frame in the given range will be rendered. If you want to do a test first, set a higher s value, e.g. "s20", which will result in every twentieth frame in the animation range to be rendered. So if you set the range to 1to780s20, then the frames 1,21,41,61,81,101,...,741,761 will be rendered.

‍If you have multiple cameras in your scene and you’d like to modify the frame range for all of them at once, you need to tick the checkbox to enable the frame range field.

‍If you only want to render a single frame (still image), you should input a single frame number into the field. For example, 1 will render the frame number 1.

Resolution - here you can set the output resolution in pixels.

Aspect ratio lock - if you need to change the resolution and want to keep a certain aspect ratio, you can use one of the available presets: 4:3; 16:9; 16:10; 21 9; 1:1. Leaving the option as "none" means that you are free to modify the values for the "Resolution" ignoring the aspect ratio.

Bucket X/Y or Bucket size - this option has a different name depending on the Blender version used. For Blender 2.xx it is - Bucket X/Y. These values are automatically set by our system based on your render device and resolution. For Blender 3.0.0 and above, it is named: Bucket size.This value is the same as the one in the scene settings.

The bucket field is an equivalent of the "Tiles" setting available in Blender. You can set a different value here if you believe that the default settings aren’t optimal for your scene.

Note

If you are going to render an animation or a still image, we always recommend that you perform a test before the final rendering:

- For animations, the best way to get a cost estimate is to run a test of the scene on the farm with around 20 frames spread evenly across the range. For example, a frame range 1to200s20 will render every 20th frame as a test and based on that our system will produce a cost estimate for the full render.

- For stills, please render the image in 1/5 resolution or any other smaller resolution. In the case of 1/5 resolution test, the cost of full resolution render will be 25 times bigger than the cost of a test. For example, if you want to render an image in resolution 5000x6000, run a test in 1000x1200 res first. If your test costs $1, then the estimated cost for the full res image should be around $25 (5 x 5 = 25). For a 1/4 test it would be $16 (4 x 4 = 16) and so on.

There's more information about running tests and estimating the cost in our documentation.

If you are going to render a still image in high resolution and your scene does not contain any post-production effects, then it’s recommended to use "Strips" to speed up rendering by using multiple nodes simultaneously (see more info below).

Output path - here you can find the default save path for rendered frames in the given job. The default output path is based on the name of your project and scene. You can edit this path if you clone your job and need to render a different range in that project.

‍Output file (w/o ext) - by default, the frames file name is set based on the name of your scene. If you want to create a unique name and/or you need to customize naming for the output according to your pipeline, you can set your own name for the output file.

‍Extension - a format for the output file is the same as in your scene settings. However, if you want to change the extension to a different one, you can choose from the available options, i.e: BMP, IRIS, PNG, JPEG, TGA, RAW TGA, CINEON, DPX, MULTILAYER, EXR, HDR, TIFF.

job settings: priority, version, retries

‍

Priority - before adding a job to the render queue, you can decide how you want to prioritize it. Depending on the queue and farm traffic, a higher priority may allow your job to quickly acquire nodes to render your project faster. Each priority has a different rate and gives you a different number of nodes - a detailed list can be found here:https://garagefarm.net/pricing

‍Version - by default, the version of Blender is set to the same version you have uploaded the project with. However, if you need to use a different version of Blender than the one detected, you can choose a specific version available on the list.

‍Retries - the value for this option is set to 2 by default. This means that if a rendering process fails or the software crashes, our system will perform two additional rendering attempts. We recommend leaving this option set to default (value 2) as this is the optimal setting to retry rendering in the case of some random 3rd party software errors.

Preferred hardware (node groups) - by default, the system sets the preferred hardware to nodes with 62GB RAM. Depending on the rendering device you choose to render the job with (CPU or GPU), you can also switch the node group button to custom setup and select the particular group of nodes either based on RAM or device:

CPU - based on the CPU device you can select between a group of nodes based on the minimum amount of RAM available or the CPU type:
- RAM preference: Min. 62GB RAM; Min. 121GB RAM; Min. 240GB RAM
- CPU preference: Intel Xeon v4 / 22cores, Intel Xeon v4 / 44 cores, AMD Epyc 32 cores, AMD Epyc 64 cores

custom hardware setup: node groups available for CPU

GPU - based on the GPU device you can select between a group of nodes based on the minimum amount of RAM available or the GPU type:
- RAM preference: Min. 62GB RAM; Min. 121GB RAM; Min. 240GB RAM
- GPU preference: 1xA5000; 2xA5000; 1xL40S; 1xRTX6000BW; 1xRTX4000

custom hardware setup: node groups available for GPU

The full technical specification of nodes can be found here: https://garagefarm.net/pricing#specs

If you know that your scene requires more than 62GB RAM, then when adding a job to the queue select the group with 121 GB RAM or more to render more optimally only on nodes that have more RAM.

‍Advanced settings‍

Job dependencies - if you want this job to start rendering after finishing another job that is in the queue, you can select it here. As a result, the current job will not start until the selected dependency job has finished.
Custom node version - if you need a different software setup (e.g. custom software version), put here the value you received from our support. Note that inputting a wrong number may cause errors during rendering.
Custom script - if your job requires a modified environment or adding a custom script (prepared by our support team), e.g. custom plugin installation, select the available script from the list.

The advanced settings above are empty by default, please do not modify them without consulting support first.

Mode - This option is available when your main .blend file contains multiple cameras and scenes. Depending on what you want to render, cameras or scenes, you can make your choice using the dropdown list. If your project contains only camera(s), this "mode" option is unavailable, and the camera list is displayed by default.

Cameras - in this part of the submit window (cameras list) you can select all the cameras that you want to render, and you can also set an individual frame range for each camera. Each selected camera will be added to the queue and rendered as a separate job.

In case you do not select any of the cameras from the list, then the camera selected in the scene will be used as the default camera for rendering.

Scenes - In this mode, you can see a list of all the scenes contained within the main scene. By default, the scene that was active when using our plugin always will have selected a checkbox.

For each scene, you can define an individual frame range. Each selected scene will be added to the queue and rendered as a separate job.

Scene statuses:

Active – The scene marked with "Active" status on the list is the one that was active when you used the plugin to submit your project. The editable settings above apply only to this active scene, and you can modify them. Any changes you make will be applied to and used during the rendering of this active scene.
Settings from scene – The other scenes on the list are marked as "Settings from Scene". This means that all rendering settings will be consistent with the settings when the project was submitted. These settings cannot be viewed or modified in the web dashboard (the settings above are editable only for the active scene). After adding these scenes to the queue, all settings, such as resolution, extension, preferred hardware, noise threshold, and cycles path tracking samples, will be the same as those set in the scene.

Please note, that, at the moment, we do not support multi-camera rendering in scenes mode. For each selected scene from the list, the default active camera in that scene will be rendered. If you want to render multiple cameras for a specific scene, isolate that scene and submit it via our plugin as a separate scene. This way, you will be able to select multiple-cameras you want to render for a given scene.

Render device - depending on the technical requirements of a project, these settings should be detected and set automatically but also you can choose your preferred device between these three options: CPU, GPU or GPU (OptiX). By default GPU option is based on the CUDA library, the other one - GPU (OptiX) is based on the OptiX library.

‍Rendering engine - our system automatically detects the render engine that you have used in your project. If you need to change this setting, you can do it without the need to upload the project again by changing the engine to one available from the list.

Supported renderers: Cycles, Blender Internal, Blender game, V-Ray, LuxCoreRender, Redshift, ProRender.

‍Noise threshold - The value of sampling a pixel is set to the same you have in your render settings. You can adjust the value to a lower or higher one. According to Blender Foundation documentation, the typical values should be in the range from 0.1 to 0.001.

‍Cycles path tracing samples - if you need to increase or decrease the samples, you can do it by changing the value in this field.

By default, the option available in Web Manager is available for Path Tracing because it's more popular. Please note that if you use Branched Path Tracing in your scene, your Branched Path Tracing samples will remain unchanged and will be used on the farm accordingly.

‍Strips - this is our custom distributed rendering system. It’s designed especially for high-resolution still shots. It works with all rendering engines and for both render devices (CPU and GPU). Depending on the settings you choose, submitting a job with strips enabled creates two jobs: render and merge.

This option allows you to choose the number of strips that will be used when rendering the job. You can choose from options: 4 (2x2); 16 (4x4); 25 (5x5); 64 (8x8). If you leave the value set to 1, then the job/frame will be rendered on one node. Otherwise, each strip (part of your frame) will be assigned to one node. You have to remember that the number of strips is strictly dependent on the resolution you have set. If your resolution does not have many divisors, please try to modify the height/width values of the resolution.

If you are rendering a still shot/one frame in high resolution, we recommend using the "Strips" option - this is our custom distributed rendering system that allows you to render one frame on several nodes at the same time and speed up rendering!

Frames per execution - this option is only available for animations. By default, the value for FPE is set to 1 for projects rendered on CPU. This means that each frame will be rendered as a new execution (a separate task), in other words, the scene will be loaded on each node every time a new frame starts. In the case of projects rendered on GPU, the value for FPE is set to 5 by default. So it means that 5 frames will be rendered in a row on one node.

The FPE (Frames Per Execution) option allows you to render several frames (the value you put in) in a row without the need to reload the scene on a render node, and potentially may improve rendering efficiency. If your scene has a long loading time but a short rendering time, you can set FPE to a higher value (for example 4). If the loading time is not long but the rendering time is long, leave the default value or set it to 1.

Detailed information on the use and examples of the FPE option in practice can be found in our dedicated guide: https://garagefarm.net/documentation/how-to-use-and-optimize-frame-per-execution-fpe

Job node limit - by default, the value for this option is empty and so the nodes are assigned automatically depending on the job priority and nodes availability on the farm. Nevertheless, if you want to limit the number of nodes for the given job, please put here the value of the maximum number of nodes you want to be used during rendering.

Add job as paused - if you tick this option and then submit your job, it will be added with the status “paused”. This means that it will not start rendering automatically. It is useful to use this option if you intend to add the job to the queue, but you do not intend to render it at the moment. After adding a "paused" job, you can resume it at any time by selecting the "resume job" option (right-click on the job).

Submit - when you press this button, the system will immediately add the job to the render queue. Please remember to check all settings before submitting a job!

Cancel - if you do not want to add the current job to the render queue or you want to reset your settings and add the scene again, you can use this option. The submission window with the settings for the given job will be closed and all changes will be cancelled.

switch for enabling the “Create video sequence from output frames” option

Create video sequence from output frames - You can create animated video outputs right after rendering frames. Select “Create video sequence from output frames” switch and set all desired video output settings. With the switch ON, the farm will run an additional job to render the frames sequence to a single video output.

additional job settings: Create video sequence from output frames

More info about the settings available in the "video sequence job" you can find in our dedicated article.

Monitor render progress

After giving your render settings a final check and choosing your preferred priority hit Submit to add your job to the render queue. If you’re a first time user, you will have received $25 worth of credit to test out our service. The credits should be enough to run a few test jobs and get you familiar with the service.

You can right click on the job to get additional options: change priority, pause job, kill job, clone job, and archive job.

The estimate is based on the currently finished frames, and is an approximation at that point. Rendering a test as prompted in the plugin (using a step i.e. 1to100s10) is highly recommended for more accurate estimates and for detecting potential errors.

When the job has started rendering, you can check the real-time progress of currently processed frames. To do that, just select the render job from the main project list and then click the arrow on the top right side to open the progress panel.

The Progress Panel (the panel on the right side of the screen) will show its content only when any of the jobs is selected. The panel is divided into 3 sections.

‍Active frames - it shows currently rendering frames. When a frame finishes, it is moved to the second section Done frames. If you select any frame in the Done frames list, you can then access the render output process log in the bottom section called Process results.

When you’re in the Progress Panel and right click on any of the currently rendering frames in the “Active frames” section, you can access the real-time render log from our nodes.

Please keep in mind that if a job has finished rendering, the frames list in the “Active frames” section will be empty because all frames are already rendered and the list is moved to “Done frames”.

Custom methods to upload/submit a project

Adding a scene directly via Web Manager (without the Blender renderBeamer plugin)

This option allows you to send your project using an internet browser skipping the plugin setup step (see point 3) and without using our renderBeamer application to upload the prepared project (see point 4).

All you have to do is put a .blend file and choose the correct settings for your scene and add your job to the queue.

Remember that when using this method of uploading and submitting a job, you need to make sure your project is prepared correctly and it is free of errors. Your .blend file must contain all the assets packed into the scene. Otherwise, the render results may be incorrect.

The process of uploading a scene:

You can upload a scene by selecting the file located on your computer or directly dragging the file onto the Web Dashboard using drag & drop.

After dropping your .blend file in the web dashboard, the warning prompt will appear that informs you about: Blender scene files (*.blend) will be automatically placed in //data/ directory from where you can submit them without using renderBeamer
It means that folder structure will be automatically adjusted by our system and after pressing the "Ok" button, your project will start uploading.
When the upload is successful, the window with job settings will appear:

At this point, the process looks the same as the standard workflow when using renderBeamer plugin. To continue, you need to select the required settings for: Frame range, Resolution, Version (of Blender), Extension.

If you want to render more than one camera from the given scene, it won’t be possible when submitting a scene this way because you can render only one camera that is selected as active in the scene.

Collections Merger / NFT tool (to merge various collections into one scene)

This is our custom tool designed specifically for advanced users who have hundreds of collections across many files. The tool allows you to merge many variants of the collection from other .blend files into one main scene. You can submit the prepared scene file using our renderBemer plugin (see point 3) and manage your project online with ease.

Due to Blender limitation, a maximum of 25 collections can be merged and uploaded simultaneously.

To use our tool, first, you need to turn it on in Blender Preferences: Edit > Preferences > Add-ons > Collections Merger

enabling “Collections Merger” (NFT tool) in Blender Add-ons preferences

After enabling the Collections Merger (NFT tool), you will find a settings window in Scene Properties > NFT tool:

More information about when to use this tool and how to use - can be found in our video tutorial: TBA

Download and review frames

Each frame that has completed rendering is downloaded automatically to your local drive to a directory you selected in the renderBeamer application. If you’re not sure where your download folder is located, you can double check it or change it in renderBeamer’s settings (click on the cogwheel). Also, make sure you have auto download turned on to get the frames downloaded as soon as they are available. If this box is unchecked, you will have to click on each job in Beamer's "downloads" tab, and manually download the frames.

If you prefer more control over what to download and when, you can also download your frames manually. To do that, just turn off auto download switch in renderBeamer settings and go to the “downloads” tab. Next, select the desired render output using a checkbox, and click the download button.

This kind of workflow will download all rendered frames for the selected job or jobs. However, renderBeamer also gives you an option to download individual frames. To do that, you need to use the list files function under RMB.

Once files for the selected job are listed, just roll down the list and select the files you’d like to download using checkboxes. Next, use the same download button.

Once your frames are downloaded, you can use open directory option under RMB to open the folder where frames are saved.

Please make sure you keep renderBeamer running whenever you have jobs rendering to get the frames downloaded right away. It may happen, however, that your frames aren’t downloading in the given moment, and most likely that’s because our application checks for the files on the server in 15 minute cycles and it is currently in between the cycles. You can click refresh list to force the check without waiting for the next cycle.

Purchase credits

You’ll need to charge your account to continue using the service when you use up all your trial credits. Please note that when your balance goes below $0, you won’t be able to download rendered frames or start new render jobs. You can make payments in the Billing panel in Web Manager. We accept debit cards, credit cards, PayPal, and wire transfer payments. Also, you can purchase credits via Revolut, Zen, P24.

If your rendering needs are high or you plan to render regularly, please make sure to check out our volume discounts.

billing panel where you can buy credits, view cost & payment history, and view discounts

In case your account balance goes below 0, any current jobs will be paused - all frames/strips that were in the middle of rendering will be completed but any subsequent frames/strips will not start rendering. To download rendered frames, your account balance must be positive or equal to $0.

Contact us anytime

You can talk to the GarageFarm.NET’s tech team any time of the day, any day of the week. We’re here to help you get started, answer your questions, and assist you in any way. Don’t hesitate to give us a shout.

You can contact us through our live chat accessible in the web dashboard or our desktop app when you log in to your account or message us here through the guest chat.

We also recommend checking out our FAQ page which answers most of the questions new users have.

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Table of Contents

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Everything you need to know before starting your first render.

Get Started

General

Uploading & Downloading

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General

Uploading & downloading

Getting started

Testing & estimating

Pricing & billing

Do I need to get a subscription?

On GarageFarm, you pay as you go. Pay only for the time you are rendering. It’s up to you how much you spend. It can be anything between $10 and $10,000 or much more. You’re not required to purchase a subscription and you won’t incur monthly charges for using the service.

Pricing & billing

Do I need to register an account?

To use GarageFarm cloud render farm you need to register an account and then activate it. Registration is straightforward and requires you to provide your name, email, and country. You will get a verification link in the email. When you open the link, your account will get activated and will be ready to use.

We don’t require a credit card to start using the service. As soon as you register and activate an account, you can use a trial that comes with starter credits.

Getting started

Do I need to upload my project again after rendering a test job?

You can submit a job that has been previously tested by right-clicking on it in the web dashboard and selecting ‘Render full range’ without uploading the project again. Please note that the “Render full range” is available for jobs that have been previously rendered with a step (i.e. 1to400s20). Certain renderers and GI modes won’t allow using this feature and you will need to upload the scene again to render the full range.

Uploading & downloading

Do you accept American Express card payments?

Yes, we accept American Express card payments. AmEx card payments are possible when you process a transaction through PayPal or Revolut.

Pricing & billing

Do you have ISO certification? Is GarageFarm ISO certified?

We understand that your projects are valuable and confidential, and we take security very seriously.

GarageFarm's sister company, and our infastructure provider, Copernicus Computing is certified as ISO 27001 compliant which means that the organization has been audited by an accredited certification body and have demonstrated that it has implemented an information security management system that meets the international quality standards.

This certification ensures GarageFarm customers that the rendering services comply with strict security and privacy standards, providing an additional level of trust in how their data and projects are managed on the GarageFarm platform.

To learn more about the ISO certification and its implementation process by our sister company, you can read this blog article. You can also view the ISO 27001 certificate here.

General

Do you offer discounts for students?

Sorry but we don’t. You should try our Low priority, though. It’s great for students and artists who are just starting out. In addition, each account comes with $25 trial credits. You can obtain additional credits through coupons giveaways. Make sure to follow us on Twitter or sign up for our newsletter to stay in the loop.

Pricing & billing

Do you offer to sign an NDA?

We can either offer to sign our NDA or sign the NDA provided by you after our legal department reviews the document and approves it.

General

Do you support 3rd party plugins? What if I use a plugin that you don’t have on your farm?

We have a broad range of supported plugins that we constantly maintain and update. If you happen to use a plugin that we don’t have or have a different version currently installed, it‘s not a problem. Talk to us via live chat and tell us the app/plugin you’re using. We’ll explore purchase options. If the software is free, we’ll try to get it installed on the farm within a few hours.

Please note that the custom plugin installations apply only to users rendering on Medium and High priorities. Take a look at the list of apps and plugins supported on GarageFarm https://garagefarm.net/supported-apps.

General

Do you support CPU and GPU rendering? What software can render on CPU and what on GPU?

On GarageFarm, you can render on nodes that either use CPU or GPU. The computing device you choose to render on largely depends on your 3D software, the technology it supports, and compatibility with our hardware.

For example, if you're using Redshift, you can mainly render on GPU because that's how Redshift is built (with an exception of newer Redshift that has a CPU rendering capability). If you're using Cycles in Blender, you can choose either CPU or GPU because Cycles supports both technologies and both modes are supported on GarageFarm. V-Ray also supports both CPU and GPU, and both modes are supported on GarageFarm.

Rendering modes supported on GarageFarm:

V-Ray - CPU and GPU

Corona - CPU

Redshift - GPU

FStorm - GPU

ProRender - GPU

Cycles - CPU and GPU

Cycles 4D - CPU and GPU

Arnold - CPU

Cinema 4D native engine - CPU

Modo native engine - CPU

General

Does your price include tax/VAT?

Our prices do not include the tax/VAT.

We are a United Kingdom-based company, which means that for everyone from the UK we need to add 20% of the VAT to the payment. Generally, HRMC will refund the VAT amount to British companies after filing the VAT Return form.

If you are from a country within the European Union, and you have a valid VAT number, the tax/VAT won’t be added to the payment.

If you are from a country within the European Union, but you don’t have the VAT number, we will add the standard VAT rate for your country to your payments.

If you are from a country outside of the European Union, you don’t need to pay the tax/VAT.

Pricing & billing

How can I check rendered frames?

Each completed frame is downloaded automatically to your local drive to a directory you selected in the renderBeamer application. Please make sure you keep renderBeamer running and the auto-download on whenever you have jobs rendering to get the frames downloaded right away.

As an alternative, when you’re logged in to your account on the website https://app.garagefarm.net/, you can preview all rendered frames in the web dashboard. In the file browser on the left, you can see all your project files. Navigate to the folder inside your project with Renders in the name at the end. You can double click on the frame to preview it online.

Uploading & downloading

How can I download frames?

To download frames you will need to open renderBeamer - our desktop client app. If you have auto-download turned on in preferences, the frames will automatically download to your local drive as soon as they finish rendering. If the auto-download is turned off, you can download the frames manually by going to the downloads tab, selecting the job from the list, and right-clicking or hitting the download button. Each frame will download to a directory you selected in your renderBeamer preferences. If you’re not seeing the job or some frames are missing, try the refresh button - it will sync the app with the cloud. Check out our video tutorial showing how to download frames https://youtu.be/z0F0p5TSHRw?t=304.

Uploading & downloading

How can I get a render time and cost estimate?

You can get a quick estimate using our cost calculator. Remember, it’s only an approximation and only works for animations.

To get a more accurate estimate for animations, we recommend testing a few frames on the farm using a step. For example, if you have 400 frames in your sequence and set the frame range to 1to400s20, you will get 20 frames rendered in total. Our system will then calculate the cost estimate for the full range based on those frames rendered. An important thing to note is that test rendering using a step allows you to test the frames across the entire animation. This results in a more accurate estimation than rendering, for example, 5 successive frames from one part of the animation, i.e. 1to5.

Remember that the more frames you render in a test job, the more accurate the estimation is. Also, you won't need to render those frames again when you choose to render a full range after testing a job with a step.

The calculator works with animations only. To get an estimate for a still, render the image on the farm in a lower resolution.

Please render the image in 1/5 resolution or any other smaller resolution. In the case of a 1/5 resolution test, the cost of a full-resolution render will be 25 times higher than the cost of a test. For example, if you want to render an image in resolution 5000x6000, run a test in 1000x1200 res first, which is 1/5 of the full resolution. If your test costs $1, the estimated cost for the full-res image should be around $25 (5 x 5 = 25). For a 1/4 test, it would be $16 (4 x 4 = 16). You can apply the same logic to any other resolution.

Dive deeper into the why and how of running tests on a render farm https://garagefarm.net/blog/how-to-use-online-render-farms-part-2.

Testing & estimating

How can I know what the current farm load is?

Upon submitting a job on the web dashboard, you’ll be able to see the number of jobs that are currently rendering and waiting in the queue. You can use this info to decide which priority you need to use given the farm load.

General

How can I pay for the service?

We offer a variety of payment options that include debit/credit card, wire transfers, PayPal and some other e-wallets. We encourage you to check out this document detailing how to buy credits on GarageFarm https://app.garagefarm.net/payments.pdf.

Pricing & billing

How can I test the service?

Every new user gets trial credits when registering an account on GarageFarm. You can use the trial to test the service without making a commitment. The trial is sufficient to get familiar with the workflow and to test all features thoroughly.

You won’t be required to use a credit card or to pay when using a trial account on GarageFarm.

Testing & estimating

How can I upload my project to the farm?

Once you have an account on GarageFarm, you’ll need to download and install our software that includes a desktop client app and a plugin for the DCC(3D app) of your choice. After installing the software and a quick setup, you will be able to upload your project to our farm right from your DCC’s interface.

Uploading & downloading

How to get started?

Once you have an account on GarageFarm, you will need to download the desktop client app called rendreBeamer. It bridges your computer with the cloud. In renderBeamer, you can select a DCC (3D app) you want to integrate with. The integration is quick and simple and requires installing a plugin for your DCC.

The next step is to send a project to the farm from the interface of your DCC using the renderBeamer plugin. The full workflow is described step by step in our starter guide https://garagefarm.net/software-guides/general-guide.

Getting started

I got charged for frames that were broken or rendered too long. Can I get a refund?

Don’t worry. Please contact us and we will investigate the issue and will help you find the cause.

If the cause of the incorrect frames was our system failure, we will offer you a refund or some other form of compensation.

Please note that we can’t guarantee a full refund in cases where no tests were performed or the instructions provided in the system or documentation weren’t followed or were neglected. You can read about the Return Policy in our Terms of Service.

Pricing & billing

I have a new scene that uses assets from the same project already uploaded to the farm. Will I have to upload the entire project with all the assets again?

No! Our software will checksum the files that are already present on your GarageFarm account and upload only the new scene, new assets, or the assets that have been modified.

Uploading & downloading

If the calculator says my project would take 10h to render, is it the actual render time?

The calculator shows the farm render time in a best-case scenario where your job gets a maximum number of available nodes, however, in practice that number may vary. In addition, the calculator only shows the time of the nodes when they are rendering. It doesn't include the waiting time in the queue or the time a scene would need to open/load on the render node.

Testing & estimating

Is the farm secure? Can I render a confidential project on GarageFarm?

When uploading scenes to GarageFarm, all transfers are encrypted. Projects stored on GarageFarm are secured on internal servers safe from any external access. We will always ask for your permission in case we want to use your project files to provide better customer support and a better user experience. We will never share your files with anyone outside of GarageFarm without your written consent.

Following controls are in place to prevent unauthorized physical access, damage and/or interference to the data center building and office: Security guards, secure gate and doors to the servers area and server room. Secure gates and doors, barbed wire fence, security officers, security agency monitoring, security cameras, individually issued security cards for accessing separate areas of the building. To ensure physical security and restrict access and protect equipment we have security guards, access cards, reception, ID cards.

By system design, GarageFarm users are not allowed to access any other data than their own. No client is allowed to access data directly. Each client is allowed to access only his data. Data access is highly secured against unauthorized access.

Our data centre operator provides secure internet connectivity. They do not have access to our local network and data contained there and the data transfer is securely encrypted.

We conduct penetration testing and vulnerability scanning at least once a year. We outsource the testing to our data centre operator's IT department. We evaluate our network and infrastructure security by routine checks. We also perform critical vulnerability software security updates - infrastructure systems and networking gear.

We perform regular sandbox tests of our own and acquired software against a set of rules. Additionally, we perform antivirus and malware checks. Security on developers' workstations is monitored with special care. We continuously and actively monitor network, firewall, and system device logs and employ all the newest security patches and updates company-wide. Our development team is regularly trained in the scope of software cybersecurity.

General

Is there a trial available?

Every account comes with $25 trial credits to allow you to test the service without commitment. You can use all the farm features just like on a full account with two limitations - 10 render nodes (machines) and 30 jobs. It means that you can render a project that costs no more than the amount of the trial credits and the number of jobs doesn’t exceed 30. While on trial you won’t be able to utilize the full rendering speed. However, as soon as you make your first credit purchase the node and job limitation will be lifted.

Getting started

What does GarageFarm do?

GarageFarm has been helping 3D artists meet deadlines and scale their businesses since 2010. It seamlessly connects with your 3D software and fully automates the process of rendering. You can send your scene right from the interface of your application without any complex and time-consuming setups. GarageFarm combines the best of both worlds - advanced technology and the human factor. When rendering with us you're never in the dark, left with no help and a looming deadline.

Don't take our word for it. See how our customers use GarageFarm and what they say about us https://garagefarm.net/case-studies.

General

What files should I upload?

To ensure correct results we’ll need all the files used in the scene: textures, proxies, xrefs, lights, cache etc. However, you don’t need to worry about it because our plugin will analyze the project and will collect all the files connected with the scene and upload them to the farm automatically.

Uploading & downloading

What should I do when a scene fails to render?

We have a team of experts that are online and at your disposal at any time of the day 7 days a week. All you need to do is reach out through our live chat and ask about the job that failed. We will troubleshoot it for you and assist you through the process.

General

What will happen when my render job is more expensive than the credits available in my account?

As soon as your account goes below 0, the render job will get paused (not killed!) and the currently rendering frame(s) will continue rendering until finished. This means your account will go to a negative balance. To prevent this from happening it is crucial to run test jobs before deciding to render full range or full-resolution renders in order to estimate job cost and plan accordingly.

The negative balance in the account is the responsibility of the user and must be paid to enable back full system functionality.

Additionally, if you are a new user and haven't made any payment yet, when your balance reaches -$50, the ongoing jobs will be killed to avoid accruing further costs.

Pricing & billing

What’s included in the rendering time and in the price? How am I charged? How is my render job billed?

We only charge for rendering time, in other words, the time nodes (farm computers) are working and actively processing a job. To break it down further, rendering time includes scene/asset loading, pre-processing, rendering, and output saving. All these processes influence the total time it takes to render a project and effectively that’s what is included in the final cost.

We don’t charge for jobs while they’re waiting in the queue, when they’re acquiring nodes, or when software is being installed on the node prior to starting a 3D app. The billing starts as soon as a job is assigned a node and the node starts rendering. We charge by the second and the pricing is all-inclusive - it encompasses electricity cost, license cost, and service cost.

See our Pricing page to learn more.

Pricing & billing

What’s your storage policy? How long will you keep my files?

We allow our users to store project data (project files and any files saved in an account) on our servers for a total of 28 days after a completed render job or project. We guarantee to safely store project data as they are within the initial 7 days. After that, we will relocate the data to archive storage for the remaining period. The archive storage isn’t guaranteed against data loss. We will completely and securely delete the project files stored in your account 28 days after the last completed render job in the given project.

General

When should I pay?

Initially, you receive $25 credits that you can use to run some test jobs and get familiar with our service. Once you use them up, you’ll need to buy credits to continue rendering. You should give our discounts offer a closer look.

Pricing & billing

Where are you based?

We are a UK based business, our data centre is in Poland, and the employees are working remotely from various locations in Europe, Asia, and Australia.

General

Why is running test jobs important?

Network rendering across multiple machines is very different from rendering locally on a single machine, especially when system environments aren’t the same as is often the case with cloud rendering. Tests help you determine whether your scene renders fine and produces the same results as on your local machine. On top of that, you avoid the situation where you pay for results that aren’t what you had in mind.

We always urge users to run tests first no matter how optimized a scene might be or how confident you are that the scene will render without any issues. Better be safe than sorry. In addition, tests cost very little and if the results are correct, the frames rendered in a test won’t be re-rendered and you won’t be charged for them when rendering full range.

Testing & estimating

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