Rendering on Distributed Machines

How to run scenery-based applications on a distributed setup, such as a CAVE or PowerWall.

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Rendering on Distributed Machines

How to run scenery-based applications on a distributed setup, such as a CAVE or PowerWall.

Rendering with distributed setups is still experimental, so this document is very likely to change in the future.

Requirements

For all machines of the setup:

For the control node:

Optionally:

a remote desktop solution, such as VNC might help with debugging the setup

Basic Setup

In order to run distributed applications, all machines need to access to two network shares, which do not necessarily need to reside on the same machine:

a share containing the scenery application directory, including all JARs built, a suggested structure for this is: # contains the scripts from the cluster-scripts repository path/to/base # contains the scenery git repository and JARs path/to/base/scenery
a share containing the data to be loaded.

The scripts from the cluster-scripts repository need to be adjusted for your local setup, in particular the username and password for the rendering node accounts need to be changed, as well as their names, and the name of the network share used. Go through the scripts carefully, they contain comments in places that need to be changed and are very short.

Next, the pom.xml file from the scenery repository needs to be imported into IntelliJ on the control node. Open IntelliJ, select the file via File > Open, and follow the instructions.

Screen configuration

In order for scenery to know about your screen configuration, a screen configuration YAML file is required, such file looks like this:

name: CAVE example configuration
description: Multi-screen configuration, demoing a 4-sided CAVE environment
screenWidth: 2560
screenHeight: 1600

screens:
  front:
    match:
      type: Property
      value: front
    lowerLeft: -1.92, 0.00, 1.92
    lowerRight: 1.92, 0.00, 1.92
    upperLeft: -1.92, 2.40, 1.92
  left:
      match:
        type: Property
        value: left
      lowerLeft: -1.92, 0.00, -1.92
      lowerRight: -1.92, 0.00, 1.92
      upperLeft: -1.92, 2.40, -1.92
  right:
      match:
        type: Property
        value: right
      lowerLeft: 1.92, 0.00, 1.92
      lowerRight: 1.92, 0.00, -1.92
      upperLeft: 1.92, 2.40, 1.92
  floor:
      match:
        type: Property
        value: floor
      lowerLeft: -1.92, 0.00, -0.48
      lowerRight: 1.92, 0.00, -0.48
      upperLeft: -1.92, 0.00, 1.92

We assume that all projectors have the same resolution. When launching on each of the nodes, the appropriate screen is determined using the match block. Here, Property means the appropriate screen is determined using the JVM system property scenery.ScreenName. This property gets set by the run-cluster.bat and run-test.bat scripts. An arbitrary numbers of screens is possible, but the YAML file and run-cluster.bat script need to be adjusted accordingly.

Running DemoReelExample

In IntelliJ, find DemoReelExample. This example can be found in the project in the src/test/tests/graphics/scenery/examples/cluster directory. In the example, make sure that the IP given for TrackedStereoGlasses matches that of your tracking system, and the YAML file given matches the name of your screen configuration. Then, click the Runbutton to run this locally and verify all data is found.

Afterwards, go to Run > Edit Configurations... to adjust the parameters of this test in order for it to run on all nodes. The VM options of DemoReelExample should look like the following:

In the Before launch part of the window, two additional steps need to be added:

The Maven goal package needs to be run in order to build all JAR files and make them available to the other nodes.
The run-cluster.bat script needs to be run to launch scenery instances on the projection nodes. The External Tool setup for that script should look like the following image:

After this is complete, DemoReelExample can be run again and should now launch on all the nodes.

Controls

In DemoReelExample, you can use the WASD keys of the keyboard to move around. You can also keep an Xbox or PS4 gamepad connected to the control node to use for movement. Further keybindings are:

Button

Function

Shift 1

Go to the Bile scene

Shift 2

Go to the C. elegans scene

Shift 3

Go to the Drosophila scene

I, K

Rotate scene up/down

J,L

Rotate scene left/right