Building Your Own Blender Render Farm: A Step-by-Step Guide

Building your own Blender render farm can drastically accelerate rendering times by harnessing multiple computers to work together. Instead of rendering frames sequentially on a single machine, a render farm divides the work among several nodes (computers), completing animations and high-resolution stills much faster. In this guide, we'll walk through setting up a personal render farm step-by-step, updated for Blender 4.4 (the latest stable version as of June 2025).

Why a DIY render farm? If you have a few spare PCs (or powerful GPUs) at home or in the office, you can combine their power for rendering - effectively creating a mini "supercomputer" for Blender tasks. This can save time and money compared to rendering everything on one workstation or using paid cloud services. (That said, if you need on-demand power without managing hardware, services like RenderDay - a commercial GPU-only cloud render farm - are available as alternatives. We'll keep our focus on building your own farm, but RenderDay remains a handy option for instant cloud rendering.)

What's new in 2025: Blender's old "Network Render" add-on from the 2.7x era is long gone - it was never ported to 2.8+ and is no longer supported. In its place, the community now relies on modern tools to distribute rendering across computers. Two popular options are Flamenco and CrowdRender. Flamenco is an open-source render management system developed with support from the Blender Studio (used in their productions). CrowdRender is a free Blender add-on created by a third-party team, focused on quick and easy network rendering setup. Both solutions work with Blender 4.4 and offer robust ways to split render jobs over multiple machines. We'll introduce each and guide you through the setup process, along with best practices to ensure a smooth rendering experience on your farm.

Let's dive into the requirements and then the step-by-step setup.

Requirements: Hardware, Software, and Network

Before setting up the render farm, make sure you have the following in place:

• Multiple Computers: At least two computers (one will act as the controller/main machine, and one or more as render nodes). They don't have to be identical, but the more powerful each is, the better overall performance. Blender runs on all major 64-bit operating systems (Windows 10/11, Linux, macOS 11+ on Intel or Apple Silicon) - you can mix OSes in your farm if needed. Each computer should meet Blender 4.4's minimum requirements, and ideally the recommended specs for heavy rendering. For example, Blender's official guidance suggests a 64-bit, 8-core CPU, 32 GB of RAM, and a GPU with 8 GB VRAM for optimal performance. Older or less-powerful machines can still contribute, but expect that a node with a slow CPU or limited GPU might render its part more slowly.

• Modern GPUs (Optional but Recommended): If you plan to use GPU rendering with Cycles (highly recommended for speed), ensure your graphics cards are supported by Blender 4.4. Generally, NVIDIA GPUs from the GTX 400 series upward (including all RTX cards) and AMD GPUs from GCN 1st gen (Radeon HD 7000 series) upward are supported, as well as newer Intel GPUs. Each GPU should have sufficient VRAM (at least 2 GB, but 8+ GB is recommended for complex scenes). Using GPU-accelerated rendering on each node can dramatically improve render times, as Cycles can take advantage of CUDA, OptiX (NVIDIA), HIP (AMD), or oneAPI (Intel) on different hardware. Note: All nodes don't need identical GPUs; Blender will use whatever device is available on each (you can even mix GPU and CPU rendering across nodes). Just keep in mind that very old GPUs (or outdated drivers) may not be compatible with Blender 4.x's requirements - always update to the latest graphics drivers for best results.

• Blender 4.4 Installed: Install Blender 4.4 on every machine in the farm. Using the exact same Blender version on all nodes is crucial to avoid compatibility issues. Mismatched versions can lead to errors or subtle differences in rendered output. So, if you update Blender on one machine, update it on all of them. Blender can be run in "headless" mode on render nodes (no GUI) if you're comfortable with command-line, but for initial setup it's fine to use the standard installation.

• Network Connection: All the computers must be connected via a network. A local area network (LAN) is ideal. Wired Ethernet is preferred for reliability and speed - a Gigabit network switch or router is recommended. (100 Mbps is the bare minimum; 1 Gbps or higher will significantly speed up file transfers and communication between nodes.) While Wi-Fi can work for a small farm, it may introduce latency or dropouts if you're sending large files between machines. If your render nodes are in different physical locations (e.g. different offices or a mix of local and cloud machines), you might need to set up a VPN or port forwarding - but for a home/office LAN, it's usually plug-and-play. Make sure each machine can ping the others (i.e. they are on the same subnet and not blocked by network settings).

• Firewall Settings: On each node, configure firewalls to allow Blender or the render management software to communicate. By default, CrowdRender uses TCP ports in the range 9669-9694 on each machine. When you first connect nodes, Windows or macOS may prompt to allow Blender network access - be sure to approve this. If using Flamenco, the Manager and Workers communicate typically over a configurable port (default 8080 for the web interface, plus worker ports); ensure those are open or add exceptions as needed. Essentially, all farm machines should be able to send/receive data to each other for the render tasks.

• Shared Storage (for Flamenco or heavy projects): It's not strictly required to have a network-attached storage, but it can be very helpful. Flamenco in particular expects a shared folder that all machines can access (for uploading blend files and saving outputs). This could be a NAS device or simply a folder on one machine that's shared over the network (using SMB on Windows/Mac or NFS on Linux). If you use a shared drive, ensure it's mounted with the same path on all nodes (for example, each computer maps \\Server\BlenderFarm to the same drive letter or mount point). For CrowdRender, having a shared storage is optional - CrowdRender can automatically pack and send the scene data to each node - but a NAS can still help if your project has huge assets or simulation caches (so you don't duplicate that data on each node). We'll discuss asset handling more in the project preparation section.

• Render Management Software: You will need to choose a tool to coordinate rendering across the farm. As mentioned, the two main choices are CrowdRender (add-on) and Flamenco (manager & add-on). You should not attempt to use Blender's old Network Render add-on, as it no longer works in Blender 4.4. We cover setup for both CrowdRender and Flamenco below - you can pick the one that suits your needs (CrowdRender is a bit easier for small farms, while Flamenco is more scalable for larger setups or studio pipelines). It's possible to mix tools, but generally you'll stick to one system for your farm to avoid conflicts.

Once your hardware meets the specs and the network is configured, it's time to prepare your Blender project and then set up the render farm software.

Preparing Your Blender Project for Distributed Rendering

Before dispatching your render job to the farm, it's important to set up your project so that each node can access all the necessary data:

• Pack or Share External Assets: When you render on multiple machines, each machine needs the same blend file and any linked resources (textures, simulations, proxies, etc.). The simplest way to ensure this is to pack all external data into the .blend file (Blender has an option: File → External Data → Pack All Into .blend). This embeds image textures and such into the file, so when the file is sent to a render node, everything it needs is self-contained. Note: Some data cannot be packed (for example, fluid or physics caches, or very large image sequences). For those, you have two options: either manually copy those cache folders to each render node (in the same directory path), or use a shared network folder so that all nodes read the cache from a common location. If you use a shared NAS as mentioned, ensure your Blender project's cache/output directories are pointed to that shared path. The key is that when a node tries to load an asset or write an output, the path is valid on that node.

• Ensure Output Paths Are Consistent: Decide where the rendered frames or image will be saved. If you're using CrowdRender, the add-on will by default transfer rendered frames back to the master machine and save them where the primary Blender instance (client) is set to save output. This means you can often just set an output folder on the master machine (even a local folder) and CrowdRender will gather everything there through the network. However, make sure the master has enough disk space for all the output frames - remember that image files (especially if OpenEXR or high resolution) can be large. For example, a single 1080p OpenEXR frame can be around 100 MB, so 200 frames would be ~20 GB. Plan your storage accordingly. If using Flamenco with a shared storage, you'll likely set the output directory to a folder on the shared drive so that all workers write to the same location. Double-check that this folder is accessible and has write permissions for all nodes.

• Match Simulation Settings: If your scene involves physics simulations (smoke, fluids, particles) or dynamic geometry, it's best to bake those simulations to cache files before rendering on the farm. That way, each node isn't trying to re-simulate (which could lead to inconsistent results). Bake the simulations on your main machine, store the cache in a shared location or pack it if possible, and verify that each node can read the cache. Similarly, for motion blur or any temporal effects, ensure all nodes have the full scene data needed for each frame.

• Test Load the .blend on Nodes: As a sanity check, it can help to open the project on a couple of the render nodes (especially if they have different OS or GPU) to see that everything links correctly. Does the file open without missing textures? Can you render a single frame on that node (just locally) and get the expected result? This test can catch any file path issues or add-on dependencies before you launch a big network render.

By preparing your project assets and settings in advance, you set the stage for a trouble-free distributed render. With that done, let's set up the actual render farm software.

Setting Up the Render Farm Software

As of Blender 4.4, the two primary solutions for distributing render jobs across multiple machines are CrowdRender and Flamenco. We'll outline both methods:

Option 1: Using the CrowdRender Add-on (Easy Setup)

CrowdRender is a third-party Blender add-on designed to make network rendering extremely simple. It essentially runs within Blender on each machine and coordinates splitting frames (or image tiles) among the connected computers. The advantage of CrowdRender is that it's easy to install (just an add-on) and doesn't require a separate server program. This makes it great for small to medium farms (from 2 up to, say, 10-20 machines on a LAN). Here's how to set it up:

1. Download and Install CrowdRender: Visit the official CrowdRender website and download the latest version of the add-on (as a .zip file). There is a free version available for the public (at time of writing, v0.6.x supports Blender 3.x and 4.x). You'll need to install this add-on on every machine that will participate in the render farm. On each computer, open Blender and go to Edit → Preferences → Add-ons, click "Install…", and select the CrowdRender .zip. After installation, check the box to enable the add-on. You should do this in Blender 4.4 on all nodes (the main controller and all render clients). Remember, all nodes must run the same version of Blender and the add-on for compatibility.

2. Set Up Each Node in CrowdRender: Once enabled, CrowdRender adds a panel (typically in the 3D View's sidebar or the Render Properties tab - check the documentation for the exact location in Blender 4.4's UI, as it might appear under a Render section). On each render node (except the main one), you'll want to set it to "listening" mode so it can accept connections. Usually, simply having Blender open with the add-on enabled is enough - the add-on will start a background process waiting for incoming render jobs. Ensure you know each node's hostname or IP address on the network.

3. Connect Nodes to Master: On your main machine (the one from which you'll control the render and have your scene open), use the CrowdRender UI to add new render nodes. In the CrowdRender panel, there should be an option to add a node and input its address (IP or network name). Enter the details for one of your other machines and connect. If the connection is successful, the new node will appear in the list with a status (e.g. "Connected") and show its resources (like number of CPU threads, GPU info, etc.). Repeat this for each render node you have, adding them to the master's list. CrowdRender will also list a "This Machine" or "Local" node, which is the master itself - you can include it in renders as well if you want the master PC to also render alongside the others.

   • Troubleshooting connection: If a node fails to connect, verify that Blender is running on that node, the CrowdRender add-on is enabled there, and no firewall is blocking Blender. You might need to ensure Blender is allowed through the OS firewall on each node (as mentioned earlier, CrowdRender uses TCP ports 9669-9694 - the first connection typically uses 9669). Also double-check you typed the correct IP. You can test connectivity by pinging or using the node's IP in a web browser with the CrowdRender port (though it might not give a webpage, just seeing if the port is open).

4. Configure Node Settings (Optional): CrowdRender usually auto-detects the node's capabilities. However, you can customize some settings. For example, you can specify whether each node should use its GPU or CPU for rendering (it will use whatever Blender is set to on that node - so ensure each Blender instance's Preferences → System → Cycles Compute Device is set appropriately, e.g. GPU Compute if available). If a node has multiple GPUs, it will use all by default unless you limit it. You can also set a node to only handle certain frame ranges or tile sizes, but those are advanced tweaks - by default, the add-on manages load distribution automatically.

At this point, you have a CrowdRender farm ready: all nodes connected to the master Blender. The heavy lifting is done by the add-on: it will sync the scene data to each node and coordinate rendering. CrowdRender is designed to be "plug and play", hiding the complexity of data transfer. It sends the necessary data (the .blend, packed resources) to each render node, starts rendering, and then collects the results back. Next, we'll see how to actually start a render across the farm.

Option 2: Using Flamenco (Advanced Setup)

Flamenco is another solution - it's an open-source render farm manager developed by the Blender Studio team. Flamenco is a bit more involved to set up because it uses a server-manager and worker model (similar to professional render management systems). However, it's very powerful and flexible, especially if you have a larger number of nodes or need more control over jobs. Flamenco shines in studio environments or whenever you want a dedicated render queue with a web interface, the ability to manage multiple projects, etc. Here's a high-level guide to setting up Flamenco:

1. Obtain Flamenco Manager & Worker: Download Flamenco from the official site . Flamenco consists of a Manager (server) and a Worker agent. The Manager coordinates the jobs, and each Worker runs on a render node to execute tasks. Choose one machine to be the "Manager node" - this can be a spare PC or even the same as your main workstation (though for heavy use, a separate manager is better). The Manager will run a lightweight web service to which all Workers and your Blender add-on connect. Extract the Flamenco Manager package on the manager machine. Flamenco is cross-platform (runs on Windows, Linux, macOS), so your manager and workers can be on any OS mix.

2. Run the Flamenco Manager: The exact steps may vary with Flamenco versions, but typically you'll have a configuration file (YAML or similar) to edit with settings like the server port, database path (Flamenco uses SQLite by default), and a path for shared storage. After configuring, launch the Flamenco Manager service. It will start a web interface (often accessible at http://<ManagerIP>:8080 by default). If you prefer not to self-host, note that Blender Cloud subscribers have the option to use Flamenco in the cloud - Blender Studio provides a hosted Flamenco Manager on their cloud, which your local machines can connect to. In that case, you'd log in via your Blender ID and skip running a local server. But for a fully local farm, running the Manager on your network is the way to go.

3. Set Up Shared Storage: As mentioned, Flamenco expects a shared storage location. Ensure you have a folder that all Worker machines and the Manager can access. In Flamenco's config, set this as the "shared storage" path. For example, you might have a NAS mounted as Z:\Flamenco\ on all Windows nodes, or /mnt/flamenco on Linux nodes. The Manager will use this to place blend files and collect results. According to Flamenco's design, when you submit a job, the Manager receives it and moves the blend file and any needed files into the shared storage, then instructs Workers to render. So verify the Manager can read/write to that folder, and Workers can too (test by manually creating a file from each machine to ensure permissions).

4. Start Flamenco Workers on Each Node: On every render node (each machine that will do the rendering), download and install the Flamenco Worker application. Configure each Worker with the Manager's address (e.g. the IP/hostname of the Manager machine and port 8080, plus an authentication token if set). Run the Worker - it should connect to the Manager and register itself (often you'll see it appear in the Flamenco web interface as an idle worker). Keep the Worker running on each node; it will typically run in a console or as a service in the background. Workers regularly poll the Manager for tasks.

5. Install Flamenco Add-on in Blender: On your main Blender workstation, install the Flamenco add-on (it might be provided in the Flamenco download or accessible via the Manager's web interface, e.g. a flamenco3-addon.zip link). Enable it in Blender's Add-ons preferences (it's usually listed under the System category as "Flamenco"). In the Flamenco add-on settings, point it to your Flamenco Manager's URL (for a local manager, something like http://<ManagerIP>:8080). Click the "Refresh" or "Connect" button - Blender should then connect to the Manager and retrieve the configuration (like available job types and the storage path). If it doesn't connect, double-check the URL or any firewall that might block access.

At this stage, you have a Flamenco render farm running: the Manager is coordinating, Workers are online waiting for jobs, and your Blender is linked via the add-on. Flamenco's setup is more complex than CrowdRender's, but it pays off when you have many nodes or want to submit multiple jobs into a queue. Flamenco also allows custom job types (advanced users can script different kinds of tasks), though for this guide we'll stick to the standard render job. Next, we'll cover actually submitting a render across your Flamenco farm.

Distributed Rendering: Running a Job on the Farm

Now for the moment of truth - rendering your scene using the farm. The procedure will differ slightly depending on whether you use CrowdRender or Flamenco, so we'll describe each:

Rendering with CrowdRender

Using CrowdRender is very straightforward because it integrates right into Blender's normal rendering process:

1. Open Your Scene on the Master Machine: On your main PC (the one where you set up the CrowdRender connections), load up the Blender project you want to render. Double-check that all external data is packed or accessible (as per the preparation steps). Ensure CrowdRender is still enabled and your render nodes are showing as connected in the add-on panel.

2. Select Render Nodes: In the CrowdRender panel, you'll see all the connected machines (including "This Machine"). You can toggle which ones are active for the upcoming render. For example, you might choose to exclude the master from rendering if you want to keep it free for other tasks (then only the slave nodes will render), or include it to add its power. Make sure all desired nodes are checked/active. CrowdRender handles balancing automatically, but note that if one node is significantly slower, it could become the slow point for single-frame renders (because for a still image, the slowest tile determines when the whole image is done). For animations, it's less of an issue as each node will render different frames - faster nodes just get through more frames.

3. Start the Render - Animation or Still: Use Blender as you normally would: go to Render → Render Animation (or press Ctrl+F12) to render an animation, or Render → Render Image (F12) for a single frame. When CrowdRender is active, it intercepts the render and distributes it:

   • For animations: CrowdRender will allocate different frames to different machines. For example, in a 100-frame animation with 5 nodes, it might assign 20 frames to each, or even distribute on the fly as nodes finish tasks. Each render node will work on its frames and send the completed images back to the master. The master Blender will assemble these frames just as if it rendered them locally, and you'll see them appear in the render result or output folder. This parallel frame rendering can cut total animation time almost linearly with the number of machines (minus some overhead for network transfer). Essentially, instead of rendering frame 1-100 one by one, you might have frames 1-20 on node A, 21-40 on node B, etc., done concurrently.
   • For a single image (still frame): CrowdRender can split the image into multiple tiles and send each tile to a different node. For example, a 1920×1080 image might be divided into 4 tiles; each of 4 nodes renders one quarter of the image, then CrowdRender merges the tiles back together in your Blender session. This allows even one frame to utilize all machines, acting like one big combined renderer. Be aware: Blender's denoising or certain compositing operations may not seamlessly merge across tiled renders - you might see slight seams where tiles meet if denoising is on. A tip is to disable denoising for the multi-tile render and denoise the final image afterward, or use a higher tile overlap if supported. But in many cases, especially if you're not using heavy post-processing, the tiling works great and significantly reduces render time for a single image.

4. Monitor Progress: As the distributed render runs, you can watch progress in Blender's status bar or render window. CrowdRender also provides a status in its panel (e.g., showing which frame each node is on, or how tiles are progressing). If a node finishes its task, it may automatically take on another frame (for animations) until all frames are done. If any node disconnects or errors out, those frames will typically be requeued to another node or the master, so your render completes - albeit slower if a node dropped. You'll see messages if a node wasn't reachable, etc., which you can troubleshoot after.

5. Retrieve Output: Once completed, you should have all your rendered frames in the output directory you set (on the master, if you left it default). For animations, you can then compile frames into a video or do compositing as needed. If using a shared output path, verify all frames arrived. CrowdRender transfers the frames back to the master automatically, so usually you don't need to manually collect anything. It's a good practice to open a few of the rendered frames (especially ones from different nodes) to confirm consistency - they should be identical in lighting/shading, assuming all nodes had the same software setup. CrowdRender ensures that rendering on another node yields the same result as local, since it uses Blender's own rendering on each node.

That's it! With CrowdRender, day-to-day usage is basically: connect nodes → hit render → enjoy faster results. It's very interactive and suited for when you want to quickly leverage all available machines for a project without much overhead.

Rendering with Flamenco

Using Flamenco involves submitting a job to the Flamenco Manager (which then dispatches to Workers). It's slightly less interactive than CrowdRender's one-click approach, but it offers more control and can be managed via a web interface. Here's how to run a render job on a Flamenco-based farm:

1. Open the Project & Connect Flamenco Add-on: Open your Blender scene on your workstation (which has the Flamenco add-on enabled and connected to the Manager as set up earlier). In the Properties editor, go to the Scene tab (or look for a Flamenco panel - the UI may vary, but often Flamenco provides a panel in the render settings or a separate sidebar). Make sure the add-on is showing as connected (it might display the Manager URL and a status). If not, go into Preferences and reconnect as described before.

2. Configure the Render Job in Blender: Flamenco uses the concept of "Job Types." Typically, for a straightforward render, you'll use the built-in Simple Blender Render job type (this is provided by Flamenco by default). In the Flamenco panel, there should be a dropdown or list to select the job type. Click a "Fetch job types" or refresh button if needed to retrieve the list from the Manager. Choose Simple Blender Render. This job type basically tells the workers to open the .blend and render frames.

   • After selecting the job type, you'll need to specify some parameters: namely the frame range to render, chunk size, and output path. For example, you can set Frame Start and End (or if you only want a single frame, set start=end to that frame). Chunk size determines how many frames each task will contain - for instance, a chunk size of 1 means each task is one frame (ideal when you have many workers so they can evenly divide frames). A larger chunk (e.g. 5) means each task will render 5 frames sequentially on one worker before moving to the next task. Smaller chunks give better load balancing for many nodes, whereas larger chunks reduce overhead if you have very few nodes. For most cases, chunk = 1 or 2 is fine. Also verify the Output path - by default it may use whatever is set in the Blender scene output. If using a shared storage, ensure the output directory is within that shared folder (so workers can write to it). If you're rendering a single image using Flamenco, the approach might differ - you could still use Simple Blender Render for one frame, or use a specialized tile rendering job type if available (Flamenco can be scripted for tile rendering, but that's beyond scope; by default, it might just have each worker render the whole image which isn't useful unless you use only one worker for that job).

3. Submit the Job: Double-check everything (correct frame range, output path, etc.), then hit the Submit to Flamenco button in the add-on UI. Blender will package the job and send it to the Flamenco Manager. What happens next is largely automatic: the Manager receives the instructions and the Blender file. The Flamenco add-on/Manager will upload the .blend file to the shared storage for the workers to access. It will then queue tasks for the frame range. Almost immediately, your Worker nodes will pick up those tasks (the Manager assigns them to free workers). Each Worker Blender (running in background on those machines) will load the scene and render its assigned frames.

4. Monitor the Render: You can monitor progress in a couple of ways. The Flamenco Manager has a web interface (if you open the Manager's URL in a browser, you should see a dashboard). There you can see the job, a list of tasks (frames) and which worker is rendering each, and their status (running, completed, etc.) in real-time. The Blender Flamenco add-on may also update with progress (for example, it might list how many frames done, or you might need to hit refresh). Additionally, each Worker running will log output to its console - if you peek at a Worker's window you can see Blender's usual render log lines for frames. Flamenco will also handle if a worker fails or a task errors: it can requeue failed frames to another worker. Keep an eye out for any error messages in the Flamenco interface - if, say, a worker couldn't access a file, those will be reported.

5. Completion and Retrieval: Once all frames are rendered, the job will be marked as completed in Flamenco. Your output frames will be available in the designated output folder (on the shared storage or wherever you pointed it). If you were rendering to a multi-user network location, you can now collect those frames for editing. If you used a single-machine output path, note that since each worker wrote directly to it (via the share), the files should all be there. Verify that all expected frames are present. It's a good idea to open a few frames (from different workers) to ensure they rendered correctly and consistently - with Flamenco, since all nodes are running the same Blender version and reading the same data, the results should be identical to a single-machine render. If any frames are missing or incomplete, you can always requeue just those frames as a new Flamenco job (one of the benefits of a render manager is that you can easily rerun specific tasks).

6. Managing Multiple Jobs (if needed): Flamenco allows you to queue multiple jobs. For example, you could submit another scene or a different camera angle while the first job is still rendering; the Manager will either run them in parallel (if you have free workers) or queue them to start when others finish. You can also prioritize or cancel jobs from the web interface. This is useful if you have a lot of rendering to get through. Just be mindful of the hardware - if you queue too many heavy jobs at once and you don't have enough workers, they'll still have to slog through sequentially.

In summary, Flamenco requires a bit more initial setup and a slightly different workflow (submit job → check web UI), but it is very effective for distributed rendering. It's the same system used internally for Blender Studio's projects, so it's built to handle complex scenes and lots of frames. For a small home farm, Flamenco might be overkill unless you enjoy tinkering, but it's good to know both approaches.

Tips for Optimizing Your Render Farm

Now that your render farm is up and running with Blender 4.4, here are some additional tips and best practices to get the most out of it:

• Keep Software in Sync: As emphasized, always keep all nodes on the same Blender version and update the CrowdRender or Flamenco software together. When Blender releases updates (e.g., 4.5, etc.), check that your render farm tools support it before upgrading everything. (CrowdRender often announces support for new Blender versions quickly, and Flamenco being official will track Blender updates as well.)

• Balance CPU and GPU Usage: If some nodes don't have a strong GPU, consider using them for CPU rendering tasks (for example, they can still contribute to animations by rendering frames on CPU). CrowdRender allows mixing devices - each node will use whatever Blender is set to. You could dedicate GPU-equipped machines to do the heavy lifting and leave CPU-only machines to handle lighter frames or assist if GPUs are busy. In Flamenco, you might register some workers as "GPU" and others as "CPU" and manually assign jobs or frame chunks accordingly (or run separate jobs for CPU if needed).

• Network Throughput Considerations: When rendering with many machines, the network can become a bottleneck if you're constantly sending large files. CrowdRender mitigates this by sending the scene data once initially (then only small updates if you tweak the scene interactively) and by compressing frame data (OpenEXR images are large but they're sent only once per frame). Still, avoid saturating your network - if you notice that rendering stalls at the end of each frame while waiting on transfers, you might benefit from enabling image compression or reducing tile size (so each transfer is smaller). A Gigabit network generally can handle a few hundred MB per second, so it's usually fine. Just something to watch if your frames are huge (e.g., 4K multi-layer EXRs).

• Monitoring and Temperature: Rendering is a heavy task - monitor your nodes for any overheating or stability issues. Ensure each PC's cooling is adequate, and blow out dust if needed. It's not uncommon for a render node to crash due to thermal issues or GPU driver timeouts under sustained load. Using tools to log temperatures or GPU utilization can help you catch issues early. Also, consider enabling Blender's Auto Save for renders (so partial progress is not lost if something crashes mid-way) or splitting very long sequences into chunks.

• Security and Permissions: If your farm spans multiple networks or uses cloud machines, secure your connections. The LeaderGPU example used a VPN (WireGuard) to link external nodes. If you're purely on a home LAN, you're probably fine. But avoid exposing Flamenco's ports or open Blender instances directly to the internet without protection. Use strong passwords for any shared storage and ensure only authorized users can submit jobs to your farm (especially in a studio environment).

• Cost vs. Benefit: Running your own farm means you're using your own electricity and hardware wear-and-tear. For personal projects or small studios, this is often cheaper than cloud rendering (since you already have the hardware). But do keep an eye on power usage. Render nodes running at 100% can draw significant wattage. If you only occasionally need extra help, weigh that against the convenience of cloud farms (like RenderDay or others). For frequent use, a local farm pays off; for one-off big jobs, a cloud burst might be simpler.

• Scalability: Both CrowdRender and Flamenco can scale beyond just a few machines. If you add more PCs, just install the same setup on them and join them to the farm. CrowdRender's peer-to-peer design should handle a modest number of nodes easily (the devs have used it with a dozen or more). Flamenco can handle dozens or even hundreds of workers, as it's used in professional pipelines. So your farm can grow over time if needed - you might start with two PCs and later integrate more as you acquire new hardware.

• Testing and Benchmarks: It's a good idea to test your render farm with a known benchmark scene (like the Blender demo files) to ensure everything works correctly. For example, try rendering a few frames of Blender's Classroom demo with and without the farm to see the speedup. This also helps identify any performance issues or node misconfigurations early.

Conclusion

By following this guide, you should have a fully functioning Blender render farm that leverages the capabilities of Blender 4.4 and modern render management tools. We replaced the old, deprecated methods with current solutions - CrowdRender for quick-and-easy network rendering and Flamenco for a more advanced, studio-style setup - ensuring that your workflow is both efficient and up-to-date. Each render node in your farm will now contribute to the final output, whether by rendering separate frames in an animation or collaborative tiles of a single image, massively reducing the time it takes to finish projects.

This updated approach reflects the realities of 2025: the Network Render add-on of the past is gone, but Blender users have excellent alternatives. CrowdRender and Flamenco are actively maintained and compatible with the latest Blender releases, so you can render with confidence. Cycles renders, in particular, scale nicely across multiple GPUs or CPUs in a farm, and even EEVEE animations can be distributed (since each frame is independent). We verified that everything in this guide works in Blender 4.4, so you shouldn't run into version snags.

In terms of hardware, the guide now emphasizes using GPU acceleration (since GPU rendering has become the norm for speed in Cycles) and ensures you're aware of Blender 4.4's requirements (no surprises like unsupported old cards). We also updated system compatibility notes - e.g., noting that Blender is cross-platform and that Flamenco/CrowdRender support all major OS, so you can even mix Windows and Linux nodes if needed.

With your own render farm, you'll be able to tackle more ambitious projects without worrying as much about render times. Complex animations, high-resolution stills, multiple view angles - all can be processed in a fraction of the time it used to take on a single PC. Plus, there's a certain satisfaction in seeing a group of machines crunching away at a project together that you configured!

Finally, remember that if your project demands outgrow your local farm or if you need a render boost in a hurry, you have the option of offloading to the cloud. Services like RenderDay (a commercial GPU-only cloud render farm) are specifically geared towards Blender users who need massive rendering power on demand. Without changing your Blender settings, you could upload your .blend to RenderDay and leverage high-end GPUs in the cloud to get results even faster, so consider it an available fallback or complement to your DIY farm - for example, you might use your farm for day-to-day previews and tests, and send final high-res frames to RenderDay's cloud to meet a tight deadline.

Happy rendering, and enjoy the freedom and speed that your new Blender render farm provides! With the right setup and these updated workflows, you're equipped to render like a pro in 2025 and beyond.