Hey everybody. Is there a way to render several files in sequence without using HQueue? I have a single workstation where I'd like to just locally queue up several files to render overnight, or over a weekend.

Deadline is free for up to 2 machines. You can use that to handle the files and make your machine the deadline slave.

Here are a few links on creating a shell script to render from the command line. Used to do this all the time in ye olde days.

https://www.sidefx.com/forum/topic/1991/ [www.sidefx.com]
https://www.sidefx.com/forum/topic/3568/ [www.sidefx.com]

Check out Juraj`s background render script as well:
https://github.com/jtomori/hou_bg_render [github.com]

Deadline is gold though.


-b

Great, thanks for all the suggestions! I'll investigate these.

On a single machine, you don't really need any kind of queing software to Hbatch. Just a little memory and trust that noone will touch the box when you are away.
Set up the ROPs as needed. Those any kind suppourted by Houdini.
Fire them off as Render In Backround from ROP Network or from ROPs that in SOP or DOP or COP context. As you fire each one note the Hbatch PID (Process ID) number in Task Manager (under Win10) or TOP( under Linux). Be sure to set USE ALL THREADS EXCEPT ONE so that OS and browser can still work. Under Linux you can also launch with L option if you want to limit thread count on each Hbatch. Under Windows, this is done on the fly after launch. In Task Manager you can set Thread Affinity and Priority of each Hbatch job as needed. Changing either will not crash Hbatch, but will slow it down, or speed it up ,depending on resources available. On multiple core , high thread rigs, with sufficient memory, it is much less of an issue. The Task Manager and TOP provide CPU, memory, storage, and GPU loads. A high load Hbatch , means that is working. Open the destination folders to view output and progress. Set high verbose output so you can troubleshoot in case of error.
The dark downside of this approach is that your system memory and storage amount must be sufficient. To render each Hbatch one at a time, you do need to set up a render order in ROPnetwork. Then RENDER IN BACKROUND or SAVE TO DISK IN BACKGROUND , the LAST ROP only. Hbatch will process the ROPs in order that you setup, starting with top most ROP Output Driver.

Cheers