Distribution

Simplygon process distribution works using pipelines. Any pipeline can be distributed directly through the API by using the run mode parameter in the run scene API call.

Running a distribution node

To start a client node run the SimplygonGridAgent.exe tool on the machine. There is no coordinator or network setup needed, the pipeline execution locates available processing nodes using mDNS/DNS-SD.

Distributed pipeline execution

Distribution is enabled by passing the appropriate run mode to the pipeline run scene API

spReductionPipeline reductionPipeline = sg->CreateReductionPipeline();

// Process a scene from file directly using distribution
reductionPipeline->RunSceneFromFile( "input.obj", "output.obj", EPipelineRunMode::RunDistributedUsingSimplygonGrid );

// Or if you have a scene object, process it using distribution
reductionPipeline->RunScene( scene, EPipelineRunMode::RunDistributedUsingSimplygonGrid )

spReductionPipeline reductionPipeline = sg.CreateReductionPipeline();

// Process a scene from file directly using distribution
reductionPipeline.RunSceneFromFile( "input.obj", "output.obj", EPipelineRunMode.RunDistributedUsingSimplygonGrid );

// Or if you have a scene object, process it using distribution
reductionPipeline.RunScene( scene, EPipelineRunMode.RunDistributedUsingSimplygonGrid )

reductionPipeline = sg.CreateReductionPipeline()

# Process a scene from file directly using distribution
reductionPipeline.RunSceneFromFile( "input.obj", "output.obj", EPipelineRunMode_RunDistributedUsingSimplygonGrid )

# Or if you have a scene object, process it using distribution
reductionPipeline.RunScene( scene, EPipelineRunMode_RunDistributedUsingSimplygonGrid )

Paths

By default the batch tool is located using the SIMPLYGON_9_PATH environment variable. If you wish to place the executable in a custom location, use the SetSimplygonBatchPath setting on the pipeline to the path where the batch tool executable is located.

How it works

The pipeline execution usees the batch tool (SimplygonBatch.exe) to do the distribution. The batch tool find a suitable node using mDNS/DNS-SD (multicast UDP port 5353), picks the node with the lowest overall load and sends/recieves files using TCP/IP (by default using an ephemeral port). Progress and errors are propagated back to the originating host.

Cascaded distribution

If a pipeline execution is distributed, and the pipeline is cascaded with multiple child pipelines, the execution of the child pipeline will be re-distributed to parallellize work as much as possible. This is handled internally by the pipeline execution.

Fallback

If the pipeline execution is unable to locate a suitable node for distributed execution it will fall back to local processing