Torrent render for 3ds max - almost everything will have to be redone

I continue my series of articles about the torrender.net project , since the current situation is again far from my previous plans, and all the most interesting for me, perhaps, will begin in the near future.

Previous articles:

The history of the creation of the torrent render for 3ds max
The history of the promotion of the torrent render for 3ds max

Background:

So, four months have passed since the release, during this time I finished the project to the stage when it was impossible to add anything fundamentally significant through MAXScript, namely, I implemented a breakdown of the render of the single frame by different sids and collecting pieces into one picture on the side of the lich through ImageMagick, this feature was not ready at the time of release and I had high hopes for it, since max is used primarily for architectural visualizations, and it happens that rendering of one frame lasts for three and four hours, will appear And the system will finally become active, because there are many times more people who want to render statics than those who render animation. But I was mistaken, the feature of breaking the statics passed by users, neither a job nor any significant number of new nodes were added, despite the fact that I posted info about statics on one of the most popular forums of “maxi-interior designers” - 3ddd.ru, did not help. And, if so, the thought came up by itself - but what's the point of introducing a local network render, connecting custom render farms (this was the next and final development plan according to the plan), even if no one wants to render statics? And does it make sense to continue at all, if users do not need all this, then what do they generally need?

To the question such, there is a simple answer - the "render beautifully" button

Having read here and there (including on the hub) various comments, I came to the following conclusions, which are disappointing for myself:

• The system will not be massively used in its current form
• If you continue, I will have to go along a much more difficult path and redo everything except the tracker
• There are no guarantees for the success of the new system.

As a result, the torrent client should look like existing applications for local network rendering (such as backburner) and work as a local render farm, only the nodes are not located in the next room, but somewhere on the Internet. We get: any number of nodes per job, jobs of any size and complexity, a breakdown of a single frame by different sids (you can render heavy stats), a rating system, a mode for friends, connecting local farms, and all this is free for the end user. Well, by analogy with torrents: in ordinary torrents, the user downloads the file that he needs and begins to distribute it. In the torrent render, he distributes the job file and downloads the frame files (or fragments of the frame) - he distributes one, downloads the other.

What you have to do:

• Completely rewrite client from MAXScript to C #
• The client should work in the Windows tray independently and run 3ds max (or another 3D package) only for rendering
• The script part in max will only deal with creating a job and this process needs to be simplified as much as possible for users (do self-collection of all auxiliary files)
• Redesign the scene protection so that it does not transfer scene files at all, for this, in fact, you will have to invent a new job format, i.e. essentially create scripts that generate a custom scene (or at least part of it)
• It is necessary to make sure that the new client is useful to the user even if he renders his scenes himself, without involving other interested persons, namely: do auto-mailing of finished images by email, upload to ftp, delayed render, multi-jobs ( i.e. convenient launch of several scenes in a row on render) and other similar trifles as a bonus

Why exactly C #? In fact, at first I wanted to go along a simple path and try to do it on AutoHotkey, but then I remembered that I had a lot of pre-Donet inserts on the script and in C # it would be much easier with them, well, and besides, if I choose a new language to study, it’s better to do something bigger than AHK.

After thinking over the pros and cons, recalling the previous years of development and picking in PHP, I realized that the idea of ​​remaking the client was essentially from scratch, plus learning another language I did not like at all if again everything would be on just my pure enthusiasm and generally without guarantees of the success of the future system. Here it would be necessary to insert a picture where a gloomy light comes on in a gloomy genius's head, because the idea of ​​“Russian crowdfunding” arose in approximately the same way, immediately materializing in the next post on the 3D center:

Currently, I no longer have the opportunity to continue development only at my own expense, because money and free time tend to end and therefore the project goes to crowdfunding, I will choose a specific platform the other day. I have already done what I personally need in the project code, but give users completely different features, I suspect, so the nodes are offline. Actually, a fundraiser is needed to fulfill user desires (I made my own for free), and if we don’t type it, then no one needs it, I will save time and I will not flounder about further.

New features will require a lot of time for implementation and I do not want to take risks, harnessing to such a scale on one bare enthusiasm:
1. I will rewrite the client from the script to another development language, it will work in the Windows tray unnoticed and regardless of the max (as a torrent client)
2. Max is used and launched only to create a job and for rendering, all client logic that does not apply directly to max and render, it will work without max - this also touched other packages
3. Self-collection of all files accompanying the scene (textures, etc.) automatically when creating the job
4. 100% protection of scenes - no scenes))) i.e. no max files. If anyone remembers, there was such a script from Bobo, which translated the current scene into a set of script commands, i.e. in fact, I generated a script that creates a similar scene at startup - I’ll do something like this. Without a client, it would be physically impossible to open such a job, and since the client will not be on the script, hackers will not succeed in breaking it and tearing out the parser job (if at all).
5. Scenes and rendering results can be distributed not only with a torrent, but also uploaded to FTP or sent via email.

ps If crowdfunding is successful, then the project will have to rebrand, there will be a new name and a new domain.

Well, then it’s a matter of technology, determined to launch crowdfunding, I actually launched it on planeta.ru, but in a month the project managed to collect only 7 thousand out of 200 thousand rubles, less than a week is left, so I won’t be surprised if this thing will not burn out, and again I will have to puff on enthusiasm in my free time, as always, lodge.