How to Send Your Project to a Render Farm

Sending a Project to a Render Farm:

All project files and folders must be named using Latin characters only, without special symbols or spaces. They should be compressed into a .zip or .rar archive.
Use underscores as separators.

Correct example:
Nike_SC_1_V1.c4d

Project Collect:

A "collect" is a project package that includes all external files, such as Alembic files and textures. This ensures that your project will open correctly on the render farm with all required assets, including textures, VDB objects, or Alembic files.

Steps to Prepare Your Project:

1. Clean Up Materials
   Review the materials in your scene. Remove unnecessary nodes and any nodes referencing textures that are no longer accessible on your system.
2. Bake Simulations and Procedural Animations
   Bake all simulations and complex procedural animations in your scene. If your scene does not include any, you can skip this step.
   If you're unsure how to bake animations, feel free to ask the render farm operator for guidance.

Once your project is clean, with the proper frame rate, the required frame range set for rendering, and render quality configured, proceed to the next step.
Refer to the render farm's pinned post for Redshift Optimization Guidelines.

Creating the Collect:

1. Save Project with Assets
• Go to File > Save Project with Assets.
• Choose a save path. It's recommended to save the project in the root directory of a drive for simplicity. Name the project appropriately.
2. Verify Asset Linking
• If Cinema 4D does not show any errors and successfully finds all required files, it will save the project as a collect package. Alongside the .c4d file, you'll see a folder named Tex containing all necessary textures.
3. Inspect Assets
• Open the Project Asset Inspector via Window > Project Asset Inspector in the top menu.

• Ensure that green checkmarks appear next to all file names on the left.
• If any files are missing, right-click and select Relink, then manually specify the path to the missing file.

1. Final Check
• Verify that all necessary files and textures are included in the collect package. If everything is in order, you can proceed to the next step.

4. Render Settings

Keep Only Relevant Render Settings

• Retain only the render settings that are actively used in the project. If you are using takes, ensure each relevant setting is included.
• Name each render setting appropriately.
• Remove unused render settings.
• Activate the render settings that will be used for rendering (important!).

Multi-Pass Settings

• If the Multi-Pass section is empty and displays the PSD format, uncheck the corresponding box.

Frame Rate (FPS)

• The Frame Rate value set in the render settings must match the frame rate configured in the project settings (Ctrl+D).

Frame Range

• Define the Frame Range for rendering:
• Use All Frames for the entire animation.
• Use Manual to specify the start and end frames.

Save Path Configuration

1. Render Settings > Save
• In the Save field, use:
  render/$prj/$prj
2. For Multi-Pass Save:
• Use:
  render/$prj/pass/$prj_$pass

Output Format

• Always render animations as image sequences. Do not use video formats such as .mp4, .mov, or .avi.
• The most commonly used formats are:
• .png
• .exr

Parameters and Caching

MoGraph Objects and Caching

Objects like Cloner, Matrix, Fracture, Voronoi Fracture, MoInstance, MoText, and MoSpline usually require caching with the MoGraph Cache tag.

• If the cached data size is relatively small (up to ~500 MB), you can store the cache inside the scene file, increasing its size.
• If the cache exceeds this size, it’s better to save it as an external sequence of files in the .mog format.

MoGraph Cache Limitations

The MoGraph Cache cannot cache all MoGraph objects. Below are some exceptions:

• Voronoi Fracture: If the Source uses dynamic elements like an Emitter (e.g., varying or moving points).
• MoSpline: Does not cache when affected by particle effectors like Turbulence or Field Force (only standard effectors are cached).
• MoSpline (Turtle Mode): Not cached.
• Tracer: Not cached.
• MoExtrude: Not cached.
• Poly FX: Not cached.

If caching geometry fails, use external plugins like Nitrobake v3 to bake the animation or export it as an Alembic file. This often resolves issues with any simulation type.

Special Cases

• Convert MoText to a mesh wherever possible. If this is not feasible:
• Include the fonts used in the project folder.
• Notify the manager about the included fonts.

Testing

Render a few test frames at minimal quality to ensure everything is set up correctly.

5. Sending the Project

5.1 Archiving the Project

• Compress all project files into a single archive and upload it to the cloud storage using the Google Drive link provided by the operator.

6. Notify the Operator

Let the operator know when the upload is complete.

7. Operator Review

The operator will:

• Verify that all files have been uploaded correctly.
• Check the quality settings, pass layers, and file paths.
• Inform you if any adjustments are needed.

8. Test Frames

The operator will render a few test frames. If everything looks good, the project will be submitted for rendering.

9. Download the Render

Once the rendering is complete, the operator will prepare an archive for you to download.

10. Payment

Complete the payment process after rendering is finished.

Final Notes

The project preparation process is straightforward and works seamlessly in 99% of cases.
If you encounter any issues or have questions, don’t hesitate to ask the operator—they’re there to help!