Distributed iterative processing has been done. one of the very early
SIGGRAPH papers on particles was primarily about multi-processing particle
systems and involved allocating individual particles to processors. This
works pretty well for networked processors, I'd imagine, because it doesn't
require shared data, so long as any given processor handles the entire life
of the particle. But this wouldn't work so well for fluid sims.
But for your problem I think you're out of luck. The issue isn't about the
ability to multi-thread so much as the ability to chuck information about
other particles across a network fast enough to make it worthwhile doing.
Even if it were possible, multi-threading across multiple processors is
highly specialised.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-xsi(at)Softimage.COM
> [mailto:owner-xsi(at)Softimage.COM] On Behalf Of Kris Rivel
> Sent: 25-April-2006 19:24
> To: XSI(at)Softimage.COM
> Subject: Re: network distributed particle simulations?
>
> An hour per frame....wow, you don't mess around do you :-) I
> didn't think distributing particles was possible. I know
> that the Next Limit guys are working on this I think but the
> obvious problem is that you need the previous frame to
> simulate the next frame, etc.
>
> Kris
>
> Mathieu Leclaire wrote:
> > OK, I'm still working on my particle simulations here... A particle
> > cloud with a scripted event that calls a custom command on
> every frame
> > to calculate a special collision event, where it passes information
> > from one cloud to another through a UserDataBlob when
> certain particles collide.
> > Anyway, the thing is, for the number of particles that I need, and
> > even though I believe I've optimized the simulation as best
> I can, it
> > takes roughly an hour a frame to calculate my simulations. At 200
> > frames, well, it takes more then a week of simulation using one
> > machine. We have a pretty big render farm here so if I could find a
> > way to use it to split the simulations over multiple
> machines, then we
> > can make the simulations in a more reasonable time frame. So my
> > question is this: how can I distribute my simulations over
> a network?
> > What would be the best way to approach the issue? I need to
> have xsi
> > evaluate the cloud normally, make the particles move depending on
> > forces and once the particles are positioned correctly, my scripted
> > event is called that calls the custom command. How can I
> separate the
> > process of that custom command over multiple machines so that one
> > machine calculates lets say the first 100 particles, and
> the next one
> > calculates another group of 100 particles and so on, until all the
> > particles have been evaluated and all the resulting data
> can be passed
> > to the UserDataBlob... I just want to make sure you guys understand
> > that what needs to be distributed is the evaluation in my custom
> > command that happens between each frames and that,
> depending on that
> > result, the particles will change and affect the following
> frame. So
> > before the next frame can be evaluated, the current network process
> > must be done before the next frame can start. Any
> suggestions on how
> > to do something like that? Anyone had to deal with
> something similar? Any help or suggestions would be greatly
> appreciated.
> >
> >
> > Mathieu Leclaire
> > R&D Programmer
> > Hybride Technologies
> >
> >
> >
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