Why don't you have a plugin to show me my render settings before I render? Really? Open the render settings pane in C4D and look and confirm your choices before doing a SAVE PROJECT (also then giving the benefit of a saved copy of those settings). If an "automated farm plugin" shows you an incorrect setting is chosen- how do you change it? (hint - open the render setting pane in C4D)

This other farm says they have a "dedicated farm" so I don't have to wait or share the farm with other users? This one is really kinda frustrating... The only way this can happen is if they have a complete identical full farm for each and every user or job they run. Example - you need to render - you log on, or call up etc. - oops... they are running a job for some other user - completion is estimated at anything from hours to days? Now what? Are you now waiting or sharing the farm with another user? This bogus "selling feature" is a complete smokescreen and what else are they trying to hide or cover up by this claim? The only farm that is always idle and ready for your project is the one that is either way too expensive that nobody uses it, or has failed so many times that nobody dares risk their projects running there, so they sit idle.

Why don't you show all these big names or logos of people who use RK? Sorry, RenderKing is about getting your renders done. That's it. What does "X" using the farm accomplish for your project? I admit when RenderKing first began I did for a very brief time, put "glowing reviews" or comments up on the web site, I still frequently get them emailed to me and they are very nice to get personally, but, I quickly realized that it was not proving anything to anyone - and like a chef, you are only as good as your last meal to the client. Looking back, I think this is a natural human way to try to express credibility - like name dropping people do "Me and Stallone had lunch at the bistro, yeah we did - See... I'm important" ha!. It did not take long to realize that I was seeing "glowing comments" and names on other render farm web sites that are now switched to using RK - so how credible is that? Like a "Best of Award" from ten years ago... umm... how are they TODAY? Also, and ultimately, RK is not meant to be in the spotlight - it is a back end resource that is here to do it's best to make YOU look good. The RK user is the star and the project is theirs - not RenderKings - to tout as an accomplishment. RenderKing is almost ten years old as I write this, that is a long time in the computer world - over all those years I've had emails asking for interviews or articles and I've politely turned them all down - I don't want RK to be the focus, I want the jobs being done to be the focus.

5. How

Email me at setup@RenderKing.com indicating you would like to set up an account. Include your name, company name (if applicable), mailing address, desired LOGIN NAME and PASSWORD (minimum of 4 characters please) and what version of C4D you would like to use to render in the email. I cannot setup a new account without this information. To change your PASSWORD on a current account, just email me or indicate the change in your next PAYPAL payment email.

Once you have an account on RenderKing at any time you have the ability to upload or download your files. Simply upload your complete project folder with all your settings set as needed. Make sure to set relative pathnames for textures. All users should be sure to remove any files and rendered frames when completely finished with your job so as not to waste server space. Files left on the server may be deleted immediately when the user subscription has expired.

INSTRUCTIONS for auto ZIP and UNZIP folders

In each ACTIVE user account folder there is a zip_username and an unzip_username

Upload a .zip file into your user folder and when it is finished uploading - move it into the unzip_username folder and it will uncompress itself and put it in a Done folder - Some FTP programs let you drag using a GUI or multiple windows to move folders. if not, then just use the MOVE command in your FTP program on the new uncompressed folder and put in the MOVE path /username (read as"slash and your user account name") that will move the new project folder to the root of your user directory ready to render.

NOTE: please do not upload directly into the zip or unzip folder - the server will keep trying to process the files before they are completely uploaded.

To compress the results of a render - i suggest renaming the finished rendered images folder to something like PROJECTNAME_RESULTS where project name is the name of the project folder that was rendered - then drag using the FTP application GUI or use the MOVE command of the FTP program and use /username (read as "slash and your user account name") and that will move the renamed results folder to the root of your project folder.

Next, drag the renamed folder using the FTP application GUI or use the MOVE command of the FTP program and use /username/zip_username (read as "slash username slash zip_username") once moved into that folder it will compress as a .zip archive and be ready to download from the DONE folder

You can also use these folders to duplicate your texture folders for multiple projects by unzipping an uploaded archive multiple times (move it in and out to repeatedly unzip the archive file) this can be another time saver for uploading multiple scenes of your renders that use the same texture files.


6. Plug-ins

Plug-ins for rendering will be added, updated and supported on an as-needed, and as-requested basis. Stability of the render farm machines for ALL users is first priority. Bake any plug-ins you can before rendering, this in most cases relieves the need for the plug-in to be on the render farm - many plug-ins may not function normally when distributed between multiple processors. Check your plug-in documentation for any concerns or compatibility with network rendering before you submit a job with a plug-in.

For Cinema 4D R11.532 64bit users the currently installed plug-ins are: quicktime 7.6.9, CD Morph 1.515, CD Joints & Skin 1.537, CD IK Tools 1.529, CD Constraints 1.527, RefShader 2.1.1, SplineSpread 1.129, SurfaceSpread 1.00.23, Sidewalk 1.00.01, Shadowcatcher, GearBuilder, Stormtracer 1.38, DeGamma .34, ColorChanger R11.5, Real Fresnel R11.5, Edgeshade 1.0.1.019, Enhance:C4D 1.00.22, Lumen 2.00.165, Height2Normals 1.06.16, Interposer pro 1.9.5, SteadyCam pro 3.03.11, Scoobycamtools 4.10.13, Add the Sea Reloaded R3, TranslucentPro 11.5, VreelSkin 11.5,Xfrog 4.45, Zblur 2.00.312 R11.5, bodypaint, advanced render, thinking particles, pyrocluster, mocca, dynamics, sketch & toon, hair, mograph, cineman, and any factory included plug ins from the C4D Studio bundle. (128CPU only) VRAYforC4D 1.2.6

For Cinema 4D R12.048 64bit users the currently installed plug-ins are: quicktime 7.6.9, SplineSpread 1.1.29 R12, SurfaceSpread 1.00.32 R12, Shadowcatcher, Stormtracer R12 1.38.05, DeGamma .36, Interposer pro 1.9.9r, SteadyCam pro 3.1 R12, Add the Sea Reloaded R3 R12, Cactus Dan CA Bundle Pro 1.5 R12, TranslucentPro R12, VreelSkin R12, enDOFin 1.0.3 R12, ReferenceShader 2.1.1 R12, Cineview 1.22.011, EdgeShade 1.01.024, EnhanceC4D 1.00.32, Lumen 2.00.171, Zblur 2.00.315, H2N, ScoobyCamTools 5.00.25, AMa Chamfer Maker, bodypaint, advanced render, thinking particles, pyrocluster, mocca, dynamics, sketch & toon, hair, mograph, cineman, and any factory included plug ins from the C4D Studio bundle. (128CPU only) VRAYforC4D 1.2.5.5 or VRAY 1.2.6.1, welter plugins_dist_2011-01-26_R120, sIBL_Cinema4D_Sept2010

For Cinema 4D R13.029 64bit users the currently installed plug-ins are: quicktime 7.6.9, SplineSpread 1.1.29 R12, SurfaceSpread 1.00.32 R12, Shadowcatcher, Stormtracer R13 1.38.10, DeGamma .37, Interposer pro 1.9.9r, SteadyCam pro 3.1 R12, Add the Sea Reloaded R3 R12, Cactus Dan CA Bundle Pro 1.5 R12, TranslucentPro R12, VreelSkin R12, enDOFin 1.0.3 R12, ReferenceShader 2.1.1 R12, Cineview 1.22.011, EdgeShade 1.01.024, EnhanceC4D 1.00.32, Lumen 2.00.171, Zblur 2.00.315, H2N, ScoobyCamTools 5.00.25, AMa Chamfer Maker, bodypaint, advanced render, thinking particles, pyrocluster, mocca, dynamics, sketch & toon, hair, mograph, cineman, welter plugins_dist_2011-01-26_R120, sIBL_Cinema4D_Sept2010, and any factory included plug ins from the C4D Studio bundle. (128CPU only) VRAY 1.2.6.1


7. Help

For render farm user account status, access or rendering issues, or any other RenderKing related questions email to help@RenderKing.com the response time will be as soon as possible.


8. Rules

Please render a couple test frames on your own computer FIRST. Please make sure you have tried at least ONE frame on your own machine to make sure it actually WILL render and not crash the render clients with an out of memory error as well as so you know what to expect for render time. Make sure you check your save and texture path names and have included all your textures before you start.

Please be aware of your render settings - a few times lately there have been users with completely outrageous render times and settings. This grinds productivity to a halt and needlessly wastes render time and resources. Please do some testing and try to keep suitable render times for the projects needs and not just turn on every advanced render feature and checkbox "because you can" it often adds little to the scene and complicates things unnecessarily. Recently a project was submitted with 10+ hour render times per frame! with a little tweaking and skilled use of the settings these per frame times were brought down to 1 hour with no noticable difference in the image result. This is a professional farm geared for professional users - please understand that wasteful settings will be handled by administrator control so efficient projects can have fair access to render time. Thank you for your understanding and respect of the use of an open time farm like RenderKing.

WARNING: Please - if using the IR + QMC Net Render option for GI - render and save your GI cache on your hardware, set your project to load SAVED GI file and upload the illum folder and gi cache to the farm for rendering. Maxon's implementation using this GI method is very inefficient and wasteful of processor time. As an alternate I recommend using the IR + QMC Still Image with 99% success in flicker free results. Renders submitted with IR + QMC Net Render may be stopped and evaluated by RK.

IMPORTANT:  if using VRAY, change settings under VRAY- OPTIONS uncheck the checkbox for LOW THREAD PRIORITY

IMPORTANT: if using VRAY the farm is based on i7 QUAD processors with hyperthreading - so please change any settings to the proper number of passes (light cache etc)

Admin Info: Abuse of the FTP server (i.e. usage unrelated to RenderKing) or unreasonable or "overkill" high render settings may cause administrator intervention - jobs stopped, reordered in the render queue, up to, or including the immediate termination of your account - forfeiting any balance.

Admin Info: Why do my jobs sometimes change order or start for short times and then stop again? If at times there are multiple jobs waiting in the render queue, to keep balance and fair access of the render farm time the Administrator may need to bump a job up for a variety of reasons; to ensure the job will render properly (i.e. all textures are included, no memory errors etc) to get an estimate or average frame render time so projects can be time estimated and the job queue fairly balanced if needed. Under normal circumstances the job queue runs as FIFO - first in, first out - but some users will queue multiple render jobs at one time - this can create an unfair balance to other users having fair access to render time (e.g. if one user uploaded 10 really long renders at once - and at the bottom of the job queue there was your render project that could finish in just minutes rather then sitting the entire time behind the other 10 very long renders) So occasional testing, or bumping of jobs may be necessary to help the Administrator create an accurate estimate of render time needs to balance the queue and overall user render time access. Adjustment of the render queue may also be done to allow the highest number of renders to finish in the fastest time (e.g. if there is one project estimated to take 20 hours to complete and 4 other projects behind it that all will take 30 minutes each to complete, it is more beneficial to reorder the queue for the fastest overall throughput as possible). The Administrator reserves the right to ensure the render farm is processing all projects - for all users - as balanced and efficiently as possible.

9. Discounts, Special Prices or Favors

Unfortunately I do not offer weekly or daily anymore when requested… Most long time users know I really try to be accomodating and work with everyone... I really tried to do the special request thing for a few years to help people out - but it can easily become a source of abuse, constant administration headaches, and upset the balance of the subscription model... What then happens is too many start asking to just subscribe for a day or a week only - saying that is all they need etc... I understand the specific need but it devalues the subscription premise and client base of the RK... It's like of asking for a discounted price at an all you can eat buffet because you don't want the appetizer or the dessert which comes with the meal.

Since the rates are already so low - it defeats the exteme savings purpose of the subscription model... (think how much a cell phone plan would be if you only wanted it for one week etc - it would essentially be the same cost since the infrastructure costs are still there) Even ONE small to average render at any of the time based render farms is usually the same or more expensive cost then a subscription at RK for a whole 25 days here... so even one render should easily justify the subscription costs.

10. Setup and Payment

Email me at setup@RenderKing.com indicating you would like to set up an account. Include your name, company name (if applicable), mailing address, desired LOGIN NAME and PASSWORD (minimum of 4 characters please) and what version of C4D you would like to use to render in the email. I cannot setup a new account without this information. To change your PASSWORD on a current account, just email me, or indicate the change in your next PAYPAL payment email.

RenderKing.com limits the total number of subscribers at any one time, this is to guarantee a high level of service and always enough available render time. Please email to inquire about the status of RenderKing user account availability or check the Sign Up page. Subscription fee must be paid in advance of your 25 day usage term.

The RenderKing Sign Up page lists the current user subscription status and expiration date. If all slots are filled you may choose to prepay to guarantee the next available spot - current users have first option to renew their existing subscription. If not resubscribed by the day of the expiration date posted the spot becomes available for a new user.

Payment is through PAYPAL merchant account where I have had a Certified Business Account for many years. The payment options are any major credit card, checks and direct bank account transfers. To avoid PayPay spending limits choose to pay with a standard credit card do not sign into the PayPal - instead choose the option "I do not have a paypal account" by the credit card icons. This will be a standard merchant account transaction just like any other credit card payment.

My PAYPAL account is my email address dann@darkskydigital.com


TO PAY:

Go to the RenderKing Sign Up page here

Thank you and I appreciate your honesty and professional respect of this service.