by CrowdRender·Rendering
Images © CrowdRender. Used for product review; image policy.
Earns its place in the Blender library for spreading a single render across several machines while keeping output identical to a normal render, compositor and all passes included.
The Distributed Rendering Addon from CrowdRender speeds up rendering in Blender by putting more than one computer to work on the same job. It works with both Cycles and Eevee, and because it is fully integrated with Blender you get exactly the same result as rendering without it, only faster. It also works with the Blender compositor, and all render passes are supported.
The addon accelerates single frames and animations. It divides a frame or an animation into tasks that are computed across all your computers, so you can expect close to a linear speedup: two machines around half the render time, three around a third, four around a quarter. There is some overhead when rendering over a network, so results are often only approximately linear, and this assumes your computers share the same hardware spec.
Setup involves installing and enabling the addon on every computer, choosing one as the master or client, adding each machine by its computer name on macOS, Linux or Windows, then connecting and synchronising the blend file before you render. It supports Blender versions from 2.93 to 4.2, needs at least two networked computers with 64-bit processors, and 16GB of RAM per machine is recommended.
Distributed Rendering Addon is best for blender artists with more than one networked computer who want to cut render times on Cycles and Eevee frames or animations without changing the final result.
Distributed Rendering Addon is completely free to download and use.
The Distributed Rendering Addon supports Blender versions from 2.93 to 4.2 according to the versions listed on Blender Market. You install and enable it on every computer you plan to render with, so each machine needs a compatible Blender version. If you have more than one version of Blender installed, make sure the one you are using has the correct firewall rules to receive incoming traffic on TCP ports, since a mismatched or blocked version can stop machines from connecting to each other over your network.
The Distributed Rendering Addon requires at least two computers, both attached to your network. Every computer needs a 64-bit processor and must be capable of running Blender, and 16GB of RAM minimum on each machine is recommended. Because the blend file is automatically copied to each computer for synchronisation, you will also want plenty of free disk space on every machine. The developer recommends not storing these files in folders synchronised by services like Dropbox or Google Drive, as that can cause confusion and file corruption.
Setting up the Distributed Rendering Addon starts with downloading, installing and enabling it on every computer you want to render with. You then pick one machine as the master or client, add each of your other computers by their computer name on macOS, Linux or Windows, connect to each machine and wait for the blend file to synchronise, then render. A quick setup video is available as a guide. If machines will not connect, common causes include firewalls or antivirus software blocking Blender from listening on the network.
The Distributed Rendering Addon divides a single frame or an animation into tasks computed across all your computers, so rendering scales with the number of machines you connect. As a rough guide, two computers can halve the render time, three can cut it to a third, and four to a quarter. In practice there is some overhead when using multiple computers, so results are often only approximately linear, and this assumes all your machines share the same hardware spec, otherwise results can vary considerably.
The Distributed Rendering Addon is listed as free in this catalog. For current licensing terms and any options tied to the addon, check the developer's page. The addon comes from CrowdRender and works by dividing a single frame or an animation into tasks computed across all the computers on your network, giving close to a linear speedup as you add more machines of similar hardware spec. It stays fully integrated with Blender so the final result matches a normal render.
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