SquidNet Network Render Manager
A lot of people are aware of my absolute pure hatred of ButterflyNetRender, but what are better alternatives? Well, I’m finding that RenderPal blows in its own way, and Smedge after the change to its licensing set up so you are paying per node instead of a site wide license also sucks – there is little left on the market that is affordable to a small independent user or mid sized shop but can scale easily and not by sucking money out of your wallet. Or is there?
A while back I gave SquidNet a try. While it’s got its own quirks there are things about it that I really like including the fact that you can get a site license for a reasonable amount of money and its yours. No subscription bullshit if you choose to not get into that. The good people at SquidNet have updated their render controller to version 2.66 and it’s looking really nice. For anyone who needs a solid solution, I suggest giving it a try. « Iron Sky – Day 74 (Previous News)
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5 Comments to SquidNet Network Render Manager
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I’m a huge fan of Deadline, and it has broader platform support. Great support, etc. Two nodes are free, but you have to pay for all nodes when you need 3 or more (along with maintenance, if you wish), so the initial cost is a little steeper than I would like, but maintenance is dirt cheap.
Maintenance isn’t mandatory, but the fees are so low that it really isn’t a big deal.
I gave deadline an honest shot several years back but it was still more linux geek ware than usable app for me to get comfortable with. I also didn’t like the lack of real time node dump feed back. I shouldn’t have to sit there and hit “refresh” like in RenderPal and many other controllers so as to see what LWSN is doing. As for broader platform support – Squidnet is pretty diverse render pal is as well – but I still think Smedge does absolutely everything.
Odd. From the Deadline documentation, this seems to be possible. They don’t do it by default to keep the network overhead lower and the repository machine less heavily loaded.
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Is it possible to have the Monitor refresh automatically?
Yes, this can be set in the user options (Tools -> Options). Under Monitor options, find the User Interface section and set the Auto Refresh Period.
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I’ve been using SquidNet for over a year now on my small 20 node farm. It has tons of features and just works. I once ran a very large 2000+ animation job that ran for 16 days straight without issue. While rendering, SN ran beautifully. I’ve used dealine in the past but always had problems with the setup. SN just installed and ran right out of the box. All you really had to do was set the correct application paths and it did the rest. If you’re looking for great render manager without spending a lot of money, Squidnet is the way to go. Check it out, they offer a free 30 day evaluation.
Hope this helps,
Rob
We use Muster at work, and for $2499 you get a site license. It has some amazing features for the price you pay, especially in the area of WOL and rules around WOL and activating workstations.