by State Of The Art LLC·Rendering
Images © State Of The Art LLC. Used for product review; image policy.
Blendnet earns a place in the superhive library for pairing on-demand cloud rendering with a non-destructive preview that keeps the render running even after you close the preview window.
Blendnet is a network rendering farm system for Blender that dynamically allocates the resources a render needs on a cloud provider, or automates an existing render farm. The developer describes it as free, secure, and quite well optimised to work with minimal delays. Automating a private farm infrastructure is also possible, though it currently requires some adjustment.
While a job runs, a dynamic preview shows rendering progress, with the picture updated every five seconds by default. The preview engine is non-destructive, so you can close the preview and open it again without interrupting the render. Providers can be created for GCP, AWS, and Local, and when there are no tasks the render workers are terminated.
Blendnet is free software that anyone can use or modify, with the addon available to download from GitHub. It supports Blender versions 2.8 through 3.0 and is listed here under a royalty-free license. A demo video is available.
Blendnet is best for blender users who want to render across cloud providers such as GCP and AWS or a local setup, or automate an existing render farm.
Blendnet is completely free to download and use.
Blendnet is listed as compatible with a range of releases: 2.8, 2.81, 2.82, 2.83, 2.9, 2.91, 2.92, 2.93, and 3.0. That covers the 2.8 series through to 3.0. If you are running one of these versions, the addon is intended to work with your setup. For any release outside this list, or for the most current compatibility details, check the developer's page and the project wiki before installing.
Blendnet lets you create providers for rendering, and it currently supports GCP, AWS, and Local. That means you can route jobs to Google Cloud Platform or Amazon Web Services for cloud power, or run against a local setup. It is also possible to automate a private farm infrastructure, though that currently requires some adjustment. For provider setup steps and configuration details, the developer's site and wiki cover the process.
Blendnet is listed here as free. It is described as free software that anyone can use or modify, with the addon available to download from GitHub, and it carries a royalty-free license. There is also an option to support the developer if you choose to. For current licensing terms and any changes, check the developer's page before relying on it for a project.
Blendnet includes a dynamic preview that shows rendering progress while a job runs, with the picture updated every five seconds by default. The preview engine is non-destructive, which means you can close the preview and open it again without interrupting the render already underway. This lets you check on a job and step away without stopping the work. Further detail is available on the developer's site and the project wiki.
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