POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.unix : Possible way(s) to install POV-ray on a cluster Server Time
28 Mar 2024 06:36:03 EDT (-0400)
  Possible way(s) to install POV-ray on a cluster (Message 1 to 9 of 9)  
From: Christian Baun
Subject: Possible way(s) to install POV-ray on a cluster
Date: 2 Aug 2014 04:10:01
Message: <web.53dc9b9a7b1b3b9dce9901c40@news.povray.org>
Hi all,

I want to install POV-ray on a cluster of Debian machines.

Compiling POV-ray 3.7 worked very well, but now I don't know what is the best
option to use multiple nodes with POV-ray together.

Some projects like MPIPOV [1] or other projects [2][3][4] look dead. Broken
links, no update since >10 years...

[1] http://www.ce.unipr.it/research/parma2/povray/povray.html
[2] http://pvmpov.sourceforge.net/
[3] http://www.wozzeck.net/images/pmp/
[4] http://www.verrall.demon.co.uk/mpipov/

Approach 1-4 are all related to patches which are either not available any more
or look quite outdated and incompatible with POV-ray 3.7.

This approach [5] looks quite helpful because it is not related to any patches.
It just splits the image calculation by row.

[5] http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~wrooney/present/povclust.html

What is the best option to create a POV-ray cluster?
Is there any project which makes use of MPI and is up to date?

Thanks for any help.

   Christian Baun


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From: clipka
Subject: Re: Possible way(s) to install POV-ray on a cluster
Date: 2 Aug 2014 05:00:04
Message: <53dca894@news.povray.org>
Am 02.08.2014 10:05, schrieb Christian Baun:

> I want to install POV-ray on a cluster of Debian machines.
>
> Compiling POV-ray 3.7 worked very well, but now I don't know what is the best
> option to use multiple nodes with POV-ray together.
>
> Some projects like MPIPOV [1] or other projects [2][3][4] look dead. Broken
> links, no update since >10 years...
>
> [1] http://www.ce.unipr.it/research/parma2/povray/povray.html
> [2] http://pvmpov.sourceforge.net/
> [3] http://www.wozzeck.net/images/pmp/
> [4] http://www.verrall.demon.co.uk/mpipov/
>
> Approach 1-4 are all related to patches which are either not available any more
> or look quite outdated and incompatible with POV-ray 3.7.

Indeed, forget all of the above.


> This approach [5] looks quite helpful because it is not related to any patches.
> It just splits the image calculation by row.
>
> [5] http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~wrooney/present/povclust.html

This approach is problematic with radiosity, creating visible artifacts 
at the seams.


> What is the best option to create a POV-ray cluster?

My personal suggestion would be to use UberPOV, with radiosity sample 
caching disabled (effectively using stochastic sampling for diffuse 
illumination), a different random seed on each machine, and letting all 
machines render the very same complete scene. The resulting images can 
then be averaged via imageMagick or the like to reduce the noise in the 
images.


> Is there any project which makes use of MPI and is up to date?

If you find any, let us know.


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From: Christian Baun
Subject: Re: Possible way(s) to install POV-ray on a cluster
Date: 8 Aug 2014 15:40:00
Message: <web.53e526776b1b2e0950a09d050@news.povray.org>
Hi all,

I implemented two shell scripts (no MPI or PVM), which implement the
functionality I was looking for.

Here it is:

http://code.google.com/p/task-distributor/

Maybe you enjoy it.

Best Regards
   Christian Baun


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From: clipka
Subject: Re: Possible way(s) to install POV-ray on a cluster
Date: 8 Aug 2014 15:53:40
Message: <53e52ac4$1@news.povray.org>
Am 08.08.2014 21:35, schrieb Christian Baun:
>
>
> Hi all,
>
> I implemented two shell scripts (no MPI or PVM), which implement the
> functionality I was looking for.
>
> Here it is:
>
> http://code.google.com/p/task-distributor/
>
> Maybe you enjoy it.

Nice job! Thanks for sharing.


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From: jhu
Subject: Re: Possible way(s) to install POV-ray on a cluster
Date: 16 Aug 2014 21:30:00
Message: <web.53f004e26b1b2e09fd3737aa0@news.povray.org>
clipka <ano### [at] anonymousorg> wrote> > What is the best option to create a
POV-ray cluster?
>
> My personal suggestion would be to use UberPOV, with radiosity sample
> caching disabled (effectively using stochastic sampling for diffuse
> illumination), a different random seed on each machine, and letting all
> machines render the very same complete scene. The resulting images can
> then be averaged via imageMagick or the like to reduce the noise in the
> images.
>
>

When/will this feature make it into main Povray?


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From: clipka
Subject: Re: Possible way(s) to install POV-ray on a cluster
Date: 17 Aug 2014 11:17:26
Message: <53f0c786$1@news.povray.org>
Am 17.08.2014 03:26, schrieb jhu:

>> My personal suggestion would be to use UberPOV, with radiosity sample
>> caching disabled (effectively using stochastic sampling for diffuse
>> illumination), a different random seed on each machine, and letting all
>> machines render the very same complete scene. The resulting images can
>> then be averaged via imageMagick or the like to reduce the noise in the
>> images.
>
> When/will this feature make it into main Povray?

You mean the disabling of the radiosity cache?

I don't have the slightest idea. It quite certainly depends on whether 
and when POV-Ray will embrace stochastic rendering in general. 
Historically and at present, official POV-Ray prefers to avoid random 
noise, but stochastic rendering doesn't fly without.


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From: jhu
Subject: Re: Possible way(s) to install POV-ray on a cluster
Date: 18 Aug 2014 15:50:00
Message: <web.53f258cb6b1b2e099a4676b00@news.povray.org>
clipka <ano### [at] anonymousorg> wrote:
> Am 17.08.2014 03:26, schrieb jhu:
>
> >> My personal suggestion would be to use UberPOV, with radiosity sample
> >> caching disabled (effectively using stochastic sampling for diffuse
> >> illumination), a different random seed on each machine, and letting all
> >> machines render the very same complete scene. The resulting images can
> >> then be averaged via imageMagick or the like to reduce the noise in the
> >> images.
> >
> > When/will this feature make it into main Povray?
>
> You mean the disabling of the radiosity cache?
>
> I don't have the slightest idea. It quite certainly depends on whether
> and when POV-Ray will embrace stochastic rendering in general.
> Historically and at present, official POV-Ray prefers to avoid random
> noise, but stochastic rendering doesn't fly without.

Does this make Uberpov an unbiased renderer?


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From: clipka
Subject: Re: Possible way(s) to install POV-ray on a cluster
Date: 18 Aug 2014 20:36:15
Message: <53f29bff$1@news.povray.org>
Am 18.08.2014 21:49, schrieb jhu:
> clipka <ano### [at] anonymousorg> wrote:
>> Am 17.08.2014 03:26, schrieb jhu:
>>
>>>> My personal suggestion would be to use UberPOV, with radiosity sample
>>>> caching disabled (effectively using stochastic sampling for diffuse
>>>> illumination), a different random seed on each machine, and letting all
>>>> machines render the very same complete scene. The resulting images can
>>>> then be averaged via imageMagick or the like to reduce the noise in the
>>>> images.
>>>
>>> When/will this feature make it into main Povray?
>>
>> You mean the disabling of the radiosity cache?
>>
>> I don't have the slightest idea. It quite certainly depends on whether
>> and when POV-Ray will embrace stochastic rendering in general.
>> Historically and at present, official POV-Ray prefers to avoid random
>> noise, but stochastic rendering doesn't fly without.
>
> Does this make Uberpov an unbiased renderer?

Not entirely; for some stuff UberPOV still only provides POV-Ray's 
biased algorithms; I haven't tackled media, dispersion and caustics yet, 
and there might be more I haven't even thought of so far.

But yes, it is my intention for UberPOV to ultimately provide unbiased 
algorithms for these effects as well. Alongside POV-Ray's biased 
algorithms, allowing the user to choose whatever they prefer.


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From: jhu
Subject: Re: Possible way(s) to install POV-ray on a cluster
Date: 18 Aug 2014 23:55:01
Message: <web.53f2ca5f6b1b2e09d19b0ec40@news.povray.org>
clipka <ano### [at] anonymousorg> wrote:

>
> Not entirely; for some stuff UberPOV still only provides POV-Ray's
> biased algorithms; I haven't tackled media, dispersion and caustics yet,
> and there might be more I haven't even thought of so far.
>
> But yes, it is my intention for UberPOV to ultimately provide unbiased
> algorithms for these effects as well. Alongside POV-Ray's biased
> algorithms, allowing the user to choose whatever they prefer.

Man, that'd be awesome! Is anyone else working on this or are you the only one?


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