Watchdog Client:

Release 1.0.17.01 (08.06.04)

Maya 6.0 Software Rendering Added:

Maya 6.0 changed the way the render command works so there is a new job type specifically for Maya 6.0 software rendering. Mental ray through maya, Hardware and Vector rendering to follow soon.

AfterFx Rendering Added:

AfterFx has been added as a new job type. Set the software version to point to the aerender.exe in the Support Files folder of your AfterFx directory.

Command Line Submission Fixed:

Servers were not being properly selected from the command line submission to watchdog. AfterFx and Maya 6.0 Software command line jobs added as well.

Release 1.0.16.6 (06.04.04)

Job Logs Improved:

The job logs dialog has been optimized and loading logs is dramtically faster. 1500 logs now load in under 2 seconds!
The dialog box is now resizeable.

Dogpound Job Log Settings:

If the job logs did not have a trailing "/" then watchdog would not properly recognize the directory. This has been corrected and no trailing "/" is needed.

Sub-Frame Stepping for Maya:

The renumber flag now is added by default to the maya options when a fractional number is used for the stepping value.
Default action is to use the start frame as the renumber start frame unless otherwise defined in the options.

Grid View:

Grid view settings are now retained between Watchdog sessions.

Packet Time Corrected:

Packet times begain showing incorrectly after the last revision of the display system. This has now been fixed.

Job Sorting:

This was temporarily disabled in the last release but has been reimplemented in this version.

Lightwave LWSN setting:

The hardcoded LWSN flag of "-3" has been removed to make LWSN compatible with new versions of Lightwave.
The appropriate LWSN type flag (i.e. -3 or -4) should be set in the software version settings after the exe path.
(i.e. "C:\Program Files\Lightwave_3D\Programs\LWSN.exe -3")

Release: 1.0.16.51 (04.26.04)

Mental Ray for Maya:

All command line parameters are now available through the options dialog.
User has the ability to choose the renderable camera when submitting job.
Output path and name for .mi files can be set in the options dialog.
Cleanup of .mi files can be toggled on/off.

Sub-Frame Steppping for Maya:

Sub-frame stepping has been implimented for the Maya Software renderer.
Users can now submit jobs with a fractional step size. (i.e. .5 and 1.5)

Watchdog List Views:

The display of the list views in watchdog have been completely redesigned to eliminate
problems associated with flickering of the lists, items not retaining their proper selection
when a sorted list updates, and the scoll bar not holding it's position between updates.

Submission Window Pools Fixed:

There was an issue when more than 100 processors were online, the Submission window
was not correctly showing the Pools. This has been fixed.

Host List (View By Machine):

The host list view has been redesigned to accurataly reflect the proper number of rdog clients
available on each machine.

Dogpound Server accepting multiple iterations of the same Renderdog client:

This was known to happen if a render client became unplugged from the network and reconnected
before the server recognized the disconnect. Now the server will automatically close all connections
associated with a duplicate render node name state to allow the RDC to relaunch a single iteration.

Release: 1.0.15.5 (02.27.04)

Bug Fixes:

Deleting packets crashing the Dogpound server has been fixed
Hiding views sometimes crashing Watchdog has been fixed

GUI:

Hide Error Flags
Minimize to System Tray
Always On Top and Minimize to System Tray retains settings between Watchdog sessions

Software Versions:

Software Version Limits

Release: 1.0.15.1 (02.15.04)

Job Submission:

Definable Job Name
Per job pool and individual render node selection
Support for simultaneous single and multi-processor jobs
Per job priority
Max slots to use per job
Annotate each job with a custom note
Software specific options supporting all command line flags

Command Line Submission:

Watchdog supports command line submission to allow for scriptability of render launches. This opens up watchdog to launch jobs from within other applications using script based tools (i.e. MEL).

Job Editing:

On the fly job editing
Redefine pool and individual render node selection for job
Adjustable job priority
Adjustable max slots to use for job
Pause jobs in progress
Delete jobs from queue

Monitor Render Farm Status:

View from Watchdog client or Dogpound server
View by Machine or Renderdog slot
Remote login w/ VNC software installed
Toggle render slot/machine online/offline from watchdog or dogpound
Displays machine statistics on Watchdog and Dogpound

Define Render Pools:

Server side GUI for creating /managing render pools
Select render nodes for job by pool and/or slot basis

Monitor Jobs in Progress:

View current status and total elapsed time for job
View all or just the user owned packets on farm
View current task, memory, and elapsed time for each packet
Double click to view current frame being rendered using image viewer helper application
View output of current process from any packet
Kill individual packets
Remote login to machine assigned to packet using VNC software as helper application

Job Logs:

Server defined global log directory
Per job specification of none, simple, or detailed logs
Job title, owner, packet host, memory, total time, and date are recorded
View information on a per job, per packet, or total output basis
Job logs can be limited by server through max number of logs and expiration date

RenderDog Command Processing Client:

Auto login to server
Separate application space for each slot (processor)

Dogpound Server:

Active monitoring of both Watchdog and Renderdog clients
View connection info and total connection time for client
Remote login with VNC software when defined as helper application
View basic output (faster server response)
View detailed output (useful for debugging server activity)

GUI:

Hide any combination of views showing only the information that you need
User definable colors for all panes and text
Hide/Unhide background grid
Always On Top