DreamLight Constellation Manual | Download & Installation | Tutorials | Settings | Node Queue | Scene Queue
DreamLight Constellation Header
Help Button
The round (?) help button at the top right of the DreamLight Constellation main window header will open your default web browser and bring you to this online manual. You may also use the Help menu in the Mac menu bar for direct access to every page of Mastering LightWave 3D ScreamerNet LWSN for more detailed information and tutorials about all aspects of using ScreamerNet LWSN on Mac OS X and Windows as well as for more information about how to use these DreamLight Constellation Preferences Settings.
Registration License Check Box Button & Readout
This toggle check box button and readout shows which license version of DLI SNUB Launcher you are running, the FREE LITE 1-Node unregistered version highlighted in red, or one of the three registered licenses highlighted in green, standard STD 5-Node, professional PRO 10-Node or enterprise ENT unlimited nodes. The registered licenses will enable the saving of all the custom settings between launches. The FREE LITE version will only launch with all default settings. The custom settings must be reset each time the FREE LITE version is launched.
Click this button or field or select the Nodes->Registration Level… menu command to open the User Registration Panel where you may type or paste your registered User Name and Serial Number to activate your purchased registration level. Click the Buy Registration button to go to our Web site where you may purchase registration licenses. See Registration & Ordering for more information about the various DreamLight Constellation licenses that are available for purchase.
DreamLight Constellation Preferences Settings
Click the Preferences button or select the Preferences… menu item to open the Preferences Panel for the custom configuration settings. The Preferences Panel opens as a sheet on Mac OS X or as a modal dialog on Windows.
After making desired changes to any of the Preferences settings, outlined below, click the OK or Cancel button to dismiss the Preferences panel. Cancel will close the Preferences without accepting any changes. OK will accept any changes and then automatically reinitialize all render nodes.
LWSN Render Node Limit Field & Mini Registration Readout
Enter the desired number of render nodes in the LWSN Render Node Limit field. This field is limited to the maximum number of nodes allowed by the current registered license level as displayed in the mini registration readout, which is a read-only field. The registered license level may be changed in the User Registration Panel accessed by the registration license checkbox button and readout on the main DreamLight Constellation window or by selecting the Nodes->Registration Level… menu command.
Command Folder Button & Readout
Click the Command Folder button or drag a folder to this button or readout to change the Command Folder. This read-only field will be highlighted in green if the folder exists and is read/writable by DreamLight Constellation. The Command Folder is where job files will be written by DreamLight Constellation when it sends commands to the render nodes. The render nodes will read the commands from these job files and will respond by writing responses in corresponding ack files to this folder. This folder must be accessible and read/writable by any LWSN render nodes on the same computer or other computers on the network that will be rendering. The path to this folder for DreamLight Constellation and any render nodes must be the same, unless Content Folder remapping is being used (below) in which case the Command Folder must be in the Content Folder so that the paths will be properly remapped for remote render nodes when the Content Folder is remapped. The Command Folder will default to a Command or Commands folder inside the default Content Folder if found or to the current user’s Documents folder if not.
Here are Command Folder examples using the enclosed sample content – DLI_SuperBalls:
Mac OS X Command Folder:
/Users/userx/Documents/DLI_SuperBalls/Commands/
Windows Command Folder:
C:\Users\userx\Documents\DLI_SuperBalls\Commands
This custom setting is only saved between launches in the registered license versions of DreamLight Constellation.
Content Folder Buttons & Readout
Click the Content Folder button or drag a folder to this button or readout to change the Content Folder. This read-only field will be highlighted in green if the folder exists and contains an Objects folder or LightWave 3D “.lwo” object files. The Content Folder is where ScreamerNet LWSN render nodes will look for all scene content. In order for ScreamerNet to render your scene you must use a properly structured Content Folder as described above. This folder must be accessible and readable by any LWSN render nodes on the same computer or other computers on the network that will be rendering. The path to this folder for DreamLight Constellation and any render nodes must be the same, unless Remap Folder remapping is being used (below) so that the paths will be properly remapped for remote render nodes when the Remap Folder is remapped. The Content Folder will default to the last Content Folder set in LightWave 3D Layout‘s config file if found or to the current user’s Documents folder if not found.
The currently set Content Folder is remembered for any scenes that are added to the Scene Queue unless the scene loader detects a different Content Folder and you answer Yes when asked if you’d like to change the Content Folder. In that case the current Content Folder will be changed to the detected Content Folder for the currently loading scene and saved with that scene in the Scene Queue. This way even if scenes are reordered in the Scene Queue each will remember which Content Folder is needed for the scene and DreamLight Constellation will tell the LWSN render nodes to switch to the needed Content Folder when loading each scene.
Here are Content Folder examples using the enclosed sample content – DLI_SuperBalls:
Mac OS X Content Folder:
/Users/userx/Documents/DLI_SuperBalls/
Windows Content Folder:
C:\Users\userx\Documents\DLI_SuperBalls
The path set in this Content Folder readout is the local path to the Content Folder on the computer running DreamLight Constellation. Use the additional Remap Folder settings below to allow remapping of the path to the Content Folder on remote nodes running on the same platform and/or remote nodes running cross-platform when the local/remote and/or cross-platform paths are different.
This custom setting is only saved between launches in the registered license versions of DreamLight Constellation.
Remap Folder Buttons & Readout
Activating the Remap Folder checkbox will enable the Folder Remapping section of the preferences panel.
Click the Remap Folder button or drag a folder to this button or readout to change the Remap Folder. This read-only field will be highlighted in green if the folder exists and is writable.
The Remap Folder is the path to a local folder that you wish to share on the network and have all the remote and/or cross-platform render nodes access using different remote and/or cross-platform paths than the local path. This folder may be the same path as the path to your Content Folder if you’ll only be rendering from one single project Content Folder or a single properly structured multi-project Content Folder. It may also be a different path than your Content Folder path as long as it is higher up the hierarchy of the same path. For instance the Remap Folder path could be the path to the top level of a shared hard drive, or it may be the path to a folder that contains multiple projects, each of which has its own Content Folder.
The Remap Folder will default to the default Content Folder.
Here are Remap Folder examples:
Mac OS X Content Folder:
/Users/userx/Documents/LWProjects/
Windows Content Folder:
C:\Users\userx\Documents\LWProjects
When using a Remap Folder you’ll have the best results if all other content is somewhere downstream within this folder including any Content Folders, the Command Folder, any RGB Output Folders and the Log Folder if you’re using one. This way all necessary paths may be remapped by DreamLight Constellation which will replace the Remap Folder path with the Remote Path or Cross-Platform Path in all paths used by DreamLight Constellation when communicating with remote or cross-platform render nodes.
Any changes to any of the remapping preferences will only affect newly added scenes not already in the Scene Queue. Any scenes that are already in the Scene Queue must be removed and re-added if you wish them to use the new settings rather than any settings that were in effect when those scenes were added. This is because the RGB Output Folder path is remapped and saved in the hidden temp scene file at the time that a scene is first added to the Scene Queue.
This custom setting is only saved between launches in the registered license versions of DreamLight Constellation.
Remap to Remote Path Button & Field for Same Platform Remote Render Nodes
Activating the Remap to Remote Path checkbox will enable the Remote Remapping field.
The Remap to Remote Path setting is used to remap the Remap Folder path between the local computer running DreamLight Constellation and remote LWSN render nodes running on remote computers that are using the same operating system as the computer running DreamLight Constellation. This editable field does not highlight with red/green color coding because there’s no way for DreamLight Constellation to verify that the path is correct on the remote render nodes. The easiest way for you to verify that the path is correct is to mount the shared Remap Folder on the remote render node computer running the same operating system and drag that Remap Folder to the Content Folder button or readout in DLI_SNUB-Launcher. The path that appears in DLI_SNUB-Launcher‘s Content Folder readout will be the remote path to that shared folder on that computer. DLI_SNUB-Launcher on the remote computer will highlight its Content Folder readout green if the folder is readable and contains an Objects folder or LightWave 3D objects “.lwo” files, or it will highlight the readout in red if not. Once DLI_SNUB-Launcher indicates a proper Content Folder with a green highlight you may then copy that path and enter it into the Remap to Remote Path in DreamLight Constellation.
Here are Remap Remote Path examples:
Remap to Remote Path on Mac OS X:
/Volumes/LWProjects/
Remap to Remote Path on Windows:
\\USERX5E7D\Users\userx\Documents\LWProjects
Enabling this Remap to Remote Path option on the Preferences Panel will add a Remote column to the Node Queue so that you may then indicate which nodes should use this remapped remote path to the Remap Folder and which nodes should use the plain non-remapped local path to the Remap Folder. When using this setting any LWSN nodes marked as Remote on the Node Queue will have the Remap Folder path replaced with this Remap to Remote Path in any paths saved in the temp scenes and/or sent to the render node.
This custom setting is only saved between launches in the registered license versions of DreamLight Constellation.
Remap to Cross-Platform Path Button & Field for Cross-platform Render Nodes
Activating the Remap to Mac OS X / Windows Path checkbox will enable the cross-platform remapping field.
The Remap to Mac OS X / Windows Path setting is used to remap the Remap Folder path between the local computer running DreamLight Constellation and remote LWSN render nodes running on remote computers that are using the opposite operating system (Mac OS X or Windows) as the computer running DreamLight Constellation. This editable field does not highlight with red/green color coding because there’s no way for DreamLight Constellation to verify that the path is correct on the remote render nodes. The easiest way for you to verify that the path is correct is to mount the shared Remap Folder on the remote render node computer running the other operating system and drag that Remap Folder to the Content Folder button or readout in DLI_SNUB-Launcher. The path that appears in DLI_SNUB-Launcher‘s Content Folder readout will be the remote path to that shared folder on that computer. DLI_SNUB-Launcher on the remote computer will highlight its Content Folder readout green if the folder is readable and contains an Objects folder or LightWave 3D objects “.lwo” files, or it will highlight the readout in red if not. Once DLI_SNUB-Launcher indicates a proper Content Folder with a green highlight you may then copy that path and enter it into the Remap to Remote Path in DreamLight Constellation.
Here are Remap to Cross-platform Path examples:
Remap to Mac OS X Path:
/Volumes/LWProjects/
Remap to Windows Path:
U:\
This custom setting is only saved between launches in the registered license versions of DreamLight Constellation.
Log Folder Buttons & Readout
Click the Log Folder button or drag a folder to this button or readout to change the Log Folder. This read-only field will be highlighted in green if the folder exists and is writable. The Log Folder is where DreamLight Constellation will write a log file consisting of all the back-and-forth LWSN commands and responses used to control the LWSN render nodes. This is useful for debugging purposes to see what commands were sent to each LWSN render node and what responses were sent back from the nodes. This is not the same as the LWSN logs that may be generated by each individual LWSN render node as set in DLI_SNUB-Launcher for each node. The same Log Folder may be used for both types of logs though and each will be written into their own files within the Log Folder. The Log Folder will default to a Logs folder within the default Content Folder if it exists, or to the current users Documents folder if not.
Here are Log Folder examples using the enclosed sample content – DLI_SuperBalls:
Mac OS X Content Folder:
/Users/userx/Documents/DLI_SuperBalls/Logs/
Windows Content Folder:
C:\Users\userx\Documents\DLI_SuperBalls\Logs
This custom setting is only saved between launches in the registered license versions of DreamLight Constellation.
If you find DreamLight Constellation, DLI SNUB Launcher or our Mastering LightWave 3D ScreamerNet LWSN white paper and tutorials useful, please support our continuing efforts by registering DreamLight Constellation or registering DLI_SNUB-Launcher, by purchasing our Award-winning 3D CGI Short Film – BlastOff!™ Special Edition DVD, by purchasing some of our BlastOff! Merchandise or award-winning DLI SNUB Launcher logo merchandise or by buying our book: Creating a 3D Animated CGI Short. Thank you for your continuing support!
DreamLight Constellation Manual | Download & Installation | Tutorials | Settings | Node Queue | Scene Queue