Mastering LW ScreamerNet

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LightWave ScreamerNet’s controller communicates with the lwsn rendering nodes by simply reading and writing commands to and from a pair of job and ack text files. As long as the controller and the render nodes have read/write access to the job and ack command files as well as to the content directory and the output directory they can participate in the render farm, no matter where they are located, even if they are located anywhere across the Internet. This can be quite useful for small scale independent filmmakers who may wish to harness the rendering power of any extra computers that may be available in multiple locations such as between work and home studios.

Dropbox provides a very simple way to securely share content across the Internet and may be used to share the content directory, command directory and output directory for ScreamerNet.

• Step-by-step ScreamerNet lwsn Mac OS X Internet Rendering with Dropbox Example
  • Setting up the LightWave3D Folder & ScreamerNet Config Files
• Drag-and-drop Launching the ScreamerNet lwsn Nodes with the FREE DLI_SNUB-Launcher Lite
• Dropbox Internet Rendering with the Third-party OSX ScreamerNet Controller
  • Setting up OSX ScreamerNet Controller for Dropbox Rendering
  • Adding Scenes to ScreamerNet Controller for OS X
  • Rendering Scenes with ScreamerNet Controller for OS X
• Advanced Internet Rendering Through a Secure ssh Tunnel and vnc Screen Sharing

Step-by-step ScreamerNet lwsn Mac OS X Internet Rendering with Dropbox Example

1. Go to Dropbox.com, download and install the FREE Dropbox on the host and remote Macs.
2. Follow the Dropbox instructions to set up a FREE account if you don’t already have one.
3. Install and set Dropbox to place the Dropbox folder in the home folder of the same user on all the Macs. If you normally use different users on all the Macs you can create a new common user on each Mac with a common name like Render. This way all the file paths to the Dropbox folder will be the same on all the rendering Macs: /Users/render/Dropbox/NetContent/
4. Download & unzip the FREE Lite version of DLI_SNUB-Launcher to the host Mac.
5. Copy the included DLI_SuperBalls content folder to the Dropbox folder in the host Mac’s home folder to make it accessible via Dropbox and rename it NetContent.Such a common name is used for this content folder so that you can leave it in the Dropbox and simply put content inside it that you wish to share with all your Dropbox connected Macs.
   
6. You can simply log into the same Dropbox account from each remote rendering Mac or if you need to have different Dropbox users access the content folder then you can right-click the NetContent folder and select Dropbox->Share This Folder... from the popup menu. Then enter the email addresses of everyone you’d like to share the content folder with to invite them to share the NetContent folder.

7. Copy the included DLI_SNUB-Launcher to the LightWave3D11.0 folder:
   /Applications/NewTek/LightWave3D11.0/
8. Download OSX ScreamerNet Controller.
9. Unzip and install OSX ScreamerNet Controller

Setting up the LightWave3D Folder & ScreamerNet Config Files

As in the previous example we will set up a custom ScreamerNet Preferences folder specifically for use with ScreamerNet so that it doesn’t interfere with LightWave Layout’s own config files.

For more information about config files see Managing LightWave’s All Important Config Files.

1. Open the LightWave folder on the host Mac: /Applications/NewTek/LightWave3D11.0/
2. Create a new folder inside this LightWave3D11.0 folder and name it Preferences, if there’s not already a Preferences folder there.
3. Launch /Applications/NewTek/LightWave3D11.0/Layout.
4. If you would like to change the default segment memory limit and/or the default render threads you may do so in the Render Globals panel as previously described.
5. Quit LightWave Layout to save the updated config files.
6. Duplicate the Preferences folder inside the LightWave3D11.0 folder
   and rename the copy SNPreferences. We’ll later use this SNPreferences folder as the config folder for all of the ScreamerNet lwsn instances.
   
7. Then copy the LightWave3D folder from the host Mac to each of the remote rendering Macs. You can do this by copying the LightWave3D folder to the NetContent folder as well. Then it will be sent to each remote rendering Mac where it can be copied out of the NetContent folder to a NewTek folder you can create in each Remote Rendering Mac’s Applications folder.

Drag-and-drop Launching the ScreamerNet lwsn Nodes with the FREE DLI_SNUB-Launcher Lite

DreamLight Interactive ScreamerNet UB Launcher Update

DLI_SNUB-Launcher™ is an XCode Aqua GUI front end to interactively configure and launch LightWave 9, 10 & 11+ ScreamerNet UB lwsn instances for standalone, batch and network rendering. Download your copy today!

Created by the author of Creating a 3D Animated CGI Short
& Mastering LightWave ScreamerNet for Mac OS X
Michael Scaramozzino - LightWave 3D Artist Profile.

1. If you haven’t already, download the FREE Lite version of DLI_SNUB-Launcher to your host Mac and unzip it, but don’t launch it yet. It defaults to look for bin/lwsn in the same folder it’s located in, the first time DLI_SNUB-Launcher is run. If you do run it before placing it in the proper folder, then you can launch it and just click on the lwsn Path button to choose the correct path to the bin/lwsn application.
2. Drag DLI_SNUB-Launcher to the LightWave3D folder on the host Mac and also copy it to the LightWave3D folder on each of the remote rendering Macs if you haven’t already.
/Applications/NewTek/LightWave3D11.0/
3. On each of the remote rendering Macs log in as the Render user, launch DLI_SNUB-Launcher and configure each as follows:

4. Drag the LightWave3D11.0 folder to the lwsn Path button and it’ll find the proper path for lwsn:
   /Applications/NewTek/LightWave3D11.0/bin/lwsn
5. Drag the SNPreferences Folder from the LightWave3D folder to the Config Folder button:
   /Applications/NewTek/LightWave3D11.0/SNPreferences/
6. Drag the shared NetContent folder to the -d Content Folder button so that it reads:
   /Users/render/Dropbox/NetContent/
   If the bottom drawer is closed, open it with the Open Batch Render Settings -2 button.
7. Drag the NetContent/Commands/ folder to the Command Folder button:
   /Users/render/Dropbox/NetContent/Commands/
8. Set the First ScreamerNet Node # to 1 on the first remote rendering Mac and set it to 2 on the second remote rendering Mac, etc. because we want to run one instance of ScreamerNet lwsn on each remote rendering Mac and one instance on the host Mac as well. Each node must have a unique number.
9. Click the Launch ScreamerNetUB Nodes button to launch the ScreamerNet lwsn node on each rendering Mac. DLI_SNUB-Launcher will launch ScreamerNet lwsn in Terminal. The nodes will start outputting: Can't access job file. repeatedly. This is normal because the network controller has not yet created the job# files to communicate with the nodes. If you see a DVView error about it being a wrong architecture, you can ignore it. It’s a known 64-bit issue that should not interfere with your rendering.

Dropbox Internet Rendering with the Third-party OSX ScreamerNet Controller

As we did in the previous advanced network rendering example, we will use Jonathan Baker’s excellent OSX ScreamerNet Controller to manage the render queue and control all the remote rendering Macs. Jon recently updated OSX ScreamerNet Controller specifically to allow using Dropbox [NOTE: Version 4.2.2 or later]. While we’ll be using OSX ScreamerNet Controller in this example, LightWave Layout’s built-in ScreamerNet controller also works with Dropbox. [NOTE: Jonathan Baker has discontinued his OSX ScreamerNet Controller but DLI_SNUB-Launcher still works with LightWave's built-in controller and may also be used with any other network controller that's compatible with manually launched LightWave Mac LWSN Network Nodes.]

Setting up OSX ScreamerNet Controller for Dropbox Rendering

ScreamerNet Controller for OS X is easy to setup and use. Just follow these simple steps:

1. Download the latest version of OSX ScreamerNet Controller to the host Mac.
2. Double-click it to expand the ".zip" archive.
3. Double-click the ScreamerNet Controller.pkg file and follow the installation instructions.
4. Run the ScreamerNet Controller Application.
5. Select the ScreamerNet Controller for OS X -> Registration… menu item and enter your registration info. A professional license is needed to run more than five render nodes.
6. Next select the menu CPUs -> Set Max CPUs… and enter the number of ScreamerNet instances you are running. In this case we’re using 3. You’ll then see 3 CPUs listed in the top window pane.
7. Select the menu CPUs -> Set Command Directory… and navigate to the Commands folder inside the NetContent folder and click the choose button. Now each of the CPUs should initialize and finally change to a status of Ready.
8. Select the men CPUs->Global CPU Options... and set the For missing rendered frames, wait: __ seconds before crashing the CPU text field to 10. This is how many seconds that the controller will wait for frames to be copied into the local dropbox once it is informed that a node finished a frame. You may need to experiment with this setting if you notice any of the nodes being re-initialized at random times during the rendering for no apparent reason.
   
9. Now go down the CPU list and double-click on each one to open the CPU options.

   

10. Turn OFF the Use Remote Mounting Path (Mac Only) option for all the rendering nodes because we are using the same user name render and /Users/render/Dropbox/NetContent location on each Mac so all the file paths are the same. While you are doing this, you may also give each CPU a name that makes it easier for you to keep track of which Mac is running which lwsn instance.

Adding Scenes to ScreamerNet Controller for OS X

Add the first scene to the render queue. Select the menu Scenes -> Add Scene…, locate and load the first scene: "NetContent/Scenes/ DLI_LW11-SuperBalls-Anim.lws" Set the settings for Start Frame to 1, End Frame to 10 and Step to 1 Set the RGB Output File Path by click on the corresponding Change button. Navigate to the NetContent/Renders/ folder. Use DLI_LW11-SuperBalls-Anim as the Save As: name and click the Save button. Set the Files will be saved as: pop-up to LW_JPEG(.jpg) Click the OK button and the scene will be added to the render queue where it will be loaded by the nodes and they will begin rendering.

Add the second scene to the render queue.

1. Select the menu Scenes -> Add Scene…, locate and load the second scene: "NetContent/Scenes/DLI_LW11-SuperBalls-LowRes.lws"
2. Set the settings for Start Frame to 1, End Frame to 1 and Step to 1.
3. Set the RGB Output File Path by clicking on the Change button.
4. Navigate to the NetContent/Renders folder.
5. Use DLI_LW11-SuperBalls-LowRes as the Save As: name and click the Save button.
6. Set the Files will be saved as: pop-up to LW_JPEG(.jpg)
7. Click the OK button and the scene will be added to the render queue where it will be loaded by the nodes and they will begin rendering.

Rendering Scenes with ScreamerNet Controller for OS X

1. As each frame is rendered, it appears in the NetContent/Renders folder.
2. When finished rendering all scenes select CPUs -> Select All Active CPUs. Then select CPUs -> Remove CPUs. This will quit all the running ScreamerNet instances on all the remote rendering nodes.
3. Quit ScreamerNet Controller on the host Mac.
4. You may then Quit all the Terminal apps on each remote Mac.

Advanced Internet Rendering Through a Secure ssh Tunnel and vnc Screen Sharing

It can be extremely useful when setting up and managing network rendering over the Internet to use screen sharing so that you can directly access any available Macs in off-site locations. Mac OSX has built-in screen sharing software that may be used on a local area network or across the Internet. For added security and easier routing through any firewalls you may first set up a Secure Shell (ssh) tunnel through which you can run the VNC connection. Once the tunnel is open you may also direct Mac OS X’s standard file sharing through the same secure tunnel if you’d rather connect your lwsn nodes through the tunnel rather than using Dropbox. While Dropbox is a very easy way to set up secure sharing it could be somewhat inefficient if you are running many nodes on the local area network as well as a few remotely over the Internet because it has to send everything, text command files, scenes, assets and rendered frames, out to the central Dropbox server even when transferring files between nodes on the local area network.

More information and specific examples of setting up a secure ssh tunnel for ScreamerNet lwsn rendering across the Internet is covered in the network rendering chapter of my book: Creating a 3D Animated CGI Short. The chapter includes information about secure vnc screen sharing and port forwarding through your router and firewall as well as using Mac OS X’s built-in spaces to help manage a complex network rendering workflow.

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