BatchServe FAQ
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What version of XSI does BatchServe support?
BatchServe was designed to work with XSI version 2.0 and above.
Can I run BatchServe server and client on the same machine?
Yes, but it is not recommended. Should you decide to use your BatchServe server machine as a client as well, make sure that the Apache and MySQL processes have a higher priority than the BatchServe client. Otherwise, the rendering process may consume all of the system resources, crashing the entire renderfarm.
Why do I get an error when I go to the submit page from Net View?
Net View shares its security settings with Internet Explorer. The submit script inside Net View needs to be able to access files on your machine to function, which is not permitted by default.
BatchServe Clients can't load the scene. What's wrong?
You need to make sure that all of the client machines can access the files needed, either from a UNC path \\machine\folder or by having a local copy of the scene on each machine. BatchServe will only pass the file path to the client machines and it won't copy scene data across the network.
What happens when a render fails?
BatchServe client can only checkout a single frame at a time, so the worst case is that the failed frame will have to be re-rendered by the same client or another client. Three attempts are made to render a frame before it is marked as an error. If a particular client fails on three different frames, then that client is taken offline to prevent it from marking any other frames as errors.
Why doesn't my Hair scene render properly?
Hair, and any of the other simulation tools in XSI, can work in one of 2 modes:
- live: the simulation at a given frame is based on the data from a previous frame.
- cached: the simulation is read from a file.
Because BatchServe will render the same scene on multiple clients, you cannot guarantee that the client that renders frame 2 is the one that rendered frame 1 before it. Always set any simulations to use cached files when using BatchServe.
Can I use BatchServe to render Max/Maya scenes?
No. At this time, only XSI is supported as a client application.
Why do I have to open the scene in XSI before submitting it?
BatchServe needs to access all of the render options for all of the passes in the scene. The binary XSI scene format (.scn) can only be parsed by XSI. Also, this allows for a simple one-click render submit process without having to manually input all the render option data into the system.
Can I use multiple versions of XSI concurrently?
No, but you can group client machines based on the XSI version that they are using. There is no automated mechanism to start one version or another on the same client based on the version used to create the scene.
Why are only ten of my clients rendering successfully?
You might be serving the scene from Microsoft Windows 2000 Workstation, which limits the number of connections to a shared file system. Make sure that the scenes are stored on a file server running a Microsoft Server edition.
