Set up a master machine with mental ray standalone (method 1)

To set up a master machine with mental ray standalone - method 1

1. Create the .rayhosts file. Each line of the file should specify the name of a machine to be used as a network render slave.
2. Place the file in one of the following locations:
   • Place a file called .rayhosts in the home directory of the current machine. On Linux and Mac OS X the home directory is specified by the $HOME environment variable. On Windows machines, it is specified by %HOMEDRIVE%\%HOMEPATH% (on most machines, this is C:\).
   • Place a file called .rayhosts in the current directory, for example, from where the render will be invoked. A .rayhosts file in the current directory overrides one in the machine's home directory.
     Note: To verify which hosts file (if any) is being read, and what network render slaves are being contacted, use the ray command with a verbosity setting of 4 or higher. For example, runningD:\> ray -v 4 test.mi could produce the output:

     MAIN .0 info : mental ray, version 3.4
     MAIN .0 info :
     [...]
     MAIN .0 info :
     MAIN 0.0 info : version 3.4, 4 Dec 2004
     MAIN 0.0 info : compiled on: Windows NT 4.0, x86
     MSG 0.0 info : reading hosts file C:\\.rayhosts
     MSG 0.0 info : connecting host foobar1:7054 
     JOB 0.0 info : started thread 0 on foobar1 now known as host 1
     MSG 0.0 info : connecting host foobar2:7054 
     JOB 0.0 info : started threads 0,1 on foobar2 now known as host 2
     .....
     

     This indicates that the hosts file C:\.rayhosts was read, and that it specified network render slaves foobar1 and foobar2 for use in this rendering. The started thread 0, 1... messages indicate that the slaves were successfully contacted.

Related topics

• mental ray network rendering: Satellite and Standalone
• Submit a job to render over the network
• Set up a master machine with mental ray standalone (method 2)