Save and Reuse Iray Server Queue Session Data (for 24 hours)

Save and Resuse prior Session data including your uploads, queue and results - for up to 24 hours

But first, what is included in my Session Data?

When Daz Studio prepares a Render Package to upload to Boost for Daz, it includes the original .duf file as well as the associated assets, textures, instances etc. that will go into creating your scene as you intended. This Render package is uploaded to the memory cache on your private GPU on Boost for Daz. Your Iray Server Session Data includes anonymized uploaded data*, queue data - job names and results, and Iray Server Admin settings.

*uploaded data: anonymized assets, textures and snapshots (geometry from the .DUF file and references to the anonymized assets and textures used in the snapshot)

Scenarios:

This feature is designed for the following scenarios:

Scenario 1 - Slow/unreliable internet connections.

Now you can upload and save the uploaded files in case of sudden session termination! Because, you know - life happens - and occasionally, internet connections drop or Daz Studio crashes. Working with medium to large projects over slower connections requires longer upload times - and a terminated session can be frustrating (not to mention wasted expense). In these scenarios, with this option activated, your uploaded files will be saved for reuse in a subsequent session (within 24 hours). You just come back and pick up where you left off. Voila!

Scenario 2 - Save money for large files/ long uploads.

Until now you had to pick a GPU to render your Daz project, paying for upload and rendering at the same GPU price. No more! We’ve separated those two steps - enabling you to upload to a lower cost CPU. Save Session data. Then, start a new session and load and reuse a prior sessions' data set with your GPU of choice to render your project.

Scenario 3 - Need to use different GPU’s to render a project.

You know your Daz project best, and your own instincts are invaluable when rendering a scene. But were human and sometimes we make a 'incorrect' GPU call. Here are some examples of situations that will indicate an 'incorrect' GPU pick:

• You decide that you need to get things moving and finish up the render sooner than planned.

• Render taking much longer that you expected/ It's just too slow (for e.g. aspects and elements in your scene create complexity and may contribute to that nagging sense of ‘delay’). One of the reasons is that the render drops (or 'fallback') to the CPU:

Are your renders 'dropping to CPU' ? When renders packages are too large to fit into the selected GPU's VRAM, then Iray Server 'adapts' by 'dropping' the render down to the CPU for processing. This scenario is possible on your local rig as well as on the private GPU's you select on Boost for Daz. When this happens, rendering goes down to a crawl and takes much much longer to complete than with the right-sized GPU. (Learn how to pick the right GPU)

The recommended solution is to stop the current session, and start a new session with the right-sized GPU and resuse this (or any prior) session's data with the new bigger GPU. At the moment, there are no visual indicators that Iray Servers has dropped rendering to the CPU. The best way to confirm this is to look at your Iray Server logs for the current session. The tell-tale clue would be log entries that contain the following text (for a sample RTX4000):

[Wed, 28 Dec 2022 00:08:10] 1 WORKER_1 | 1.26 IRAY rend error: CUDA error: out of memory

[Wed, 28 Dec 2022 00:08:10] 2 WORKER_1 | 1.35 IRAY rend warn : CUDA device 0 (Quadro RTX 4000) ran out of memory and is temporarily unavailable for rendering. If you find this text in your Iray Server logs, it's time to save session data; terminate session, and start new and resuse the prior sessions' data loaded onto a right-sized GPU.

Scenario 4 - Session Shutdown by Auto-Shutdown Timer

The default Auto-shutdown Timer is 4.5 hours, so if a render job (Streaming or Queuing) takes longer than that, and unless reset to a larger value, the Auto-shutdown timer will terminate the render. This termination could happen after all the renders in the queue are complete or prior to some of the renders completing.

Previously, either way, once the session was terminated, your private GPU was flushed and all data was lost.

Now, by activating the Save/Reuse Session Data feature you can get access to your session data even after the Timer shuts down your session. All queue jobs are saved at the state they were in when the session was shut down - waiting or completed - and your results are there too. All that is lost is any queued render job that was actually in process during the time the session was shutdown.

Scenario 5 - Life happens (and your dog desperately needs her walk)

You can stop your session (which also stops the billing) and come back to it within 24 hours and pick up where you left off. One of the benefits of reusing a prior sessions' data set loaded onto a new GPU, is that any new changes made to that project in Daz Studio and subsequently rendered (via Streaming or Queuing), will only upload the changes (reducing your render times significantly).

If you have a fast internet connection (approx. greater than 50Mbps) upload speeds (learn how to check your connection speed) then the benefit of this feature might be minimal.

What is included in my Session Data?

When Daz prepares a Render Package to upload to Boost for Daz it includes the original .duf file as well as the associated assets, textures, instances etc. that will go into creating your scene as you intended. This Render package is uploaded to a memory cache on your private GPU on Boost for Daz. Your Session Data includes this Render Package (.duf file plus all the associated elements such as assets, textures, etc.); your render Results that are generated during the rendering process (if you chose to render using Queue); and your Iray Server queue jobs and related data (if you chose to render using Queue).

Using "Save and Reuse Session Data" Feature

Follow these steps to select and use the ‘Save and Reuse Session Data’ feature on Boost for Daz:

Step 1 - Enable Save Session Data

Step 2 - Reuse a Prior Sessions' Data Set

Step 1 - Enable Save Session Data

To enable saving of your Sessions' Data set, check the "Preserve Session Contents for 24 Hours" checkbox in the GPU variant selection dialog on Boost for Daz. (For your convenience, this checkbox is preselected by default.)

Then proceed as normal, to select the 'I confirm' checkbox and then click on the Start Session button.

Now all your Session Data for this session will be stored.

Session data is stored for 24 hours - from the time of session termination - at no additional charge. After 24 hours - from the time of session termination - the session data will be deleted and will no longer be available.

For your convenience, the 'Preserve Session Contents" checkbox is selected by default. However, if you choose NOT to save your session data by explicitly unchecking the box, then all your session data will be flushed when you terminate your session, and will not be available for reuse when you choose to start a new session later.

Step 2 - Reuse a Prior Sessions' Data Set

Reusing a sessions' data set essentially loads back into the cache of your selected (same or different) GPU, all the uploaded source files, associated assets, queue jobs (if any) and prior results (if any) at the time of that sessions termination.

To reuse a prior sessions' data set, there are two micro steps required. You first need to (a) enable the reuse checkbox, and then (b) select the session whose data set you'd like to reuse.

(a) Check the 'Yes, I want to attach a previous session' checkbox before starting a session.

(b) Select from a list of previously stored session data sets associated with this account. This list is displayed in reverse chorological order - i.e. your last/latest session's data set, is at the top of the list.

At the time of this writing, you can have 15 (fifteen) as the maximum number of prior stored Session data sets available in your list.

Once you select the desired session data set to resuse, proceed as normal by selecting the 'I confirm' checkbox and then clicking on the Start Session button.

Common Questions Answered

What if I don't select the "Yes, I want to attach previous session" checkbox?

If you choose to start a session without selecting this checkbox, then your new session will start and initialize your selected GPU as a 'clean slate' session. A 'clean slate' session is a fresh, new session - and where no previous session data set is reused. In this scenario, if you left the 'Preserve session contents' checkbox selected and then started the session, then any session data created during this new session will be saved (and subsequently reusable) at the termination of this session.

What if I don't select BOTH - save session and reuse session data - checkboxes?

If both checkboxes are unchecked when the Start session button is clicked, the new session that is created with your selected GPU will be a clean slate session, and upon termination no session data will be saved. Again, in this scenario, the data set from this clean slate session will not be available for reuse later.

Can I change my mind about saving a Sessions data after starting a session?

Yes! You can choose to not save Session data by unchecking the 'Preserve session contents' checkbox from your Boost for Daz dashboard, prior to Stopping your session.

If you uncheck this checkbox from your Dashboard and then Stop your session, then this will override your previous intent to save session data and all session data will be flushed (deleted) at the end of this session.

These checkboxes above will be selected or unselected based on a User's previous session choices. In other words, if the User were to start a session with the "Save Results" option unchecked, the next time the User logis in the "Save Results" will also be unchecked. Of course, the User has a choice to explicitly change that by selecting the option prior to starting a session.

What if I just want to get the results of my queued renders from a previous session?

We got you covered! Get access to and download the results of previous queued render sessions (from up to 10 days ago).