Set up a master machine with mental ray for Maya

First, create a file called maya.rayhosts.

maya.rayhosts file format

The maya.rayhosts file must contain a listing of each slave machine’s name. These slave machines must be accessible on the network where mental ray for Maya (the master machine) is installed.

For mental ray for Maya masters going to mental ray standalone slaves, you do not need to specify the port if you are using the default port (31310).

For mental ray for Maya Satellite masters, you must add the port number by typing “:<port number>” after the hostname in the maya.rayhosts file. The port number set on mental ray for Maya Satellite slave machines is 7416. For example: 

pc-host1:7416 
pc-host2:7416

If you are using a non-default port, you can specify it here as well: 

lnx-host2:7555

You can use # to comment hosts out so they won’t be used; for example: 

# pc-slave4:7416

You can use IP addresses as well as machine names.

Note: The port on which the slave listens is specified by the services file on the slave machine. For more information, see Slave machine setup. It is 31310 for mental ray standalone and 7416 for mental ray for Maya Satellite (as of Autodesk Maya 2016).

The port on which the master issues requests is set in the maya.rayhosts file or defaults to 31310 (the mental ray standalone port).

The port number on the slave and the port number on the master must match for rendering to take place.

maya.rayhosts file location

Put the maya.rayhosts file in one of the following directories. (They are searched in order and the first maya.rayhosts file that is found is used.)

Verify which hosts file is being read

To verify which hosts file is being read

  1. Set the verbosity level for messages from the translation process by using the MEL command as outlined in Export Verbosity. During a render, messages similar to the following are output to the Script Editor:

    // Info: (mental ray) : loading startup file C:/Program Files/Autodesk/Maya201x/mentalray/maya.rayrc

    // mental ray for Maya: using rayhosts file C:/Documents and Settings/user1/My Documents/maya/maya.rayhosts

    Additionally, error messages from mental ray for Maya are printed to the Maya Output Window.

Change the set of slaves used for mental ray for Maya renders

To change the set of slaves being used for mental ray for Maya renders

  1. Close Maya, modify the appropriate maya.rayhosts file, and restart Maya.

Related topics

Parent topic: Network rendering using Satellite and Standalone