Author: Jochen Kornitzky

# mental ray installation notes

Index |
| This document Installation Licenses mental ray network server What got installed ? Running mental ray Uninstallation Copyrights Homepage
This Document |
| This document describes the installation of mental ray® and its licensing software (SPM) for Windows NT on your PC using the automated setup program. If you are installing mental ray on a server or workstation under the UNIX or Linux operating system, please refer to the Postscript installation notes on the installation medium in `common/doc/ps/installUNIX.ps`. The documentation at `common/doc/ps/installNT.ps` describes the manual installation of mental ray on your PC under Windows NT and gives you extra information for troubleshooting.
Installation |
Prerequisites | Log in to your PC as Administrator. Make sure that the TCP/IP protocol is installed and a proper host name is configured. You do not need networking hardware (e.g. an Ethernet board) installed to use mental ray locally on your PC but you need it to use the networking capabilities of mental ray or to use floating network licenses.
Setup | Chose the setup program to start your installation. You find it in the `Setup` directory of the installation medium.
| Double-click `Setup.exe` to start installation on Windows NT for Intel x86 processors. Use `Setupalpha.exe` to install on an Alpha processor NT machine.
Welcome |
Installation | The default installation just needs a few clicks on each presented `Next>` button. The default installation lets mental ray run on a standalone PC with a locally attached license dongle. However, if you want to modify the default settings you can do so in the following dialogs.
Destination | The setup program will install mental ray in `C:\Program Files\mental images\mental ray`, where `C:` is your NT system drive. mental ray refers to the `MI_ROOT` environment variable to find its startup and configuration files.
Setup Type | This dialog lets you chose which mental ray components to install on your PC. The Standard installation contains everything you need to run mental ray including imaging tools and the SPM License Server. It contains the HTML formatted documentation. It also prepares your PC for use as a render server in your network. The mental ray server installation contains only the minimum set of components needed to run this PC as a network server. No local SPM License Server is installed, you will need to chose a remote server for licensing. You might not be able to run mental ray locally because only a limited set of support files is installed. You can use this option to install the dedicated render machines of a renderfarm. The SPM License Server installation installs only the license server that can serve licenses over the network. It is a good practice to run the license server on a separate machine that is not used for CPU-intense jobs. This option does not install any rendering software but only the licensing software. The Custom installation gives you the chance to pick individual components.
Select Components | You will see this dialog only if you selected Custom in the previous dialog. Initially, all installable components are selected. Just click on `Next>` if you want to install everything. You may use this dialog to install the following additional components: Postscript formatted documentation. This contains the full mental ray user's manual. Development include and link files. You will need these files if you want to develop custom shaders. Please refer to the mental ray manual for information about shader writing.
Select SPM License Server | This dialog allows you to select the license server that mental ray should contact to obtain runtime licenses. The host name field is preset to the name of the local machine. Change it only if you want to obtain your licenses from another computer on the network. You may also specify a colon separated list of host names like `pollux:castor` if you want to collect your licenses from multiple servers. If your PC is not permanently connected to a local network but uses some dial-in connection you should specify `localhost` here to obtain local licenses. The host names you enter here go into the system environment variable `SPM_HOST`. You can change them later using the Control Panel System Properties.
Progress | mental ray is now installed on your harddisk.
Finish | mental ray is now completely installed. Click Finish to complete Setup.
Licenses |
| If you installed the SPM License Server on your PC you need to request and install licenses in order to run mental ray.
Dongle | First, make sure, that your dongle is attached to a serial port (e.g. `COM1:`) of your PC. The dongle has two plugs. Use the female plug to connect to your PC. If your PC has 9pin serial ports you should use the adapter that comes with your dongle. This is NOT a parallel dongle. Do not attach it to the printer port.
| The SPM system is preconfigured to use the `COM1:` serial port. If you must use another port, you manually have to modify the SPM configuration file `C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\Spm\spm-config.ini`. "C:\WINNT" is the Windows system directory, it may be different for your installation. Please use a text editor (like Notepad) to change the line `DONGLE_PORT = COM1:` to `DONGLE_PORT = COM2:` or whatever port is appropriate.
SPM License Tool | All SPM licensing functions can be performed with the SPM license tool spm_key_ui.exe. It is accessible from the Start menu as `Start->Programs->mental images->SPM license tool`. On your harddisk it is located at `C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\Spm\spm_key_ui.exe`. At the same location you also find a command line version `spm_key.exe`. Please refer to the documentation in `common/doc/ps/installNT.ps` for this command line version.
Requesting Licenses | To request licenses click on `Create Request File`. After a few seconds a request code appears in the text area. Please follow the instructions given in the dialog. If any error occurs during the procedure, the error messages are displayed in the text area. If you are not able to solve the error condition, you can send the error text to your license issuer.
Installing Licenses | Type or paste (using `Ctrl+V`) the validation key code you got from your license issuer into the text area. Be careful not to insert extra (blank) characters or empty lines. Click on `Install Licenses` and wait for a few seconds. Your licenses are now installed.
Starting the SPM License Server | The SPM License Server is preconfigured to start automatically with every system boot. If you want to start it immediately, use the Services Control Panel. You can also use this panel if you want change automatic to manual startup. If the SPM License Server is started it serves (depending on the type of license installed) local or network floating licenses. You can test its functionality with the command line status tool `spmstat.exe`. Try `spmstat -K` from a DOS command prompt.
mental ray network server |
Starting | The mental ray network server is preconfigured to start automatically with every system boot. If you want to start it immediately, use the Services Control Panel. You can also use this panel if you want change automatic to manual startup. If your PC is connected to the Internet or other public networks and you do not plan to use it as a rendering server, you should disable the mental ray network server as it may give access to your PC from other computers using the TCP/IP protocol.
What got installed? |
| Here is a list of system resources that were created or modified during installation: `C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\Spm` directory: Contains all SPM related files, including the hidden license database file `spm-kf`. `C:\Program Files\mental images\mental ray` directory: Contains all mental ray related files. You may want to put `C:\Program Files\mental images\mental ray\bin` into your PATH environment variable. `C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\Drivers\Etc\Services`: The following two services were added. You may want to modify the port numbers to match your network policies. Ask your network administrator.
    mi-ray   7002/tcp
    mi-spm   7050/tcp
`SPM_HOST` environment variable: lists the SPM license servers to connect from your PC. `MI_ROOT` environment variable: points to the mental ray installation directory. `TEMP` environment variable: points to a temp directory used by mental ray .
Running mental ray |
| The mental ray executable is installed in `C:\Program Files\mental images\mental ray\bin\ray.exe`. Since mental ray is a command line application that usually is used by other applications it makes no sense double-clicking it from the Windows Explorer. However you can use it directly from a DOS command line to render a photorealistic image from a scene contained in a file. To test your installation you can copy the demo scene you find on the distribution medium in `common\demo\demo.mi` into your working directory. Simply run `ray demo.mi` to start rendering. The resulting image file demo.tif can be viewed with the imf_disp imaging tool. Using a second command line window you can even watch mental ray during rendering. Run `imf_disp demo.tif` when the image file has been created by mental ray.
Uninstallation |
| To uninstall mental ray and all its installed components use the `Add/Remove Programs Control Panel` and select mental ray to Remove. If you stop the SPM License Server and the mental ray network server before uninstallation you will not need to reboot after the uninstallation.
Copyrights |
| Copyright © 1986-2000 mental images GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin, Germany. All rights reserved. This document is protected under copyright law. The contents of this document may not be translated, copied or duplicated in any form, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of mental images GmbH & Co. KG. The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice. mental images GmbH & Co. KG and their employees shall not be responsible for incidental or consequential damages resulting from the use of this material or liable for technical or editorial omissions made herein. mental images®, mental ray®, mental matter®, mental ray PhenomenonTM, mental ray PhenomenaTM, PhenomenonTM, PhenomenaTM, Phenomenon CreatorTM, Phenomenon EditorTM, Photon MapTM, mental ray Relay LibraryTM, and Relay LibraryTM are trademarks or, in some countries, registered trademarks of mental images GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin, Germany. All other product names mentioned in this document may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies and are hereby acknowledged.
Homepage |
| Visit mental images' homepage at http://www.mentalimages.com/