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.

Prepare the scene

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

Supported versions of Maya - 2015 and above.
Scene files should be saved in .ma or .mb format
Output – should be set the same way as when rendering on your local machine. We support most of Maya output formats. Please keep in mind that we render to frames – not animations – so any kind of animated output formats like .mov are not supported.
To upload your scene, you should have it prepared in the correct project directory structure, and the scene file should be in the folder named: scenes. Information on how to properly Set a project in Maya you can find here: https://help.autodesk.com/view/MAYAUL/2026/ENU/?guid=GUID-D5CA162A-0956-49C6-9FAC-2F73DCF03409
Please make sure you have selected a renderable camera that is not named the same as the default ones: persp, sideShape, topShape, frontShape, perspShape etc.
In the Cammon setting, it is best to tick on the Animation and put the range of frames you need to render. In the case of a single frame, please enter the same value for start / end frame.
Plugins – we support a lot of Maya plugins & addons (Yeti, Ornatrix, PhoenixFD, Golaem, and many others), however, if you are using some extra add ons, please send us the info. We will check for the plugin availability and purchase options.
Render region should be off, however, should you require it, you can turn it on but let us know on the live chat, we will set up render region values on our end.
Simulations (e.g. X-Gen) - If there are dynamics / particles features used in the scene, you should create a cache file for them and properly link it in the scene. Here's an example guide on how to prepare caches for X-Gen: https://help.autodesk.com/view/MAYAUL/2026/ENU/?guid=GUID-5CDC5D2C-6330-425B-98E9-E2A145CB42B6

Use the plugin – setting the mode (Redshift)

After installing our plugin, it should be visible in the Maya GUI. To send your project to the farm, please locate the renderBeamer icon, which can be found in the shelf tabs and click the icon to open the plugin window. Please remember to make sure you have the correct version of the scene to render opened before starting the plugin.

TIP

If you have problems with the installation of the plugin, i.e. you cannot locate the plugin in the shelf, or you have a missing icon, we suggest checking the solutions in this article to help you fix the issue.

Launching our plugin redirects you to the setup tab in the renderBeamer application where your scene settings are automatically detected and displayed for checking and modification before scene submission in a specific mode.

Plugin render modes for Redshift render engine:

Render as is – At this point, this is the only mode available for the Redshift render engine. This mode doesn’t have any additional settings because our plugin automatically reads your current render settings and just mirrors them here. Use this mode to render your animation - both for fully animated scenes which include objects animations, materials changes, camera or light movement and also camera movement. Moreover, using this mode, you can also render single frames in high resolution.

For this mode, you can use any mix-option for GI Engine but you need to remember that we do not support “Rebuild” and “Rebuild (prepass only)” modes. The default “Rebuild (don’t save)” and “Load” ( if you use the generated and linked GI cache) modes are supported.

‍Still Image (High resolution single frame) - It’s designed for rendering high-resolution still shots. This is our custom distributed rendering system. If you turn on strip image switch, your scene will be rendered with only one frame. Depending on your settings, this mode creates two jobs – render and merge. Still Image mode renders your scene with “strips” (horizontal or vertical render regions). After the strip render jobs are completed, strips are then automatically stitched to the final resolution frame in a merge job.

When submitting a scene via our plugin, you can choose the number of strips that will be used when rendering your job. Each strip is 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.

You can read more about the importance of testing and ways to estimate the render cost and time in our documentation.

Use the plugin – project settings

Once you select the plugin mode, you can continue the workflow in the setup window and go to the range and resolution setup.

Settings tab

Our plugin automatically detects your settings that have been set in Maya render setup, but regardless of the render mode you choose, you can always make changes here in the plugin before sending the scene.

‍
frame range - is the field that allows you to set the start and end frames for the rendering process. It is important to input the correct range to ensure that the desired frames are rendered.

override resolution - after enabling this option, you can edit the settings for the resolution of your scene.

new project name – If you have already uploaded a project and are going to submit the same scene (from the same project) but using modified assets (named the same as previously), we recommend using this option. In this case, all assets will be uploaded again, and you will be sure that you are using (new) modified assets. Otherwise, our plugin may not detect the new assets and thus won't upload them. If you decide to activate this option, please make sure to set a different project name (other than the default one).

render layers - In this window, you will find information about the current settings for render layers created in a given scene.

You can check two settings for each layer you created:

renderable - the "True" parameter means that this layer is set as renderable and will be rendered, if the parameter is displayed as "False" it means that the layer is set as non-renderable and will not be rendered.
extension - this parameter displays what extension was selected for a given layer (e.g., exr, png, jpg, etc.)

Assets tab

Here, you can check all the assets detected by our plugin - you can replace a given asset with a different one if you need or you can remove it.

show missing only - after ticking this option, only the missing assets will be shown in the window

search directory - by choosing this option, you can select a global path location for all assets

delete all not found - by choosing this option, you can remove all missing assets from the scene (please remember to proceed with this option if you are sure that these assets are unnecessary for the correct render of the scene)

search - by choosing this option, you can select a specific location for this file only

delete - as an alternative to the "search" option, you can remove the asset if it is not used in the scene

status - displays the status (found or missing) for each detected asset.

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 the clipboard and manually paste it into your web browser.

renderBeamer window with upload confirmation and a link to add the job to render farm

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 the place where all your projects and render jobs reside.

If you followed the link generated earlier by renderBeamer, you would 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.mb), and clicking on it to open the job window.

Adding a scene to rendering directly from Web Manager file browser

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 ensure everything is correct and make adjustments if necessary.

‍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 layers and/or cameras in your scene and want to modify the frame range for all of them separately. You need to enable the option: “Render each layer/camera in a separate job” (more information with examples below).

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 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.

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 a 1/5 resolution test, the cost of a 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, 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.

More information about running tests and estimating the cost can be found 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.

‍Project path - by default here, you can find the project's location, where all the files associated with a scene are collected.

Priority - before adding a job to the render queue, you can decide how to prioritize it. Depending on the queue and farm traffic, a higher priority may allow your job to acquire nodes sooner 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 Maya is set to the same version you have uploaded the project with. However, if you need to use a different version 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. As we render a .rs exported project on a GPU device, you can switch the node group button to a custom setup and select the particular group of nodes either based on the GPU model or RAM:

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 with more RAM.

Advanced settings

Job dependencies - if you want this job to start rendering after finishing another job 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), input 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.

Layers list - in this window, you will find the settings of your render layers created in the scene. By default, the settings are the same as in the scene. Layers that are renderable are ticked, and those that are non-renderable are unticked. You can check these settings and switch OFF the layers you don't want to render.

‍Render each layer/camera in a separate job - If you need to render each of your renderable layers and/or camera(s) as a separate job, then you need to select this option. If you do, each layer will be added to the queue as a separate job and rendered independently of other jobs. By default, this option is disabled.

Enabling this option allows to set an individual frame range for a given render layer(s) and/or for a given camera(s). It can also be useful when wanting to split a single long rendering job with multiple layers/cameras into multiple shorter jobs.

Each selected item will be added to the queue as a separate job with an individual frame range.

Below you can find some examples of how this option can be used in practice:

EXAMPLE 1 - each layer with individual range:

Option: "Render each layer/camera in a separate job" is ON

Each layer has a separate individual frame range. This means that three jobs will be added to the queue. Each job will be a separate layer with all its cameras.

EXAMPLE 2 - each camera with individual range:

Option: "Render each layer/camera in a separate job" is ON

In this case, instead of rendering all layers with included cameras, all cameras are selected, and thus each camera will be added to the queue as a separate job. So there will be a total of 7 cameras, each with a separate range.

To enable cameras, first, deselect the checkbox of a given layer, expand the list for a given layer, and select which cameras should be rendered as a separate job. You can set a separate range for each camera.

EXAMPLE 3 - complex scenario:

Option: "Render each layer/camera in a separate job" is ON

This case uses a mix of settings for the multi camera/layers feature.

With these settings, two separate jobs will be added to the queue. The first job is a view from the cam named "camera03" for Layer: "defaultRenderLayer". This camera will be rendered with a frame range: 150to250.

The second job is the layer "rs_renderSerupLayer2" which includes two cameras and both of them will be rendered in a single job with a frame range set for the layer, i.e. 420to580.

You can also see that "rs_randerSetupLayer1" with all cameras has been deselected (no item is selected) so it will not be rendered.

If you want to render different ranges for each layer/camera in your scene just tick the option "Render each layer/camera in a separate job" and then click on "edit frame range" for that item. A field will then appear in which you can make changes for the frame range.

Legacy render layers - this option is automatically set either as enabled or disabled. It depends on your Rendering Preferences settings in Maya. If you use "Render Setup" as the default mode for the Preferred Render Setup System, this option will be unticked in Web Manager. However, if you use "Legacy Render Layer" then this option will be ticked in Web Manager.

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 reloading 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, 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 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 canceled.

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 familiarize you with the service.

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

The estimate is based on the currently finished frames and is approximated 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 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 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 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 remember 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”.

Download and review frames

Each completed frame is downloaded automatically to your local drive to a directory you selected in the renderBeamer application. If you’re unsure where your download folder is located, you can double-check it or change it in renderBeamer’s settings (click on the cogwheel). Also, ensure 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 the 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 workflow will download all rendered frames for the selected job or jobs. However, renderBeamer also gives you an option to download individual frames. You need to use the list files function under RMB to do that.

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 the open directory option under RMB to open the folder where frames are saved.

Please ensure you keep renderBeamer running whenever you have jobs rendering to get the frames downloaded immediately. It may happen, however, that your frames aren’t downloading at the given moment, and most likely, that’s because our application syncs the files in 15-minute cycles, and it is currently in between the cycles. You can click refresh to force the check.

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 DotPay payments. Also you can purchase credits via Revolut or Zen.

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

In case your account balance goes below 0, any current jobs will be paused - all frames/strips 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 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 new users' questions.

No credit card required

Register Now and Get $50 FREE Credits!

Start Free Trial

Blue gradient background with abstract digital patterns on the left side.

Table of Contents

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Everything you need to know before starting your first render.

Get Started

General

Uploading & Downloading

Question text goes here

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.

Question text goes here

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

Thank you! Your submission has been received!

Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Blue grid lines forming a partial semicircle pattern on a transparent background.

Blue circle with a white question mark in the center, symbolizing FAQs.