Is it possible right now to assign render nodes and workstations to a category?
So i can submit a render job with a category and only pc’s with that category are rendering on it?
Have seen the feature in Thinkbox Deadline an i think it is pretty important.
Thanks in Advance! PS: Is there any release date of the next version of render manager? 
Hello Florian,
Could you please name an example why you need a category?
It is a common request that the users want to create a group of PC where for example Anima licences are available. Luckily it is not needed in case of Render Manager. It has a unique feature called “requirement based node filtering”. It means that it automatically scanes all the plugins on every PC and it only allows the Node to pick up a job if the Node meets the requirement of the job. So you can send out your job without hesitation and the Render Manager does the job for you.
Thank you in advance for your answer.
Cheers,
Attila
Sorry total missunderstanding here
There is a studio with one workstation, 2 strong rendernodes and two not so powerful rendernodes.
Now i want to submit 2 render jobs (one is a still still image and the other one is a animation)
Now i want to assign those jobs to categorys, because i want the strong render nodes to work on the animation and the weak ones to render on the still image. Is that possible right now?
Thank you for the clarification!
Yes it is possible. You just have to run a Benchmark first. Benchmark is an inbuilt feature. It runs V-Ray or Corona benchmark and gives a score to the PC. You can select the computers in the Nodes tab and you can initiate a benchmark calculation at once. Having a benchmark score allows you to use it as a Requirement criteria. You can add the score as an additional requirement to a job. So if a Node is not powerful enough then it won’t be able to pick up the job.
This works for me. Thank You!
Only Problem i have with that solution is, that i can now manage the weak render nodes to stay away from the tough jobs (with a high benchmark score), but i can’t manage the strong render nodes to stay away from the weak jobs (with low benchmark score).
I come from Deadline and i find the “Groups” feature pretty handy.
https://docs.thinkboxsoftware.com/products/deadline/8.0/1_User%20Manual/manual/pools-and-groups.html
I see your point. We will definitely take steps to implement a feature like “Groups” in the next major version. In the meantime You can use the “Network Group” which is similar to Pools in Deadline.
You can create a new Network Group or you can switch between existing network groups under the settings window (little cogwheel icon).
You just have to fill out the “Group Name” field: name an existing or a new group.
And fill out the “Target Computer” field: type in the IP address or the name of a PC which is in the existing group where you want to go.
In this way you can have a separate pool for the images and for the animations.
We will come out with small bug fixes in the upcoming weeks and tha major version update will be in the beginning of 2021.
Ah thanks, that is another great workaround!
I think the the most important thing for the new feature is, that you can also change it after the job is submitted.
any news on this topic? i just installed 1.0.8 version and nothing really changed!
Hello Florian,
The requested feature will be available (“black list” vs. “white list”) in the upcoming 2.0 version. We have been testing it internally. The closed beta test will start soon and the official release planned within 2 months.
Thank you for your patience!
Best regards,
Attila
What feature of the new 2.0 version solves my problem? the exlusive nodes feature, or is there a blacklist whitelist?
Yes it got implemented in version 2. It’s called exclusive and blocked nodes. You can do it before submitting a job or on the fly.
Great job guys! New approach but works perfectly!
