3ds Max Render nodes

[Lian_Lee]

I couldn't get any answer from my area Autodesk customer service.

Therefore, I'm wondering if any expert here can help me.

I have a workstation with authorized license of 3ds Max and V-Ray plugin.

And I want to build about 14 render nodes. 

Can anyone tell me if I have to purchase license for each 14 3ds Max? 

It will be a huge amount of money if it requires full license for each node.

Thank you.

[Steve_Curley]

No, you don't need Max licenses for the render farm machines. You must, however, have full installs of Max along with the same service packs and plugins on all the machines.
The same is not true for all plugins - you would have to check with Chaos Group for the Vray licensing.

[Lian_Lee]

Thank you for your help.
I've checked with V-Ray.
They answered that we do need V-Ray render nodes license for each machine.

[Lian_Lee]

I've got the same response from other forums and also from V-Ray Chaos group mentioned that we won't need full license for the render nodes.

However, because the local reseller told me if we are going to use V-Ray for 3ds Max in our render farm we will have to purchase 3ds Max full license for all render node machines.

From their statement, we spent huge amount of expense to purchase the licenses.

Therefore, my company was very confused because it just didn't make sense if all the nodes have to purchase full license.

Then, the nodes existance wouldn't be necessary. 

If we proved that we won't need to purchase the node license, then the company shall investigate with Autodesk.

However, we tried to contact our local Autodesk customer service to seek for answers. But they didn't provide clear answer and seems to ignore the problem.

Therefore, we hope from this forum, the US Autodesk customer can give us satisfactory answer.

Thank you!

[Steve_Curley]

I don't use vray so I really don't know their licensing system at all. I do know there are lots of other vray users here, maybe one of them will jump in and clarify the situation.

[svb3d]

Hi 

I don't use v-ray ether but the question interested me, and who knows maybe some day... 

so this is what i found out

Pricing: V-Ray 3.0 for 3ds Max

Product/ Bundle	USD	EUR	GBP
V-Ray 3.0 Workstation for 3ds Max (?)	1 040	750	650
V-Ray 3.0 Workstation for 3ds Max + 5 V-Ray Render Nodes 3.0	2 080	1 500	1 290
Pricing: V-Ray Render Nodes 3.0	USD/ per Node	EUR/ per Node	GBP/ per Node
1-4 Licenses	350	250	220
5-9 Licenses	280	200	170
10-19 Licenses	250	180	160
20-29 Licenses	240	170	150
30+ Licenses	210	150	130

[Steve_Curley]

So a single seat of Vray costs as much as a year's subscription for Max? I knew there was a reason I don't have it...

[rahuxx]

Does this mean if i have 10 additional PC with me I can build a render farm for rendering my projects? without buying more license?

[DarrenP]

for 3ds max no

for Arnold yes you will need to buy licenses for the machines that will be rendering

[rahuxx]

@DarrenPI am using scan line render only. No plugin for rendering.

Also is this official answer or just by a community member? Need to clear as do not want to get involve in any illegal thing.

Thanks

[DarrenP]

this is documented here: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-max/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Backburn...

[dgorsman]

---

@rahuxx wrote:

Also is this official answer or just by a community member? Need to clear as do not want to get involve in any illegal thing.

Thanks

---

Sit down with your reseller.  They can provide fully accurate information and help with any purchasing and licensing problems/questions you have if you go forward.

FYI - normally the term "render farm" is usually for a server type setup (headless/no direct UI, no monitors, just processing hardware), while the term "distributed rendering" is more typically used for desktops in a network that are typically running various desktop software.