--- title: "How to Use Distributed Rendering" canonical: "https://documentation.chaos.com/space/VMAX/113588381/How%20to%20Use%20Distributed%20Rendering" format: markdown --- This page provides instructions on how to use Distributed Rendering to improve your Render speed. Overview V-Ray 7, Update 2 makes Distributed Rendering faster, smarter, and more scalable.  This update greatly improves performance and reliability for studios and cases where multiple machines are used. The new version includes several enhancements to make network rendering easier to manage. Distributed Rendering 2 delivers better scaling when connecting multiple Render Server machines. It uses intelligent bucket splitting to balance the workload effectively in complex networks. A key change is the addition of the dispatcher. This central hub manages communication between your Render Client and Render Servers, improving workload coordination. This tutorial provides information on setting up V-Ray Distributed Rendering V2. V-Ray CPU Distributed Rendering V2 Set up the Render Servers by starting V-Ray DR Spawner for 3ds Max on each server machine. It starts the 3dsmax.exe in server mode This appears as a minimized 3ds Max in your taskbar as vraydummy.max. This step is not required if the server machine uses the spawner as a service. Set up the Render Client . In the V-Ray for 3ds Max interface, enable Distributed rendering from Render Setup > System rollout > Settings tab. Use the Render Server button to add the IPs of all your Render Servers. Distributed Rendering 2 introduces the concept of a dispatcher.  Set Up DR2 Dispatcher On the dispatcher machine, start VRaySpawner in dispatcher mode. This can be achieved by running vrayspawner20xx.exe in a command-line terminal with the  -run-dispatcher=1/2   argument. 1 – Sets the machine to only act as a dispatcher and to not participate in the rendering. 2 – Sets the machine to act as a dispatcher, which also participates in the rendering by acting as a server.  C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax20XX\bin\vrayspawner20XX.exe -run-dispatcher=1 C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax20XX\bin\vrayspawner20XX.exe -run-dispatcher=2 To avoid doing this multiple times, create a copy of the Launch V-Ray DR spawner for 3ds Max 20XX shortcut, then edit the Target. The Shortcut is located here:   C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\V-Ray 7 for 3ds Max 20XX\Distributed rendering The target of the shortcut should look like this: C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax20XX\bin\vrayspawner20XX.exe -run-dispatcher=2 or C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax20XX\bin\vrayspawner20XX.exe -run-dispatcher=1 3.2. All other machines' VRaySpawners have to be started normally through the regular shortcut. If you want to register the Spawner as a service, you need to add -service in the shortcut 3.3. To identify the Render nodes participating in the rendering process, add their IP addresses. Just add  -renderhost= in front of the IP, and repeat this for all the IPs that you are using. That way you don’t need to specify the server IPs in the V-Ray Distributed Rendering setup as it was in V-Ray CPU Distributed Rendering Setup, Step 2, and you can only enter the Remote dispatcher IP instead. The command line should look like this: C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax20XX\bin\vray.exe -run-dispatcher=1 -renderhost=10.0.5.94 -renderhost=10.0.3.94 20XX is the 3ds Max version that you are using If you add the -renderhost= argument in the command line, then there is no need to explicitly add the servers on the client side. You can only specify the remote dispatcher address in the DR2 setup. V-Ray GPU Distributed Rendering V2 Set up the Render Servers . You can do this in one of two ways:  Start the render server on each server machine from C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\V-Ray 7 for 3ds Max 20xx\Distributed rendering\Launch V-Ray GPU render server for 3ds Max 20xx  Start vray.exe in a command line interface and enter the -server argument in the command prompt. This step is not required if the server machine uses the V-Ray GPU render server as a service Distributed Rendering 2 introduces the concept of a dispatcher.  2.1. On the dispatcher machine, you need to start VRaySpawner in dispatcher mode. This can be achieved by running vrayspawner20xx.exe in a command-line terminal with the -run-dispatcher=1/2   argument.  1 – Sets the machine to only act as a dispatcher and to not participate in the rendering. 2 – Sets the machine to act as a dispatcher which also participates in the rendering by acting as a server.  C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax20XX\bin\vray.exe -server -run-dispatcher=1 C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax20XX\bin\vray.exe -run-dispatcher=2 2.2. To identify the Render nodes participating in the rendering process, add their IP addresses. Just add  -renderhost= in front of the IP, and repeat this for all the IPs that you are using. That way you don’t need to specify the server IPs in the V-Ray Distributed Rendering setup as it was in V-Ray CPU Distributed Rendering Setup, Step 2, and you can only enter the Remote dispatcher IP instead. The command line should look like this: C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\VRay3dsMax20XX\bin\vray.exe -run-dispatcher=1 -renderhost=10.0.5.94 -renderhost=10.0.3.94 20XX is the 3ds Max version that you are using If you add the -renderhost= argument in the command line, that way there is no need to explicitly add the servers on the client side. You can only specify the remote dispatcher address in the DR2 setup. Notes To use V-Ray distributed rendering, the Render Client machine (which starts the rendering job and distributes it to other machines) needs to have both V-Ray for 3ds Max and Autodesk 3ds Max installed. When using regular V-Ray, the Render Server machines need to have both V-Ray for 3ds Max render server and Autodesk 3ds Max installed. When using V-Ray GPU, the Render Server machines need to have V-Ray Standalone installed. V-Ray for 3ds Max render server and V-Ray Standalone can be selected in the advanced options of the V-Ray installer. Alternatively, a default (Workstation) installation of V-Ray for 3ds Max can be used on the Render Server machines.