Hi there,

We're evaluation the 30-day trial here at Passion Pictures and have come across a few questions:

Question 1:
We are at the moment interested in using "DeadlineCommand.exe" through XSI and have successfully integrated it into our own renderfarm submission script.
However there's a slight problem when trying to, for example, change a job's priority through the monitor.
It says "The following items have invalid values:"
 "Pass to Render".

And I can see that the combo box is empty even though the scene and its passes renders fine.

Here's a simplified example of the job info file and plugin info file:
We are eventually replacing the hardcoded elements with our own variables.

Job Info:
Plugin=XSI
Frames=1-100
Pool=xsi
NetworkRoot=\\DeadlineRepository
Name=Testing

Plugin Info:
Pass=MyPass
ScriptJob=0

Question 2:
- Are there any plans on implementing a better job priority algorithm?
E.g. You have a 100 node farm and submit 10 jobs at equal priority:
The manager should automatically allocate 10 machines for each job instead of having it allocate 100 nodes for the first job and then jump onto the next job only once the first one is finished.

Thanks,
Nikos Gatos
Passion Pictures

This error sounds like an error in the

renderOtions.param file.



Make sure the name of the parameter matches the name in the job file and that the value matches the Type (string, integer, etc)





Sylvain Berger | Technical Director | Alpha Vision

Ho, and for question 2 you could machine limits in your jobs as a workaround.



By using a machine limit of 10 in your job you make sure that no job can use the whole renderfarm to itself.



Of course using this workaround have flaws, if there are only 1 or 2 jobs left, a lot of computer power will be left standing.



Personnaly I would prefers to have a preview algorith then one that would work like you explained.



Sylvain Berger | Technical Director | Alpha Vision

Hey Sylvain,



What do you mean by a “Preview Algorithm”?

• Ryan
  

Hi Nikos,



In 2.0, our XSI submission script would specify the pass to render using, for example:



Pass=MyPass



Then, it would also include a list of the current passes for the scene so that you could select a different pass after submission by specifying:



Pass0=MyPass

Pass1=AnotherPass

Pass2=…



That’s probably what your missing from your own submission script. In the next version, the pass option will no longer be a list like this. It will just be a text box where you can type in the passes you want rendered. There will also be an option to submit seperate jobs for each pass selected in the submission dialog.



There aren’t any immediate plans to change the job priority algorithm. As Sylvain mentioned, you can set Machine limits for your jobs to workaround this.



Ryan Russell

Frantic Films Software

http://software.franticfilms.com/

(204)949-0070