By Chris (Riprod2) (216.242.142.235) on Monday, December 30, 2002 - 07:16 pm:

Is it possible ?
I have a bunch of OS X Macs and Win 2000 PCs and can run screamernet very successfully on the Macs but the PC nodes don't work with the mac controller. I've setup the cofigs correctly and the Mac controller sees the nodes and says they're ready but when it receives a file it says the following :
-----------
loading scene "Macintosh HD:content:scene:frames1-1000.lws"
error: can't load scene
scene loaded

wait

wait

wait
------------

It seams like a Macintosh / PC path issue (ie. the ":" instead of the "\"). I have linked to the Mac from the PC and assigned the drive letter "L" to the content folder. The configs on the PC all point to the "L" drive. So I can only assume it is in the Mac controller.

Is there a way to resolve this ?
Also are there other issues with this cross platform rendering, such as color differences etc. ?

thanks - Chris

By ted devlin (Eblue) (12.149.3.2) on Thursday, January 02, 2003 - 08:45 am:

are you versed in cross platform issues?
I'm asking because, Lightwave for pc cannot open a mac scene file without it first being saved with PC line endings.
This is something that has zip to do with screamernet, but could ruin your attempts, and it may not be the only issue.

By Miles (Maplw3d) (206.149.192.109) on Friday, January 03, 2003 - 09:36 am:

I would like very much to know more about how this works out for you since I find myself with access to more than one system of a cross platform configuration. Aside from the actual scene file accessing the source files the biggest problem I've been made aware of is if the scene is dependent on any 3rd party plug-ins for rendering the look you've setup for. I guess the one platform is not able to use the others plug-ins because of different coding. This could be a real issue for cross platform render farming and seriously effect render times on a project that warrants the need for as many system to be used as possible. My guess is, and this is just a guess, that if we had the same 3rd party plug-ins on both platforms it could resolve this one cross platform issue. Obviously though it would mean a needed change of marketing/sales frame of mind on the plug-in developers part to sell plug-ins either compatible for both platforms and/or in a pricing range not all that more than just the purchase of what a single platform plug-in costs.

Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but I bought LW mainly because of their open number of systems for network rendering sales point, but now I'm finding the hassles of setting up LWSN and the limitations of the 3rd party plug-in compatibility enough of brick wall to make that marketing/sales option/claim moot. That may not mean much with regards to fact they already scored my $, but it would go a long way to my recommending LW to any future cross platform 3D networking user.

Please keep us posted on how you get things running.

By Jon Baker (Jdavidbakr) (65.64.51.92) on Monday, January 06, 2003 - 02:38 pm:

We have just released a public beta of version 3.1 of the ScreamerNet Controller, which controls PC nodes. You can download it from our download site at:
http://www.catalystproductions.cc/screamernet/download.html
It is a free upgrade for any registered users of version 3.0. It is in beta, so please report any technical problems but we cannot promise to offer support. Hopefully soon we will release the full version.

-Jon Baker
Catalyst Productions

By Chris (Riprod2) (216.242.142.235) on Tuesday, January 07, 2003 - 07:06 pm:

With the help of Jon Baker's ScreamerNet controller I have this working like a dream. It is fantastic. Rendering on Mac OS X, OS 9.2.2 and Windows 2000. 15 nodes running now, without any problems. (EVEN over the internet on T1 connections)

Every file is identical. I've compared colors, sizes etc. in photoshop.

- Chris

By js33 (Js33) (12.237.176.146) on Tuesday, January 07, 2003 - 07:12 pm:

Hi Jon,

What about creating and rendering on the PC and using an iMac as a render node?

Cheers,
JS

By Chris (Riprod2) (216.242.142.235) on Tuesday, January 07, 2003 - 08:05 pm:

JS - What about just running Jon's Controller on the iMac and using the PC and iMac as nodes. It doesn't matter where the file is created.

By js33 (Js33) (12.237.176.146) on Tuesday, January 07, 2003 - 08:10 pm:

Well I could but I like to run LW on my P4 2.53 Ghz as it renders previews and everything faster as well as running 1280 x 1024 resolution on my 19" monitor.

But I guess you are saying I could still do that and then copy all the files over to the mac and render from there?

I guess I am really wondering if there is a PC controller that uses Macs as nodes also.

Cheers,
JS

By Jon Baker (Jdavidbakr) (65.64.51.92) on Wednesday, January 08, 2003 - 12:22 pm:

The ScreamerNet Controller is designed to take a scene file created in the Mac and convert it to be usable for a PC, but it will not work the other way around. The Controller will only open files that were _created_ on the Mac (you have to at least do a "Save As" on the Mac to give the file the creator code that the Controller needs to recognize it). If there is enough of an interest, we may consider increasing the functionality to allow it in this way, though.

-Jon

By js33 (Js33) (12.237.176.146) on Wednesday, January 08, 2003 - 02:19 pm:

Hi Jon,

There are already several SNC for the PC but I don't know if any of them will use Macs as a render node. I'll check them out and report back.

Cheers,
JS