Torrender.net - free distributed rendering of 3ds max scenes over the world

Hello, this is my current project (i’m a developer) and it already works in russian community:
http://scriptattack.com/maxscripts/torrender/index_eng.html - project details
http://torrender.net - site
http://torrender.net/TORRENDER_show_nodes.php - nodes
http://torrender.net/TORRENDER_show_jobs.php - jobs
http://torrender.net/TORRENDER_show_frames.php?id=1&jobid=100 - some job details

Russian release was at March 1, and now i’m going to release the system for all. But i can’t prepare some things only by myself in short time, so i’m looking for a man to be my right hand in english-speaking community and help with some pre-release actions. Who wants to help me and take part in this free for all 3ds max users system of global distributed rendering?

Who do I need?

  1. European, fluent in English (because of time zone), but americans, australians - you are welcome too!
  2. Active and experienced user of torrender (i’ll teach and consult you)
  3. Available in skype every day or at least 5 days in a week.
  4. 30+ years old, experienced user of 3ds max
  5. If you are famous cg-artist and have a site with your own 3d content also - you are the best!

What i need from right-hand man:

  1. Help with translation to english (fix my english grammar)
  2. Make an instructional video of how to work with torrender
  3. Support english-speaking users, answer a questions and etc.
  4. Help in promotion of torrender everywhere (we diskuss this in skype)

For now be a right-hand man is not a paid job but this is a temporary situation i hope, as for me - i’m working on this project from 2012 (actually an idea comes at 2010 but development in code starts two years later) year without any financial supportment from anybody.

You are welcome with any questions and opinions
Additional Info:

For those, who wants to test it as it is:
To register:
open this link: http://torrender.net/signup.php turn on checkbox and press button below.
In the next window fill your info in the textfields (from top to bottom):

  1. Email
  2. Password
  3. Password again
  4. Nickname
  5. where are you from (country or city or whatever)
    Finally, press the button below to register

You have to install WinRAR and uTorrent before you continue, also in uTorrent configuration you should turn on option “Append !ut to incomplete files”, you can find it in Preferences > General
After that you can continue with client.

Torrender client installation:
Download link: http://torrender.net/client/torrender.zip
Unzip it, there would be russian readme.txt and mzp file.
If you have max 2013-2014 then just drop this mzp into max’s window, if no then rename to zip, extract files and copy Torrender folder and *.mcr file into maxroot\ui\macroscripts folder.

After that :

  1. Run 3ds max
  2. Go to Customize\Customize User Interface\Toolbars, and create new toolbar.
  3. Select “ScriptAttack” from Category list and drag label “torrender” to your toolbar. The “TR” button will be created there.
  4. Press it to start client
    If you wish, you may drag the label to any standard toolbar without creating your own toolbar.

Client setup:
In Configuration you have to pick WinRAR and uTorrent folders, pick or create 6 folders needed by the system (all should be different), i recommend to use button “Create/Pick all folders at once” and pick for example drive D, like i did in the screenshot or any empty folder:
http://scriptattack.com/maxscripts/torrender/config.gif
Turn on checkboxes of the plugins you have (if you want)
After that put smth in Name and From textfields,email in Email textfield and password in the Password field (email and password are the same you use during registration).
Press Login button (top-left corner of the window) to login into system, your node will appear here: http://torrender.net/TORRENDER_show_nodes.php

After login all other buttons will be available.

My Jobs
To create your own job press My Jobs button, load the scene into 3ds max and press submit button (all additional files, textures must be in the folder of max file, because script puts whole folder in the archive)
After that you will see additional window to submit job on the tracker (skip hashframe creating, it’s not used now).
Checkboxes above the listview of My Jobs rollout are the settings of your Job and also requirement of the render-nodes, also with 3 system parameters:
VFB - show/hide VFB while somebody will render your job
Farm - parameter unused now.
Hide - hide/unhide your job in the list of jobs, link: http://torrender.net/TORRENDER_show_jobs.php
After that you have to wait until somebody would download and render your job. Press “Check Job” to check this. You may close client but don’t exit uTorrent because it’s uploading your newly created job.
Dbl-click on the job in the list to open frames page for your job

Render Seed
To render jobs from other users just press Find Job button.

Helper Seed
To help users download and upload content (you will not render anything in ths case) just press Help Job button.

My friends
Add nodes (by ID) to be your friends. It’s easy. Login with Seed button turned on to render jobs only from your friends.

Hope this tutorial helps, enjoy.

Version Requirement: 3ds max 2010 and up
Other Software Required: WinRAR, uTorrent

I haven’t given the system a try (I don’t have much need for render farm-esque rendering these days), but provided that it works as described, that’s an exciting prospect especially for the “little guys”.