Render > Batch Render

opens the Batch Render option dialog box to let you set options to render an animation on a local or remote computer, or on a computer with several processors. For descriptions of these options, see below.

Render > Batch Render >

For Windows

Use all available processors: If on, rendering uses all processors available on the local computer.

If off, rendering only uses the number of processors indicated by Number of Processors to Use. Use all available processors is off by default.
Number of Processors to Use: The number or processors used for rendering when Use all available processors is off. The default value is 1.

For Linux

Rendering CPU: Determines whether rendering takes place on the local computer (Local) or on another computer across a network (Remote). If you select Remote, set Remote Machine name to the name of the computer you want to render on. The default setting is Local.
Remote Machine Name: When set to Remote, type the name of the computer on which the rendering takes place and press Enter. If you do not, the render occurs on the local machine.

For mental ray rendering

Messages

Verbosity Level: Controls the verbosity level for messages related to mental ray rendering. Messages equal to or below the selected verbosity are displayed. Messages are displayed in the mental ray log file.

Parallelism

Auto Render Threads: If Auto Render Threads is enabled, Maya automatically calculates the number of threads that should be used to best take advantage of the CPUs (or cores) on your workstation. This option is on by default.
Render Threads: Specifies the number of rendering threads to be used by mental ray for Maya for rendering. Use a thread for each CPU you utilize on the local host.
Auto Tiling: Turn on this option to automatically determine the optimal tile size at render time.
Task Size: Pixel width and height of render tiles.

Memory

Auto Memory Limit: If Auto Memory Limit is enabled, Maya dynamically calculates the memory limit prior to the start of rendering. This feature can be enabled at all times to obtain better performance.

TipFor limited memory situations, this setting is recommended.

To view the calculated value, ensure that Export Verbosity is set to Info Messages in the Verbosity Level section. The calculated Memory Limit is then displayed in the render log.
Memory Limit: Soft limit for the memory used by mental ray. A soft limit implies that mental ray may actually use more memory than indicated.

Network

Used for network rendering only.

Select one of these options to determine whether the local machine renders the scene, or whether the slaves render the scene.

Render on the local machine: Select this option so that the local machine participates in rendering the scene.
Render on network machines: Select this option so that the networked machine(s) participate in rendering the scene. This is useful in reducing the workload on the master machine while Maya is also running.

TipTo render on all available machines, select both the Render on the local machine and Render on network machines options.