TG2 Render farms

[bigben]

Back at work and connected to my mapped drive again 

It's now running the correct TGD from my mapped drive and rendering images as per the Sequence/Output tab.

Even in this beta form this version is tremendously useful for me as I can only get access to extra machines on an adhoc basis and this beats the hell out of distributing .bat files and tracking the progress of each... (although I have just finished the job tracking component of my database).  I'll save the rest of my feedback until after exams   

[Dark Fire]

Thanks. I'll be able to revise for my exams more efficiently now, as my mind won't have much of an excuse to wander...

[Dark Fire]

The exams are finally over . I am currently in the process of preparing to start major updates for all of my software. The Emptosoft Rendering Tool for Terragen 2 Technology Preview will become one of the flagship pieces of software, at the expense of the software I wrote for Terragen 0.9. Several more beta versions will be released between now and the release of the version 1.0 of the software, when it will be renamed 'The Emptosoft Render Farm Manager'. As with T2TP, complications will probably arise, and I am therefore not setting a definite release date. However, I am pretty sure that version 0.9 will not be released before October 2007 or after October 2008 - I have a lot of other things that I simply have to do in the next year, including more exams and applying for university. Version 1.0 will be released shortly after Terragen 2.0 is released (just in case there are any last-minute changes to Terragen 2.0).

On a more interesting note, I am looking into making the Emptosoft Rendering Tool for Terragen 2 Technology Preview automatically stitch together images that have been split for more efficient rendering. I have become interested in adding the image-stitching feature not only because it is a challenge (I've never done anything like it before) but because it doesn't require T2TP for me to test it.

Anyway, I will post news here when I release new beta versions. Use this thread for feedback.

[bigben]

Hope the exams went well.  Just let us know if you need anything tested 

[Adam Chrystie]

I use The Condor Project to control my T2 renders on OS X. It is free, but you'll need to make yourself a simple program
to generate the render submit requests. You can use any language to make the render submit requests. Condor also works on Windows and Linux.

[bigben]

I've downloaded Condor but haven't gone to the trouble of setting it up yet. Both have their place. DarkFire's software is very quick to get running for the less technically minded and the development of it will include some TG specific features/ uses.

[Dark Fire]

I started writing software for Terragen because I thought a could come up with software that is both easier to use than the commonly used rander farm management software, and also has handy Terragen-specific features. I actually wrote the software for my personal use originally, and I try to maintain that level of simplicity, speed and handy random features that I like.

I think that all of my software can be summarised by the following sentence:
Making technically complicated stuff fairly easy to do while maintaining a reasonable level of customisation.

[Dark Fire]

For various reasons, the main one being lack of time to do the huge amount of work that needs to be done, most of my software, including the Emptosoft Rendering Tool for Terragen 2 Technology Preview, will be going open source in the next few months (unless somebody wants to buy any of it, which I doubt).

[Dark Fire]

Here it is...Open-source at last!

(Released under a beerware-type licence).