by John Dussold
Disclaimer: This tutorial is not the only way to do this! Just like anything in the world of computer graphics and animation, there are many other ways to do essentially the same thing. This is merely the way which works for me and that I find to be the easiest.
Assumptions: This
tutorial makes the following assumptions:
1. You have a working network setup
2. You have at least 2 PC's with the same Window's OS (operating systems)
3. Your PC's have Intel Processors
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Part 1: The Importance of a Good Content Directory The content
directory is what tells LightWave where to look when it loads your
objects, scenes, and images. The content directory is usually located
on the host computer and therefore must be accessible to other computers
on your network. In Windows XP Professional this is accomplished
by enabling sharing on the sharing tab within a folders properties
window (illustration a). |
An example of my content directory:  illustration b Note: when setting up content directory in this way be sure to name all of your files in someway that denotes what project they belong to or else you could possibly save over another projects file or just be hopelessly lost as to what object you want. |
| Part
2: Making Sure All Computers Can Access the Needed Files Not only does each computer need to have access to your content directory, but also each computer must have access of necessary LightWave files such as LightWave's config files and Plugins as well in order for Screamernet to work successfully. The absolute easiest way to do this is to simply enable sharing on the LightWave 3D folder found on your C: drive. This is done just as previously in our example with the content directory. The result should look like this: |
Part 3: Editing the Config Files In order for Screamernet to work properly you must edit the following config files located within your shared LightWave folder (C:\LightWave_3D_7.0\config): |
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If the thought of editing config files frightens you, do what I did and copy and paste these files into another location and edit the newly created config files. Just make sure all computers can access them. In fact I recommend doing this just in case I myself make a mistake in writing this tutorial. I'm not even close to being perfect so it's best to do so just to be on the safe side. |
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DirectoryType Scenes \\Diesel1\My Documents\Lightwave\a399\scenes\
DirectoryType Objects \\Diesel1\My Documents\Lightwave\a399\Objects\
Should be replaced
with lines like these which represent your current content directory
RecentContentDir \\DIESEL1\My Documents\Lightwave\
DirectoryType Scenes \\Diesel1\My Documents\Lightwave\scenes\
DirectoryType Objects \\Diesel1\My Documents\Lightwave\Objects\
Note: the example above does not show every single line that needs to
be edited in your config files there are many more. The key here is to
use common sense. Replace lines which point to incorrect locations.
On each computer we
need to make .bat files. These are the files that will start up screamernet
on each machine or rendering node.
The following will guide you through creating your bat files.
1. Open Notepad or
another suitable editor
2. Type the following as it pertains to your individual set up:
The computer jargon above translated into English means the following:
Location of screamernet application (LWSN.exe) starting with computer name\location of config files\location of job file\location of ack file
Note: The job file and ack file gives each node a number. For instance my host computer is also my rendering node number 1. The job and ack files are created in whatever location you designate here. I designated my Lightwave folder because it's easy to keep track of and because it is accessible to all computers on my network.
Save the file as Screamernet.bat or Node1.bat or anything.bat just make sure .bat is on the end of the file name.
Copy the bat file on to every other machine on your network.
Replace the number at the end of the job and ack lines with a different number for each machine so that they are all designated as a different node. So job1 ack1 becomes job2 ack 2 and job3 ack3 and so on… Save the bat files.
Part 5: Running Screamernet from Layout
Launch screamernet and choose ScreamerNetII from the drop down menu:
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Start up each screamer node by double clicking the bat files we have just created on all machines.
This will pop up on you're your screens:
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| Note: LightWave
command: wait. May say Can't open job file on your machines. This
is normal. Screamernet has yet to be initiated. |
| Press
Screamer Init illustration h |
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All CPU's are found! The rest is easy. Just add scenes by pressing Add Scene to List (you can add up to 100 scenes!) and when you're done adding scenes press Screamer Render. That's it!
Note: before screamernet rendering make sure all scenes are saved with the render options that you want and that all scenes are rendering out frames individually and not whole animations.
When done press Screamer
Shutdown this will shut down all nodes.
Well that's it. Hope this helps out. I know there aren't many tutorials
on this subject that make much sense. Hopefully this one does and if it
doesn't feel free to email me and I will try to help you out as much as
possible. Also don't forget to check your reference manuals for help with
questions about anything. They are great resources.