Welcome to the LCC Render Farm blog. Here you will find information about how to use the Render Farm and any important updates to the functionality or status of the farm.
Once the Submit to Deadline button is pressed, the submission window will open. This menu allows you to configure the Deadline settings for the task you want to run on the render farm.
Make sure that the Pool option is set to the course pool you want to use. This setting determines which group of machines on the render farm will process your job. Selecting the correct course pool ensures that your render is submitted to the appropriate resources and prevents it from being sent to the wrong queue.
Make sure that the Group option is set to CPU. This ensures that your render job is processed on machines configured for CPU-based rendering, which is the setup used for most Nuke renders on the render farm. Selecting the correct group prevents the job from being sent to machines configured for other tasks and helps ensure the render runs reliably with the expected resources.
Finally, press OK to submit your job to the render farm. Once submitted, the task will be sent to Deadline, where it will be queued and processed by the available render machines.
Launch your Nuke project and ensure that the file is saved within the Elements drive. The render farm requires both the project file location and the output path to be set to the Elements drive in order to process the render correctly. If either the save location or output directory is outside the Elements drive, the render farm job will fail.
At the end of your node tree, add a Write node and set the file path to the same Elements folder where your project is saved. This folder will act as the output directory for the rendered files.
At the top of the Nuke interface, locate the menu bar. Within this bar, open the Thinkbox menu and select Submit Nuke to Deadline. Clicking this option will open the Deadline submission window, where you can configure the settings for submitting your render job to the render farm.
Before submitting your job to Deadline, you must make sure that your Blender file is saved on the Elements drive. Our render farm is configured to access files stored on this shared drive, and it will not be able to locate your project if it is saved elsewhere on the computer, such as the desktop or local drives.
Saving your file to the Elements drive ensures that all render nodes on the farm can access the project file and any associated assets. If the file is not located on the Elements drive, the render farm will not be able to process the job correctly.
After this, go to the Render tab in the top menu bar and click on Submit to Deadline. A submission window will then open, where you will need to go through several settings to ensure your Blender scene is correctly prepared for the render farm.
In this menu, you will be able to configure important options such as the job name, frame range, and other render submission settings. It is important to review these options carefully to make sure your render job is set up correctly before sending it to the farm.
Inside the Pool dropdown menu, make sure to select your course. This ensures that your render job is sent to the correct group of render nodes assigned to your course.
Selecting the correct pool is important, as it determines which machines in the render farm will process your job. If the wrong pool is selected, your job may not be picked up by the appropriate render nodes.
Inside the Group dropdown menu, you will need to select the type of render you want to use. The available options typically include CPU or GPU rendering.
For our render farm setup, please make sure to select CPU Render. This ensures that your job will be processed correctly by the machines configured for CPU-based rendering on the farm.
Lastly, in the Blender File and Output File fields, make sure that both paths are set to the Elements folder that you have created. This ensures that the render farm can correctly locate your Blender project file and also knows where to save the rendered output.
If either of these paths points to a location outside of the Elements drive, the render nodes may not be able to access the file or store the rendered images properly. Therefore, always double-check that both the project file and the output destination are inside your Elements folder before submitting the job.
Click on the camera icon located on the right side of your screen in the Properties panel. This will open the Render Properties tab. In this section, you will find a range of settings related to how your scene will be rendered, including options for the render engine, sampling, lighting, and other render output configurations.
At the top of the Render Properties panel, you will see the Render Engine dropdown menu. Click on this menu and change the render engine to Cycles.
Selecting Cycles is important, as this is the render engine that is supported by our render farm, allowing your scene to be submitted and processed correctly through Deadline.
With the Render Engine now set to Cycles, your scene is ready to be used with our render farm. Within this menu, you will also find several settings that allow you to adjust different aspects of your render output. These include options such as sampling, lighting, device settings, and other parameters that help control the quality, speed, and overall appearance of your final render. Adjust these settings as needed to achieve the outcome you want before submitting your render to the farm.
Open Blender and navigate to the menu bar at the top of the screen. Click on Edit to open the dropdown menu. From the options listed in this menu, select Preferences. This will open the Preferences window, where you can adjust various settings for Blender, such as system configuration, add-ons, interface options, and other customization features.
Once the Preferences window is open, navigate to the Add-ons section on the left-hand side of the window. In the search bar at the top of the Add-ons panel, type Deadline to locate the Deadline Submitter add-on. Once you have found it, make sure it is enabled by ticking the checkbox next to it.
After confirming that the add-on is enabled, you can close the Preferences window.
Once the add-on has been enabled, you will notice a new option appearing in the top menu bar of Blender. Next to Edit, click on Render to open the dropdown menu.
At the bottom of this menu, a new option called Submit to Deadline should now be visible. This option allows you to send your render job to the render farm through Deadline.
