Rendering your Blender project while using a Virtual Workstation- A Visual Guide

You've completed your Blender project on a StratusCore Virtual Workstation, now you would like to render your project using the cloud render farm.  Take these steps to render a final version of your Blender project using StratusCore Render Rocket cloud farm.

This article assumes that: You are currently logged into a Virtual Workstation, and you've completed your Blender project.

PLEASE NOTE: At this point you may have the uncontrollable urge to "Pack" your Blender files into the .blend file.  However, if there are image sequences or video files in your Blender project, Pack will not work.  Pack does NOT include video files or image sequences.  Regardless, Pack is not the best option when you choose to render on any cloud farm.

When rendering in the cloud using a cloud farm, your scene file assets need to map as relative pathing.

Absolute:
C:\mystuff\blender files\textures\texture.png

Relative:
//texture.png

Please see: https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/editors/preferences/file_paths.html

Within Blender verify that ALL PATHS are relative.  Also verify that ALL SCENE ASSETS are in the SAME directory as your Blender .blend scene file.  SAVE a final version of your project.

File -> Save As...
OR
File -> Save

Open a Virtual Workstation Windows "File Manager" window. Verify that ALL of your scene assets and .blend file are saved to your S: drive.

After you have saved your project, feel free to close Blender, or minimize Blender.

Blender users on the Virtual Workstation currently have 2 ways of launching Blender render jobs that utilize the StratusCore Render Rocket cloud render farm.

Option A)  While still logged into the Virtual Workstation, you can transfer files to StratusCore Render Rocket cloud render farm,
OR
Option B) You can log out of the Virtual Workstation, retrieve your Blender project from your StratusCore Platform Storage, download it to your local computer, and then move it to the StratusCore Render Rocket cloud render farm.

Keep in mind that no matter what tasks you are performing on a Virtual Workstation, Virtual Workstation time is utilized while you are logged into the Virtual Workstation.  If you choose "Option A" be aware that file sizes affect file transfer times, therefor it will also affect your remaining Virtual Workstation time.

Feel free to click here if you would like to learn how to transfer files FROM your StratusCore Platform Storage and download them to your local computer.  Transfer (i.e. Download) files from StratusCore Platform Storage to your local computer - A Visual Guide

We will use Option A for this tutorial.

While still logged into a Virtual Workstation, open the Chrome web browser, browse to www.renderrocket.com

Click the [Log In] button.

Enter your StratusCore Platform email-login and password.

After you log in, the StratusCore Render Rocket Dashboard will load.

You'll now need to crate a cloud rendering "Project"
Creating a new render job "Project". A Visual Guide

After the render job Project is created you can upload all of your scene assets and .blend file.
Upload Files to StratusCore Platform Storage. A Visual Guide.

Once all of files are uploaded, you can launch your render job.
Launch a render on StratusCore Render Rocket - A Visual guide

YOU are responsible for monitoring your render job.  It is highly recommended that you run a free test render before running your final render job.  Test renders are free and you can run multiple test render jobs.  Each test render job is limited to 20 core hours which is about 50 human minutes.

Not finding what you are looking for here? Try our searchable Help Resources or contact our support team for more information.  You can always email support@stratuscore.com for technical questions.  Don't hesitate to contact us - we are here to help you get your renders done and meet your deadlines.