Rendering frustration

Currently working tech support for a team using VIZ 4 with file linked ADT geometry and rendering with Brazil on a large site plan (several multi-story detailed buildings, contoured site model, exisitng neighborhoods and trees). If you have ever used any RPC content (www.archvision.com) then you know that they can help to fill out your scene while keeping your polyface counts relatively low as opposed to using a fully modeled tree.

Why the frusturation? RPC content has always worked great for me in VIZ, Max and ADT using the scanline renderer. I recently got netrendering set-up for this group and all the production tests went great, however one project animation that needs to go out asap will not send the RPC content (500 trees +/-) out via netrender when using the Brazil engine. The 'fishes were helpful in trying to iron out the issue and brought in a few other users to help troubleshoot. After discussing this issue with a few others it seems that the RPC content has caused a few problems for them on random projects as well. I will be contacting archvision tech support on Mon. to get help to address this issue we are having. I am sure this issue can be isolated and resolved, but not tonight. In the meantime it is rendering fine on a single machine (dual processors) and will be ready for the first release in time.

4 Important Steps You Should Learn From This Post Before Contacting Tech Support:

1. Know the make, model, amount of ram and what the other components of you computer system are. I would recommend saving a copy of this information in a text file so you can retrieve the information when needed.

2. Know which version and release of all releated software that you have. This includes your os and service packs for each program. Again it would help to have this in a text file for quick retrieval later.

3. Before contacting tech support for any issue, try to repeat and isolate what is causing the issue. Ex. If you press the alt key and the space bar at the same time and the program crashes this would be helpful information to know and provide to tech support. Simply stating that the program crashes and you have no further details is not as helpful. :)

4. Search for the answer/solution first on your own. A quick internet search using the keywords of your problem may turn up the solution to your issue and save you a tech support call. This may also let you know whether this is a known issue or not.

I will keep you updated. Until next time,

Happy Rendering...