The Rendering Season: "There May Be Trouble Ahead"

This is a message for all our students...  The 'rendering season' is once again upon us; all those little scraps of paper cluttering the keyboards and heightened levels of stress.   As Sinatra observes 'There May Be Trouble Ahead' - but not if we work together calmly and with consideration for the little creative community of which we're part.

Some basic house rules:

If you leave a computer rendering overnight (in whatever room), you need to ensure you're logged off again by 9.30am at the latest the following day.   As many machines as possible should be available for use during office hours.

When you leave a rendering notice on a computer, please include your name and contact mobile number; this means that staff can contact you if and when necessary.

Please don't hog computers: no, it's not okay if you're using five all to yourself!  Please be considerate.  Please be proportionate.

If your scene is taking 1 hour per frame (for example), chances are there's something awry!  Please don't commit a computer to rendering a scene that is blatantly dysfunctional, thus putting it out of commission for days on end.   Seek help to optimise your rendering times where possible!

Somewhere, at some point, a bottleneck is inevitable - tears, tantrums and fisticuffs are not!  Can I suggest that, over the coming days, we 'face the music and dance' and seek to get everyone where they need to be as best we can...

Please use your social networks to spread the word; all over-night renders off machines by 9.30am at the latest.  Many thanks for your co-operation and calm :)