Network Render Problem

2G wrote on 5/19/2004, 10:35 AM
I took the plunge and began setting up a render client. I got it installed and running on the remote. Then came to the master machine and started the network render service. First attempt failed since I hadn't set up the file mappings. (the fail showed up on the remote server status window as well). After updating the mappings I was going to try again. When I brought up the render panel to select the machine, the dropdown was empty. Render service still shows the render box (refresh status still showed "ready"). Rebooted both machines just to get to a known state. Nothing. The local render service still says the remote renderer is available. But the main V5 doesn't see it.

What am I missing?

2G

Comments

SonyPJM wrote on 5/19/2004, 11:23 AM

My first guess is that you have a firewall running that prevents Vegas
from making Internet connections. Vegas needs to connect to the local
service via TCP.

Another guess is that you may have changed the default port on which
the render service is running on your editing machine (by editing the
NetRenderService.config file). If so, you'll also need to make the
corresponding change to NetRenderClient.config.
2G wrote on 5/19/2004, 11:57 AM
I don't have a firewall between the machines, and I didn't change the port anywhere.

But either one of those conditions would be a solid failure. Why would it work once then stop working 5 minutes later? The editing machine render service still appears to see the renderer. It lists the machine name with a bunch of "tcp://...." stuff and says status is "ready". Vegas running on the same editing machine apparently can't see it.

Is the render service window on the editing machine really showing true status (when you refresh)? In other words, can I trust that if it says "ready" it is truly communicating with the renderer?
SonyPJM wrote on 5/19/2004, 1:05 PM

It is strange that it would work once but then stop working after
changes to the file mappings.

When you refresh the renderer status and get "Ready", communication
between the services did succeed... otherwise it would say
"Unavailable" after a few seconds. But when no render service urls
appear in the "Render Host" combo box in Vegas' "Network Render"
dialog (which shows up after the "Render As" dialog), the problem is
probably communication between Vegas and the local service. Vegas
itself only communicates with the local render service.

Is the "OK" button in Vegas' "Network Render" dialog enabled?
2G wrote on 5/20/2004, 11:38 AM
Interesting, the renderer list is empty, but the OK button is enabled. Just to see what would happen, I pressed OK. Dialog happily dismissed. I went over to the network render service and a job started up... rendering the file on the local edit machine. The edit machine doesn't appear in the list of renders on the render service, but apparently it can be a renderer as well.

What communication mechanism does V5 use to talk the local render service? (I am a software architect....I understand tech talk as deep as you want to go).
SonyPJM wrote on 5/20/2004, 2:37 PM

Communication between Vegas and the local render service is through
.net remoting which uses tcp.

The local service is used as a renderer unless you uncheck the "Enable
Rendering" option in the render service application.