Setting Up TCP/IP

3ds Max uses the standard network protocol, TCP/IP, for network rendering. TCP/IP is a two-part acronym. TCP (Transport Control Protocol) communicates data between applications. IP (Internet Protocol) communicates data between an application and the physical network. Each computer in your rendering network needs to be configured for this protocol.

Before continuing, be sure that:

The TCP/IP protocol requires a device, called a network adapter or Network Interface Controller (NIC), to bind with in order to communicate with other machines. Typically, the network adapter is a network card, but if you are linked to the Internet by modem, a dial-up adapter (the modem) is used.

TCP/IP uses IP addresses to identify the computers on a network. For convenience, you can assign real names to computers. An IP address is a serial number of four integers separated by periods, for example, 192.100.100.1.

IP addresses can be fixed (as in the example above) or automatic, supplied dynamically each time you connect to the network by a system known as DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol).

3ds Max uses the NIC number, which can be thought of a unique serial number assigned to each network card, to identify each machine in the network. This allows the use of DHCP since the IP address usually changes when a machine using DHCP is rebooted.

In some cases, you may want to specify a fixed IP address, for example:

In the case of fixed addresses, it is important that IP addresses be properly assigned. In this step, you make up a list of machine names and their corresponding IP addresses to use during TCP/IP configuration. The list will also be used when installing the 3ds Max rendering services.

Using the Manager name is particularly useful when its IP address is assigned dynamically via DHCP, and can change from session to session.

On a closed network, you don't have to worry much about conflicts with the IP addresses of other network domains. However, the addresses need to follow a consistent pattern and each must be unique within your network.

Warning: On an open network, such as those in many large corporations, do not alter IP addresses in any way. In such cases, to avoid potentially disastrous consequences, always work with your system administrator to make IP address changes.

Next Step

Configuring TCP/IP

Procedures

To create machine names and IP addresses:

Warning: Machine names should not start with numbers or have spaces or underscores in them, as those will result in illegal names in TCP/IP. This will cause unexpected behavior in the network rendering system.
Machine Name IP Address
server001 192.100.100.1
server002 192.100.100.2
server003 192.100.100.3
... ...
server254 192.100.100.254