Autodesk 12812-051462-9011 User Guide 3 - Page 2802

Network Manager The Network Manager service (Network Manager) is a service that must be installed on at least one computer in each group of computers that will participate in network rendering. The Network Manager communicates with a specified group of Network Rendering Servers to assign jobs and monitor rendering progress. The Network Manager also handles the scheduling of jobs and the configuration of servers through the Queue Monitor client. It's often best to place the Network Manager on a computer that isn't in use as a workstation and isn't shut down regularly. The Manager Service can impact CPU and network performance when network rendering is taking place, and the Network Manager must be present at all times for network rendering to work. The ideal place to install the Network Manager is on a file server. If you have a PC already set up as a texture-map file server, this would be an ideal place for it. You specify which PC is to be the Network Manager in the Network Job Assignment dialog, a subdialog of the Render Setup and Video Post Execute Sequence dialogs. Network Rendering Network Rendering is the rendering of animations using more than one computer connected by a network. Large and complex animations take many hours to render, even on the fastest PCs. Network rendering allows you to use the power of other computers to speed up the process. Any network-connected PCs that have the software installed can participate. You can even render using computers connected only by the Internet. Setting up network rendering involves installing three kinds of programs: ■ The Network Manager, which should be installed on a central file-server PC. ■ The Network Rendering Server, which must be installed on all participating PCs. Glossary | 8057