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Batch Rendering with ScreamerNet Mac,
Mastering LightWave ScreamerNet for Mac OS X

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Batch Rendering with LWSN Mac

Batch rendering enables you to queue up and render multiple scenes all at once, unattended. Batch rendering is similar to network rendering except the same Macintosh is used as both the host and the rendering node, without any network. In the case of multicore and/or multiprocessor Macs, you can run multiple instances of LWSN PPC or ScreamerNet UB on the same Macintosh, one for each available core/processor. This can turn an 8 core Mac Pro into a single Mac render farm.

Batch Mode (-2) Command Line Syntax

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You tell ScreamerNet which mode and settings to use, through the use of command line parameters. The batch & network mode (-2) command line syntax is as follows, all on one line.

-2 [-c<config directory>] [-d<content directory>] [-l<log file>] [-q]
[-t<check interval>] <job command file> <acknowledgment file>

For an in-depth discussion and explanation of each of LightWave’s available command line parameters, please review Utilizing LightWave’s Mac Command Line Parameters.

LWSN PPC Batch cmdLine Examples

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On multicore/multiprocessor Macs you may run multiple instances of LWSN, up to one for each core/CPU. To run more than one copy of LWSN you need to duplicate the LWSN application and give each a unique name such as: LWSN-1 and LWSN-2. You would then create matching cmdLine files named: LWSN-1 cmdLine and LWSN-2 cmdLine. Both of these command line files would contain an identical command line except the LWSN-1 version would reference job1 & ack1 and the LWSN-2 version would reference job2 & ack2. It’s the job & ack numbers inside the command line file that actually tell LWSN and the Network Rendering panel which node is which. It’s useful to use the same numbers in the file names as well, to help you identify which running LWSN node is which.

The following LWSN PPC command line examples must be typed or pasted all on one line with no returns into an LWSN cmdLine text file.

 

-2 ":job1" ":ack1"

Uses the default config location of: "YourHD:Users:username:Library:Preferences"
Uses the Content directory specified in the config file, set in LightWave before launching LWSN.
Uses the job1 and ack1 files inside the top level of the Content directory.
This instance of LWSN would be designated node 1.

 

-2 -c"YourHD:Users:username:Library:Preferences" ":job1" ":ack1"

Uses a config file in "YourHD:Users:username:Library:Preferences"
Uses the content directory specified in the config file, set in LightWave before launching LWSN.
Uses the job1 and ack1 files inside the top level of the Content directory.
This instance of LWSN would be designated node 1.

 

-2 -c"YourHD:Users:username:Library:Preferences"
-d"YourHD:Users:username:Documents:LWContent" ":job1" ":ack1"

Uses a config file in "YourHD:Users:username:Library:Preferences"
Uses the content directory "YourHD:Users:username:Documents:LWContent"
Uses the job1 and ack1 files inside the top level of the Content directory.
This instance of LWSN would be designated node 1.

 

-2 -c"YourHD:Users:username:Library:Preferences"
-d"YourHD:Users:username:Documents:LWContent" ":Commands:job2" ":Commands:ack2"

Uses a config file in "YourHD:Users:username:Library:Preferences"
Uses the content directory "YourHD:Users:username:Documents:LWContent"
Uses the job2 and ack2 files inside a Commands directory inside the Content directory.
This instance of LWSN would be designated node 2.

ScreamerNet UB Batch Command Line Examples

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On multicore/multiprocessor Macs you may run multiple instances of ScreamerNet, up to one for each core/CPU. To run more than one copy of ScreamerNet you launch each instance in a separate Terminal window each with an identical command line except the first instance would reference job1 & ack1 and the second instance would reference job2 & ack2, and so on. It’s the job & ack numbers inside the command line that actually tell ScreamerNet and the Network Rendering panel which node is which.

Rather than building ScreamerNet UB command lines manually by hand, you can use the Aqua GUI utility, DreamLight SNUB-Launcher, to interactively build the command lines and launch ScreamerNet UB with a Mac friendly interactive user interface.

The following ScreamerNet manual command line examples must be typed or pasted all on one line with no returns into a Mac OS X Terminal window. These would all run ScreamerNet from the default install location: /Applications/LightWave3D 9/ScreamerNet These are just different examples, for discussion, not necessarily to be used together at the same time.

 

"/Applications/LightWave3D 9/ScreamerNet" -2 "/Users/username/Documents/LWContent/job1" "/Users/username/Documents/LWContent/ack1"

Uses the default config file in the current user’s "Library/Preferences/LightWave3D"
Uses the content directory specified in the config file, set in LightWave before launching ScreamerNet.

Uses the job1 and ack1 files inside: "/Users/username/Documents/LWContent/".
This instance of ScreamerNet would be designated node 1.

 

"/Applications/LightWave3D 9/ScreamerNet" -2
-c"/Users/username/Library/Preferences/LightWave3D" "/Users/username/Documents/LWContent/job1" "/Users/username/Documents/LWContent/ack1"

Uses the config file in "/Users/username/Library/Preferences/LightWave3D"
Uses the content directory specified in the config file, set in LightWave before launching ScreamerNet.

Uses the job1 and ack1 files inside: "/Users/username/Documents/LWContent/".
This instance of ScreamerNet would be designated node 1.

 

"/Applications/LightWave3D 9/ScreamerNet" -2
-c"/Users/username/Library/Preferences/LightWave3D"
-d"/Users/username/Documents/LWContent" "/Users/username/Documents/LWContent/job1" "/Users/username/Documents/LWContent/ack1"

Uses the config file in "/Users/username/Library/Preferences/LightWave3D"
Uses the following content directory: "/Users/username/Documents/LWContent"
Uses the job1 and ack1 files inside: "/Users/username/Documents/LWContent/Commands/".
This instance of ScreamerNet would be designated node 1.

 

"/Applications/LightWave3D 9/ScreamerNet" -2
-c"/Users/username/Library/Preferences/LightWave3D"
-d"/Users/username/Documents/LWContent" "/Users/username/Documents/LWContent/Commands/job2" "/Users/username/Documents/LWContent/Commands/ack2"

Uses the config file in "/Users/username/Library/Preferences/LightWave3D"
Uses the following content directory: "/Users/username/Documents/LWContent"
Uses the job2 and ack2 files inside: "/Users/username/Documents/LWContent/Commands/".
This instance of ScreamerNet would be designated node 2.

LightWave’s Built-in Network Render Controller

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LightWave comes with a basic Network Rendering control panel that enables you to perform basic batch and network rendering. It is sufficient for occasional use, but if you intend to do heavy duty network rendering in a production environment, you’ll find the investment in a third party network controller well worthwhile. We use RenderFarm Commander and ScreamerNet Controller for Mac OS X to run our in-house DreamLight render farm and will cover their use later when discussing advanced network rendering.

The built-in controller is sufficient for simple batch rendering. It’s also useful to use when troubleshooting a third party controller. If you’re having trouble using a third party controller, you can try a render test with the built-in controller to make sure your ScreamerNet render farm is set up properly. I’ll cover the built-in network controller’s use here and use it for the simple batch rendering examples to follow.

Running the Network Rendering Control Panel

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The Network Rendering control panel is opened in LightWave 9 by selecting:
Render->Utilities->Network Render.

Network Rendering Panel

When the Network Rendering panel is open and rendering, LightWave can’t be used to do anything else. A trick you can use to get around this limitation is to make a duplicate copy of LightWave and rename it LW-RenderController. Then you can use the copy called LW-RenderController to control your batch rendering and still launch the original LightWave to work on something else while the batch render continues. When doing this you should disable the Hub. That way you won’t have two copies of LightWave both trying to synchronize things through the Hub, which could cause problems.

Render Node Controls

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Command Directory: The directory where the ScreamerNet job# & ack# communication files will be stored. The Network Rendering controller doesn’t actually contact the ScreamerNet nodes directly, it simply creates job# files with simple commands in them. ScreamerNet nodes constantly poll for their job files and execute the commands they find within. They then write a reply into an associated ack# file which the Network Rendering controller continuously polls to monitor the node's status. For further information please review Managing LightWave’s All Important Config Files: Command Directory.

Command Directory, Maximum CPU Number and Screamer Init Controls
Maximum CPU Number:
The number of ScreamerNet nodes to attempt to control.

Screamer Init: Initializes all the currently running ScreamerNet nodes.

ScreamerNet Status: The text field to the right of the Screamer Init button shows the current ScreamerNet status.

CPU list: Lists all the currently running ScreamerNet render nodes.

CPU List
Screamer Render:
Starts the ScreamerNet nodes rendering the first scene.

Screamer Render, Cancel Render & Screamer Shutdown buttons
Cancel Render (Escape Key): Stops the Network Rendering controller from issuing new render commands. It doesn’t actually stop the ScreamerNet nodes from rendering any frames currently in progress. You may only cancel a render when the ScreamerNet status reads “Waiting for CPUs to finish rendering.” If you need to cancel a render during any other time, for instance during a crashed ScreamerNet scene load, you may need to force quit LightWave with Command-Option-Esc. Then quit all remaining ScreamerNet nodes. You may then start everything back up again and try again.

Screamer Shutdown: Quits all ScreamerNet nodes, when they finish rendering their current frames. To quit a ScreamerNet node before it finishes rendering a frame, bring it to the foreground and press command-period. If you try to quit LWSN 7.5 using the menu LWSN->Quit or by typing command-q, it will crash. This bug has been fixed in LWSN 8.0 and above.

Scene List Controls

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The scene list in the Network Rendering panel can not be modified while anything is currently rendering. This is the single greatest limitation of the built-in controller. You must stop any renders in progress (Press Cancel Render or the Escape key) before you can add or remove scenes from the list. Then you’d need to figure out which was the last frame rendered and resave the scene that was rendering with a new render frame range, and then create a new scene list before restarting ScreamerNet again to continue rendering.

Scene List

Clear List: Clears all scenes from the scene list.

Add Scene to List: Adds a scene to the end of the scene list.

Remove Scene: Removes the scene located at the top of the scrollable list display, not necessarily scene #1. To delete a specific scene, drag the scroll bar until the scene you wish to delete is located at the top of the list display. Then press the Remove Scene button.

Before adding a scene to the scene list you must make sure it is properly set up as explained previously. You can’t modify the render range, the output destination or anything else with the built-in controller.

Step-by-step Mac LWSN PPC
Batch Rendering Example

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Here’s a step-by-step example of how to render a batch of included LightWave sample scenes using LWSN PPC in batch / network mode (-2) on the Macintosh. This example uses two LWSN PPC instances running on a dual processor Power Macintosh G5. On a single processor machine, or if you wish to batch render on one processor while continuing to work on the other, simply run one instance of LWSN PPC. We’ll be rendering some of the LightWave 9 Content sample scenes from YourHD:Users:username:Documents:LW9Content. First place the included LightWave 9 Content folder in your current user’s Documents folder and rename it: LW9Content.

Setting up the PPC Config File

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In this example we will use the default Mac OS X LWSN PPC config file location of: YourHD:Users:username:Library:Preferences
For more information see Managing LightWave’s All Important Config Files.

  1. Launch Applications:NewTek:LightWave 3D 9.3:Layout
  2. Set the Content Directory with Edit->Set Content Directory...
    Navigate to and select: YourHD:Users:username:Documents:LW9Content
    This assumes you have installed the LightWave 9 included content directory to your user’s Documents folder and have named it LW9Content. See Content Directory for more info.
  3. Open the Render->Utilities->Network Render panel.
  4. Click the Command Directory button.
    See Command Directory for more information.
    Command Directory button on the Network Rendering panel
  5. Navigate to the same Content directory you set in step #2.
  6. Click New Folder to create a new folder in the Content directory and name it Commands.
  7. While inside the Commands folder, click the Choose button to close the dialog and accept the new command directory.
  8. When asked to initialize ScreamerNet, click No. (We just want to save a new config.)
  9. Set the Maximum CPU Number to 2. This tells the controller how many nodes to look for.
  10. Open Render->Options->Render Globals and set the Segment Memory Limit to 32.
    See Default Segment Memory for more information.
  11. Click yes when asked if this should be the new default setting, or it won’t be saved.
  12. Click the Render tab and set Multithreading to 1 Thread. We want each node to only use one thread each. See Multithreading for more information.
    Multithreading Setting on Render Options panel
  13. Quit LightWave to save the config file.

Setting up the Scenes for LWSN PPC Batch Rendering

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For more information see Successful Scene File Preparation for ScreamerNet.

NOTE: As of LW9.3, Mac UB output paths saved in a scene file are not compatible with LWSN 9.3 PPC. This means you must set the output path using LightWave 9.3 PPC rather than Layout 9.3 UB.

  1. Launch Applications:NewTek:LightWave 3D 9.3:Layout
  2. Use File->Load->Load Scene... to load: :Scenes:Cel_Shade:Drunk_Zombie.lws
    1. Open Render->Options->Render Globals.
    2. Set the following render range fields:
      • Render First Frame: 100
      • Render Last Frame: 200
      • Render Frame Step: 10
    3. Click the Output tab.
    4. Click the RGB Files button.
    5. Type Drunk_Zombie in the Save As: field.
    6. Navigate to the top level of the Content Directory, LW9Content.
    7. Navigate to the Renders folder if it already exists, otherwise create a New Folder in the top level of the Content Directory named Renders.
    8. Create a New Folder named Drunk_Zombie_Renders.
    9. Click the Save button to dismiss the dialog and accept the changes.
    10. Set the RGB Type pop-up menu to LW_TGA24(.tga)
    11. The RGB readout should now read Drunk_Zombie0001.tga, ...
    12. Save the scene.
  3. Use File->Load->Load Scene... to load: :Scenes:Expressions:BigWheel.lws
    1. Open Render->Options->Render Globals
    2. Set the following render range fields:
      • Render First Frame: 30
      • Render Last Frame: 60
      • Render Frame Step: 2
    3. Click the Output tab.
    4. Click the RGB Files button.
    5. Type BigWheel in the Save As: field.
    6. Navigate to the top level of the Content Directory, LW9Content.
    7. Navigate to the Renders folder.
    8. Create a New Folder named BigWheelRenders.
    9. Click the Save button to dismiss the dialog and accept the changes.
    10. Set the RGB Type pop-up menu to LW_TGA24(.tga)
    11. The RGB readout should now read BigWheel0001.tga, ...
    12. Save the scene.
  4. Quit LightWave.

Setting up the LWSN PPC Nodes and cmdLine Files

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For more information see Utilizing LightWave’s Mac Command Line Parameters.

  1. Open the directory
    YourHD:Applications:NewTek:LightWave 3D 9.3:Layout:Programs

    and locate the LWSN application.
  2. Make two copies of LWSN and name them LWSN-01 and LWSN-02, with no file extension.
  3. Make one copy of the file LWSN cmdLine and name it LWSN-01 cmdLine, with no file extension.
  4. Edit the LWSN-01 cmdLine file’s contents to read, all on one line:
    -2 ":Commands:job1" ":Commands:ack1"
  5. Save the cmdLine file, making sure no file extension is added to the filename.
  6. Duplicate the LWSN-01 cmdLine file and name it LWSN-02 cmdLine.
  7. Edit the LWSN-02 cmdLine file’s contents to read:
    -2 ":Commands:job2" ":Commands:ack2"
  8. Save the cmdLine file, making sure no file extension is added to the filename.

Launching the LWSN PPC Render Nodes

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  1. Launch LWSN-01.
  2. It should identify itself as CPU number: 1 in the console.
    LWSN Conlose output
  3. Launch LWSN-02, launch them one at a time or you may get an error.
  4. It should identify itself as CPU number: 2 in the console.
  5. They may say:
    Can’t access job file ":Commands:job#"

    This is normal until LightWave creates the job files. Sometimes it may also say:
    Can’t open reply file ":Commands:ack#"
    This may also be normal, since sometimes it tries to open the ack file before it’s ready, failing first but then succeeding on later attempts.

Rendering the Batch with LightWave PPC’s Built-in Controller

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For more information see Using LightWave’s Built-in Network Rendering Controller.

  1. Launch Applications:NewTek:LightWave 3D 9.3:Layout
  2. Open the Render->Utilities->Network Render panel.
  3. Verify that the Maximum CPU Number is set to 2.
  4. Click the Screamer Init button.
  5. Click OK when the dialog appears stating: 2 available ScreamerNet CPUs were detected. You should now see both LWSN nodes repeatedly writing LightWave command: wait. and sendack: Ready to the console. You’ll also see two CPU’s of type PowerMac listed in the Network Rendering panel with a status of Ready.
  6. Click the Add Scene to List button and add the scene: :Scenes:Cel_Shade:Drunk_Zombie.lws
  7. Click the Add Scene to List button again and add the scene: :Scenes:Expressions:BigWheel.lws
    Network Rendering panel ready  for batch render
  8. Hit the Screamer Render button and the LWSN nodes will begin rendering frames.
  9. As each frame is finished, it will be written to the output directory that was set in each scene. :Renders:Drunk_Zombie_Renders & :Renders:BigWheelRenders
  10. If you wish to stop the rendering before it is finished, press the Escape key while the Network Rendering panel is in the foreground, then hit the Screamer Shutdown button. This will stop rendering new frames and will quit the LWSN nodes once they finish rendering their current frame. If a LWSN node crashes during loading a scene, the Network Rendering panel may remain waiting for the scene to load and may not recover. In such an instance you can force Quit LightWave with Command-Option-Esc. To quit a LWSN node before it finishes rendering a frame, bring it to the foreground and press command-period. If you try to quit LWSN 7.5 using the menu LWSN->Quit or by typing command-q, it will crash. This bug has been fixed in LWSN 8.0 and beyond.

Step-by-step Mac ScreamerNet UB
Batch Rendering Example

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Here’s a step-by-step example of how to render a batch of included LightWave sample scenes using ScreamerNet UB in batch / network mode (-2) on the Macintosh. This example uses two ScreamerNet UB instances running on a dual processor Power Macintosh G5. On a single processor machine, or if you wish to batch render on one processor while continuing to work on the other, simply run one instance of ScreamerNet UB. We’ll be rendering some of the LightWave 9 Content sample scenes from /Users/username/Documents/LW9Content. First place the included LightWave 9 Content folder in your current user’s Documents folder and rename it: LW9Content.

Setting up the UB Config File

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In this example we will use the default Mac OS X UB PPC config file location of: /Users/username/Library/Preferences/LightWave3D
For more information see Managing LightWave’s All Important Config Files.

  1. Launch /Applications/LightWave3D 9/Layout.
  2. Set the Content Directory with Edit->Set Content Directory...
    Navigate to and select: /Users/username/Documents/LW9Content
    This assumes you have installed the LightWave 9 included content directory to your user’s Documents folder and have named it LW9Content. See Content Directory for more info.
  3. Open the Render->Utilities->Network Render panel.
  4. Click the Command Directory button.
    See Command Directory for more information.
    Command Directory button on the Network Rendering panel
  5. Navigate to the same Content directory you set in step #2.
  6. Click New Folder to create a new folder in the Content directory and name it Commands.
  7. While inside the Commands folder, click the Choose button to close the dialog and accept the new command directory.
  8. When asked to initialize ScreamerNet, click No. (We just want to save a new config.)
  9. Set the Maximum CPU Number to 2. This tells the controller how many nodes to look for.
  10. Open Render->Options->Render Globals and set the Segment Memory Limit to 32.
    See Default Segment Memory for more information.
  11. Click yes when asked if this should be the new default setting, or it won’t be saved.
  12. Click the Render tab and set Multithreading to 1 Thread. We want each node to only use one thread each. See Multithreading for more information.
    Multithreading Setting on Render Options panel
  13. Quit LightWave to save the config file.

Setting up the Scenes for ScreamerNet UB Batch Rendering

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For more information see Successful Scene File Preparation for ScreamerNet.

NOTE: As of LW9.3, Mac PPC output paths saved in a scene file are not compatible with ScreamerNet 9.3 UB. This means you must set the output path using Layout 9.3 UB rather than LightWave 9.3 PPC.

  1. Launch /Applications/LightWave3D 9/Layout.
  2. Use File->Load->Load Scene... to load: Scenes/Cel_Shade/Drunk_Zombie.lws
    1. Open Render->Options->Render Globals.
    2. Set the following render range fields:
      • Render First Frame: 100
      • Render Last Frame: 200
      • Render Frame Step: 10
    3. Click the Output tab.
    4. Click the RGB Files button.
    5. Type Drunk_Zombie in the Save As: field.
    6. Navigate to the top level of the Content Directory, LW9Content.
    7. Navigate to the Renders folder if it already exists, otherwise create a New Folder in the top level of the Content Directory named Renders.
    8. Create a New Folder named Drunk_Zombie_Renders.
    9. Click the Save button to dismiss the dialog and accept the changes.
    10. Set the RGB Type pop-up menu to LW_TGA24(.tga)
    11. The RGB readout should now read Drunk_Zombie0001.tga, ...
    12. Save the scene.
  3. Use File->Load->Load Scene... to load: Scenes/Expressions/BigWheel.lws
    1. Open Render->Options->Render Globals
    2. Set the following render range fields:
      • Render First Frame: 30
      • Render Last Frame: 60
      • Render Frame Step: 2
    3. Click the Output tab.
    4. Click the RGB Files button.
    5. Type BigWheel in the Save As: field.
    6. Navigate to the Renders folder inside the Content Directory.
    7. Create a New Folder named BigWheelRenders.
    8. Click the Save button to dismiss the dialog and accept the changes.
    9. Set the RGB Type pop-up menu to LW_TGA24(.tga)
    10. The RGB readout should now read BigWheel0001.tga, ...
    11. Save the scene.
  4. Quit LightWave.

Interactively Launching the ScreamerNet UB Nodes with
DreamLight SNUB-Launcher

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After going through the tedious process of manually launching the individual ScreamerNet UB nodes, I decided there should be a better way, so I made one. I wrote an XCode Aqua GUI front end to configure and launch ScreamerNet UB nodes in a much easier and far less error prone manner. This utility is called DLI_SNUB-Launcher. The following steps will show you how to use DLI_SNUB-Launcher to more easily set up and launch your ScreamerNet UB nodes. You may use the FREE LITE Version. of DLI_SNUB-Launcher for this tutorial. If you find DLI_SNUB-Launcher as useful as I do, you may register for a FULL or PRO serial number later.

  1. Download your free lite version of DLI_SNUB-Launcher to your host Mac by right clicking on the link below and selecting Save Linked File from the pop-up menu.
  2. DLI_SNUB-Launcher.zip

  3. After downloading the DLI_SNUB-Launcher.zip file, unzip the file by double-clicking it.
  4. Drag the expanded DLI_SNUB-Launcher to the /Applications/LightWave3D 9 folder.

You may run the DLI_SNUB-Launcher application from any location you wish, but if you place it in your LightWave3D folder, it will be able to find ScreamerNet by itself. DLI_SNUB-Launcher defaults to look for ScreamerNet in the same folder as the DLI_SNUB-Launcher application. If you ever wish to uninstall it, simply drag DLI_SNUB-Launcher to the trash.

  1. Run /Applications/LightWave3D 9/DLI_SNUB-Launcher, and configure as follows:

    • Activate (using the check mark at the left) then click the -d Content Folder button and choose the /Users/userx/Documents/LW9Content folder.
    • On the bottom Batch Render Settings drawer click the Command Folder button and choose the /Users/userx/Documents/LW9Content/Commands folder. (Use the New Folder button to create a Commands folder inside the LW9Content volume/folder if you haven’t already.)
    • Set the node numbers as follows: First Node # 1 Through Last Node # 2
    • Click the Launch ScreamerNetUB Nodes button to launch the ScreamerNet nodes.
  1. Now that all your ScreamerNet nodes are up and running skip ahead to the Rendering the Batch with LightWave UB’s Built-in Controller.

Manually Launching the ScreamerNet UB Render Nodes in Terminal

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Another way to configure and launch the ScreamerNet UB nodes is to manually build the command lines necessary to launch it in Terminal. For a much easier and far less error prone method to configure and launch the ScreamerNet UB nodes, just use the previous interactive method - Interactively Launching the ScreamerNet UB Nodes with DLI_SNUB-Launcher.

For more information see Utilizing LightWave’s Mac Command Line Parameters.

  1. Launch /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.
  2. Type the following into the terminal command line, all on one line, substituting your actual username. Then press the return key.
    "/Applications/LightWave3D 9/ScreamerNet" -2 "/Users/username/Documents/LW9Content/Commands/job1" "/Users/username/Documents/LW9Content/Commands/ack1"
  3. It should identify itself as CPU number: 1 in the terminal window.
    LWSN Conlose output
  4. Open a new window in Terminal.
  5. Type the following into the terminal command line, all on one line, substituting your actual username. Then press the return key.
    "/Applications/LightWave3D 9/ScreamerNet" -2 "/Users/username/Documents/LW9Content/Commands/job2" "/Users/username/Documents/LW9Content/Commands/ack2"
  6. It should identify itself as CPU number: 2 in the console.
  7. They may say:
    Can’t access job file "/Users/username/Documents/LW9Content/Commands/job#"

    This is normal until LightWave creates the job files.

Rendering the Batch with LightWave UB’s Built-in Controller

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For more information see Using LightWave’s Built-in Network Rendering Controller.

  1. Launch /Applications/LightWave3D 9/Layout.
  2. Open the Render->Utilities->Network Render panel.
  3. Verify that the Maximum CPU Number is set to 2.
  4. Click the Screamer Init button.
  5. Click OK when the dialog appears stating: 2 available ScreamerNet CPUs were detected. You should now see both ScreamerNet nodes repeatedly writing LightWave command: wait. and sendack: Ready to the console. You’ll also see two CPU’s of type MachOMac listed in the Network Rendering panel with a status of Ready.
  6. Click the Add Scene to List button and add the scene: Scenes/Cel_Shade/Drunk_Zombie.lws
  7. Click the Add Scene to List button again and add the scene: Scenes/Expressions/BigWheel.lws
    Network Rendering panel ready  for batch render
  8. Hit the Screamer Render button and the ScreamerNet nodes will begin rendering frames.
  9. As each frame is finished, it will be written to the output directory that was set in each scene. Renders/Drunk_Zombie_Renders & Renders/BigWheelRenders
  10. If you wish to stop the rendering before it is finished, press the Escape key while the Network Rendering panel is in the foreground, then hit the Screamer Shutdown button. This will stop rendering new frames and will quit the ScreamerNet nodes once they finish rendering their current frame. If a ScreamerNet node crashes during loading a scene, the Network Rendering panel may remain waiting for the scene to load and may not recover. In such an instance you can force Quit LightWave with Command-Option-Esc. To quit a ScreamerNet UB node before it finishes rendering a frame, bring its terminal window to the foreground and press command-period.

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