Feature Set

This page contains an overview of the core capabilities available for managing and scaling render workloads in Deadline 10.

User Interface

Deadline 10 provides a cross-platform UI for job submission, monitoring, and management – the experience is consistent for artists and administrators across Windows, macOS, and Linux platforms. For job submission, Deadline offers integrated submission scripts for 3ds Max, After Effects, AutoCAD, Blender, Cinema 4D, Clarisse iFX, Clarisse BUiLDER, Composite, Fusion, Generation, Guerilla, Hiero, Houdini, Lightwave, Maya, Messiah, MicroStation, Mocha Pro, modo, Nuke, RealFlow, Rhino, SketchUp 3D, Softimage, VRED and Vue.

Supported Software

Deadline supports over 80 different rendering packages out of the box. See the Supported Software page in the Deadline documentation for more information.

Customization and Scripting

Deadline 10’s Python-based plugin system allows for modifications to existing integrations, in addition to wholly-custom submitters, event scripts, and scriptable Job dependencies.

Job Scheduling

Jobs can be scheduled using numeric Job priorities, pools, groups, and machine allow/deny lists. Limits can help limit the amount of workers concurrently using the same licensed software, and our dependency system helps make sure Jobs only run once they are ready.

Notifications

Deadline can be configured to notify users of job completion or failure via e-mail or pop-up messages. Administrators can also configure Deadline to notify them of issues that may arise related to the farm itself (e.g., thermal shutdown, database connection pools).

Statistics Gathering

Job and overall render farm statistics are stored in the database, and are viewable from the Monitor. They can also be exported through Deadline’s API for ingestion into custom pipeline monitoring tools.

ShotGrid and ftrack Integration

Deadline can automatically update asset versions and upload thumbnails and metadata to ShotGrid (formerly Shotgun) and ftrack.

Draft

Draft is a tool that provides simple compositing functionality. It is implemented as a Python library, which exposes functionality for use in python scripts. Draft is designed to be tightly integrated with Deadline, but it can also be used as a standalone tool.

Using the Draft event plugin for Deadline, artists can automatically perform simple compositing operations on rendered frames after a render job finishes. They can also convert them to a different image format, or generate Quicktimes for dailies.

Note

Starting with Deadline 10.1.23, Draft and Quick Draft do not require a license. The ONLY exception is that a Draft Pro license (FEATURE draft-pro-codec) is required if you are encoding to the 3rd party Avid DNxHD codec.

Jigsaw and Tile Rendering

Jigsaw is available for 3ds Max, Houdini, Maya, modo and Rhino, and can be used to split up large frames into arbitrary sized tiles and distribute them over your render farm. When the tiles are finished rendering, they are automatically assembled into the final image using Draft. Specific tiles can be re-rendered and automatically composited on top of the original image.

Note

Starting with Deadline 10.1.23, Draft Tile Assember does not require a license.

Regular tile rendering, which supports fixed tile sizes only, is still supported as well, and is available for 3ds Max, Cinema4D, Houdini, Maya, modo, Rhino, Softimage, Terragen and VRED.

Easy Installation and Upgrade Deployment

Deadline has gone through rigorous analysis to make the installation and configuration process smooth and efficient. A detailed document provides easy, step-by-step instructions explaining the various components that will be installed. In addition, Deadline has the ability to Auto-Upgrade the whole render farm from a centralized deployment - an incredible time-saver for large render farms.

Auto Configuration allows studios to efficiently increase the size of their farm by removing the need to configure each new Worker individually. The Repository Path, License Server, and additional settings can be configured in a single location, and broadcast to the Workers when they start up.

Worker Scheduling and Idle Detection

Start and stop the Worker based on the time of day to allow workstations to join the render farm overnight. Alternatively, start the Worker if the machine has been idle for a certain amount of time, and stop it when the machine is in use again.

Other criteria like CPU usage, memory usage, and running processes can also be checked before starting the Worker. Displays a warning message before starting the Worker, allowing an artist to choose to delay when the Worker starts if they are still using the machine.

Local Worker Controls

Artists can monitor and control the Worker application running on their workstation, which is useful if the Worker is running as a service. Override the Idle Detection settings for your Worker, or change the Worker’s Job Dequeuing Mode to control if the Worker should render all jobs, jobs submitted from the artist’s machine, or jobs submitted by specific users.

Remote Control and Farm Administration

Stream the log from a Worker in real time, or start, stop, and restart Worker instances (as well as the remote machine on which it is running) remotely from within the Monitor. In addition, execute arbitrary command lines (applications, command line operations or batch files) on a single or group of remote machines to rollout software or install updates.

In addition, Deadline integrates seamlessly with VNC, Remote Desktop Connection, Apple Remote Desktop, and Radmin using custom scripts. These scripts can be modified or new scripts can be created to support other remote access software.

Secrets Management

Access to secrets (passwords and API keys) stored in the database is controlled through the Deadline Secrets Management feature. This allows you to configure which machines have access to secrets, as well as denote server machines that are allowed to process secrets.

Reduced Energy Footprint

Save on energy consumption, power and cooling costs with Power Management, a feature that shuts down idle machines and starts them back up when needed. This feature is available for render farms with machines that support WakeOnLan or IPMI. Addtionally, restart your machines on a regular basis via Machine Restart and the Thermal Shutdown system polls temperature sensors and responds by shutting down machines if the temperature gets temporarily too high in your server room.