NVIDIA Releases The First Official Version Of Its Iray Server Distributed Rendering Software

Following a lengthy beta period, NVIDIA has just released the first official version of its Iray Server software. As the name implies, Iray Server is the server portion of NVIDIA’s overall Iray solution; the other piece of the puzzle is an Iray rendering plugin that can be installed for Autodesk’s 3ds Max or Maya design suites, among others.

Currently, NVIDIA charges $295 per annual license for any one of its Iray solutions. Where Iray Server is concerned, an individual license will need to be purchased for each physical system the software is installed on. For most systems, 4 GPUs will be the top limit, although Iray Server would be able to take advantage of more if they are there. It’s worth noting that NVIDIA’s VCAs include 8 top-end Quadros and uses Iray Server to make the magic happen.

Iray Server’s Web Interface

I took an in-depth look at various Iray solutions back in December, including Iray Server, and was left impressed for a number of reasons. To start, the software was incredibly easy to set up and operate, and the results are excellent. There’s something calming about being able to work on a project on one machine and send its render job over to another one; it means that you render in the background with absolutely no impact on the performance of the machine you’re using.

One of the best parts of Iray Server, to me, is the ability to copy and edit a render job after it’s sent to Iray Server. If you go this route, you could adjust the number of iterations it should be rendered for, its resolution, output format, and even apply various buffers. It’s a really convenient feature overall, made better by the fact that you can edit these things from the server UI itself, and not require the original application the scene was created on.

In addition to Iray Server, NVIDIA currently sells plugins for 3ds Max and Maya, while plugins for Cinema 4D, Rhino, and Revit are en route. Folks interested in plugins for those particular design applications can sign up to be notified of their release via this page. Those interested in the software already available can go right here.