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Test of networked render Box


    
Poster: Nik
Image: Test of networked render Box
Image Details: ID: 8412 - Image Type: JPG - Size: 765 x 641 (40KB)
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Posted: 06 Mar 2021 22:33
Views: 84
Pic Description: Far too complex a scene for CAD-tower''s twin GPU cards, Poser''s superfly render just threw a blank.
I went heavy (64) on the pixel samples, but Box took 4½ hours to produce this clone-zone...

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Comments
Poster Message
 
 07 Mar 2021 00:15
Curiously, Box was only using one (1) thread of Ryzen7's 8 cores = 16 available threads.

After my posting query on Rendo's forum, Nerd3D, one of Poser's super-gurus, contacted me with info for where to find the remote's thread-use setting.

Which was, correctly, 16, auto-configured at install.

Had I set PPro_11.3 main program's render to GPU(s), prompting a fail-over error ?

Seems not, but I confirmed CPU, tried again.

After a brief spike to ~25% CPU usage, Box settled down to ~8%. So, yes, one (1) thread...

Seems I may have stumbled upon a truly obscure bug, given that the number of home-network Poser renderers may be very, very few, indeed.



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 07 Mar 2021 07:24
Wow, 4.5 hrs? What if you used 'instancing' in Poser? Would that reduce the load on rendering (or does it only reduce the load during posing?)



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 07 Mar 2021 13:44
As this was a test-scene, I set 64 pixels, progressive. A more reasonable 32 pixels would have taken ~2½ hours. If can coax other threads into use, would be proportionately faster...

Which would let me try using 'wide screen' format, suitable for sprawling sets...

Problem may be something really, really simple. Or, given the scant few network renderers, "We're not going to patch _11.3, just _12."
Must wait and see...

Speaking of 'few', unclear how many Poser users do 'network render'. There's seachnasaigh and his awesome render farm of re-purposed servers, but no other Rendo' regulars come to mind.

I've suggested a Rendo' sub-forum for such: Info on how to beat Win'10 workgroups into submission and find that obscure menu with drop-down to give a networked folder 'Everyone' permission. Also, since 11.3 will now network render Superfly as well as Firefly, so more attractive, should encourage more folk to re-purpose a spare computer...


. Image



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 08 Mar 2021 15:17
Ha !! With Firefly set in Poser, network app correctly renders with multi-threads.

After doing 'admin stuff', app spun up to 100% CPU usage: FF render took fifteen (15) minutes !!

So, I've suggested that 11.3's 'single thread' remote render bug be sought in Superfly area...

Image



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 08 Mar 2021 17:47
Nik, does the bug only affect Superfly NETWORK renders in P11.3... or Superfly SINGLE-SYSTEM renders in P11.3 too ?



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 08 Mar 2021 19:56
I'm not sure. Let's give it a try...

Superfly render sorta settles down to ~20% of CAD-Tower's 4 core = 8 thread CPU resource. So, more than 1 thread but less than 2 ??

Firefly spends a lot of time wandering 20 ~~ 40 %, with some excursions to ~100%. So, variable, plus some 'All Hands On Deck' shouts ??

Although Poser is supposed to be using 5 of CPU's 8 threads, which would be ~60%, Superfly seems to be using rather less...

Hmm...



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 09 Mar 2021 20:48
Thank you Nik! A curious issue...



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 11 Mar 2021 19:54


Problem solved: Was excessive buckets for CPU-only render !!!

64 vols +1024 buckets Settings for my twin GPU cards do not suit a CPU-only render.

Break-point seems to be 128 volumes + 128 buckets giving ~90+ % CPU.

64+128 ~100%, 64+256 ~ 75%.

with 128+128, that six-up scene remote renders ~10x faster, ½ hr instead 5½ hrs...

Yay !!



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 13 Mar 2021 18:38
Wonderful Nik! Just a single setting, & it makes all the difference (a huge difference to 30 minutes)



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 13 Mar 2021 20:43
The actual speed-up is more, as Poser & remote Box spend several scary minutes doing 'housekeeping & admin', transferring texture files etc. The bigger the scene, the longer it takes.

( If re-rendering same scene, even from different view-point, it will skip transfer of textures it has in cache. Trivial if a few textures, handy if a complex imported 'set' with dozens and dozens of texture calls... )

Then, suddenly, Box' CPU usage jumps from ~10% to 95~~100%, and it's, '"Game On !!"

--
Now I've got Box built and working, I've attacked my 'To Do' list:

Un-packed and installed Epson all-in-one printer that's been sat for some too many months...

Downloaded free-trial version of AC3D. They claim is OBJ_MTL friendly, does neat Booleans etc etc. If my fortnight test-drive goes okay, I qualify for student / home pricing...

With a bit of luck, I'll be able to dissect eg the huge free OBJ_MTL sets posted to SCG by 'Digital Explorations' (AKA Richard Mandel) into 'Poser Friendly' sub-sets...

One proviso is AC3D does not yet support FBX format. I can live with that as I walked away from my beloved TurboCAD due to its continuing lack of support for OBJ MTLs, plus no useful documentation on recently introduced FBX I/O support...

And --Ye Gods !!-- TurboCAD's scary version upgrade cost...



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 15 Mar 2021 20:16
Thanks Nik, I need to know that about textures! Is there a way of clearing Poser's cache (without restarting), as I noticed an accumulation of textures loaded into memory (which slows things down unnecessarily) if I do one scene after another, & then another, & then another (without restarting Poser) ?



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 15 Mar 2021 22:13
In PP_11.3, under top Render tab, there's 'Reload Textures', which may do a clear-out...

I don't think the Edit / general preferences /document undo/redo 'clear cache now' applies here. The E/GP/ render tab has a field for cached renders, but also a field for texture caching persistent size. Mine is ~250 MB. Changing that may force a 'flush'...



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 17 Mar 2021 01:13
Thank you kindly !



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 12 Apr 2021 07:44
Well, Mister Nik !
That a great realization !
You can be a virtual cheerleader entrainer, nice corp discipline and nice enchainment of movement !





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