Important: Ensure all computers involved in rendering are set not to hibernate automatically.

Prepare in advance

1. Choose the packaged resource in File > External Data, configure the rendering settings (engine, sample rate, etc.), and save.
2. Store the blend file in a shared directory accessible by all workers.

Ready to use

1. Install the renderworkshop_manager.zip plugin in blender on the computer you are working on, and enable renderworkshop.
   
2. Unzip renderworkshop_worker_xxx.zip on the computer where the rendering task is to be performed and run the executable, please note that your operating system needs to be compatible with the system of the worker file.
   
3. Open the blend file which need to render.
4. Open the N panel and select renderworkshop.
5. Click start server to enable the manager service.
   
6. On worker computers, configure the settings in the config file and launch the worker. For GPU rendering, adjust "Cycles rendering devices" in Blender's Edit > Preferences > System.
   • server_ip: The manager's IP address.
   • server_port: The port used by both manager and workers.
   • blender_path: The absolute path to the Blender executable, preferably matching the manager's version.
   • retry_second: Setting the timeout for a worker to find a manager
     
7. The manager's parameter list will display connected workers.
8. In the worker list
   1. specify the network path to access the blend file.
   2. If you are using Cycles rendering, set the device to the Cycles rendering devices set by your worker.
   3. If the worker is Mac OS, you can set the GPU backend to metal. GPU backend support for Vulkan will be added when official Vulkan support is available.
   4. The number of threads is set to 0 to automatically adjust the rendering threads according to the performance, the maximum is 1024.it is recommended that you do not change this setting.
      
9. Refresh the scene list, select the scene to render, and configure the parameters:
   • For single images, set the frame and the number of tiles (recommended: 2-20)(Larger image sizes and a larger number of workers can be set to a larger number of slices).
   • For animations, set the start and end frames and Split (the number of frames per task.It is not recommended that the split frame rate be set too small)
10. Click render. Images will be saved in the blend file directory under the scene name. Animations will be saved in a folder named after the scene within the blend file directory.

Update Log

V0.02    2024.10.24

1. Support merge image with AgX , Filmic, Filmic log and Khronos PBR Neutral look
2. Support check workerlist
3. Disable render setting when rendering
   
4. Fix Cycles engine render bug

1. Support automatic identification of Cycles Device and GPUBackend
   
2. The worker is no longer allowed to accept additional data while it is running.
3. Add md5 check to blend file
4. improve the server message queue

1. Info adds a new progress bar
2. Rewrite the workerlist inspection process
3. merge_image uses the copied new temporary scene and no longer takes up the original scene synthesis
4. recv_data adds timeout feedback
5. Optimize the timeliness of info feedback