Who wants to try nXtRender Batch?

[Albert D Hart]

This is the first preview of the new nXtRender Batch.

You should only try this if you are adventuresome, and willing to make your way through some undocumented stuff. and not get mad at Rich and I if some things are not working properly.

If you want to try this, you can download it from here:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/em8aq6v0535r8j0/nXtRender_AC_Batch_MB...

And just install it.

This is Beta Test Add-on to nXt and AutoCAD at this point. Later it will be integrated into the nXt install. It should work with most recent versions of nXt. And it should work for AutoCAD 2010-2014 (We haven't tested every possible combination yet)

After downloading, you will get a .ZIP file with a message like this:

Click on the message to install it.

New Ribbon

After installation, a new Ribbon should appear in AutoCAD

Racecar

The Race car loads the nXt sidebar menu (the same as typing in nXt).

Help Button

The ? loads an about box:

(The 'Synch Options' button on the bottom will import some settings made while rendering, but not material changes (yet) from the nXtRender Batch Renderer)

Render Button

The green button will extract your current model and save it to the disk for use with the Batch Rendering process.

After Extract, the Batch Renderer will load as a separate process with this dialog:

You can set the render size, number of passes, etc.

And then start rendering.

I will add more documentation here later, but for now you may need to just try some things out.

[akinlolu olugboji]

The service pack 2 must be the reason it is not working for me in AutoCad 2012. 

[Rich Hart]

Right. Ribbons only work in 2012 if you have service pack 2 installed.

And the ribbon is what loads our modules, upon executing one of the commands on the ribbon.

[Rich Hart]

No. We're not sure what it means yet. 

We simply wanted to get a preview of features that we might add to get some feedback, like this.

[Rich Hart]

Could you look and see if that file exists in that folder?

[akinlolu olugboji]

The batch render also eats up a lot of system resources too.

[Rich Hart]

Oh, I see it. There is a "\bin_nxt" added to the end of the folder path to the RPS_nXtMaterialEditor.exe file which should not be there.

We'll fix this.

Thanks.

[Rich Hart]

We haven't done anything yet with RPCs, Decals and nXt Plants. 

[akinlolu olugboji]

Will there be any development in these areas, (RPCs, Decals and nxt Plants)?

Also how do transfer the batch rendering to another PC?

Do I always have to load AutoCad then the batch render to get it started?

[Rich Hart]

Yes. We plan to make everything work.

We wanted to get an early version out to see if there was any interest in this first.

Right now, to render on another PC, you would simply:

1. Copy the "batch folder" to the other machine

2. Run the executable "IRenderBatch.exe" on that machine.

3. Browse to the file named "nxt_render_params.txt" in the batch folder

    and click "Open".

    The rendering process will start.

The batch folder: The folder for a model named Drawing1 would be this folder:

C:\Users\Your User Name\AppData\Roaming\nXtRender Batch\Render_Data\Drawing1

You might need to change Folder and Search Options/View for WIndows Explorer to Show hidden files, folder, and drives, to be able see that folder.

"IRenderBatch.exe" is currently located in a folder called: C:\Users\Your User Name\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\nXtRender Batch.bundle\Contents\RPS_BIN. So you would want to install nXtRender_AC_Batch on that machine first. If it's a 64 bit machine you would run "IRenderBatch64.exe", to render using 64 bits.

We will probably rename the file IRenderBatch.exe to something like nXtRenderBatch.exe.

We should probably also rename the file "nxt_render_params.txt" to something to make it easier to select.

You would not need to have AutoCAD running anywhere to render once the batch files have been saved. AutoCAD would not have to be installed on that batch rendering machine either.

[Garret Diduck]

Will nXT Render Batch run in conjunction with the Farm? I'm currently batching renders with the Farm, so why should I switch? Is the Farm going to be phased out? Or will this batch render take place of the current batch render already inside nXT?

[Albert D Hart]

At least for now, nXtRender Batch is an additional option for people who like its convenience, or some if its post-processing. We are still waiting to hear from anyone who finds it useful.

A lot of people are having problems using it with older versions of AutoCAD, and I don't know if anyone has tried any of the new features.

The Render Farm will still be around as another option. And the " in process" renderer for AutoCad will still work.

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

Al and Rich are using the term "batch" differently than we have in the past.  This is an out-of-process renderer that they've used with success on the SketchUp side.  It extracts a file from AutoCAD and can render it-- even on a machine that doesn't have AutoCAD.  (In this sense, it's similar to the way nXtStudio is designed to work.)  It has nothing to do with our current Farm or Batch features.

When Al and Rich get everything working (it may take a little while), you'll see a product that has some additional features that we don't offer within AutoCAD.