Q. Why should I use MULE over the other network renders available?

A. Mule is easy to set up, feature packed and easy to use. MULE has extensive support including interactive training materials to walk you through every step of the way. Mule also has extensive support from two companies. www.toasterdudes.com and www.epicsoft.net

Q. Does MULE need Lightwave to render?

A. Yes, it requires one copy of LightWave. One copy of LightWave however, will allow you to render on up to 999 machines of like OS.

Q. Does MULE run on MAC or Linux?

A. Not yet, but we are working on it.

Q. How does MULE work with dual or hyper-threaded processors?

A. Each processor requires a MULE client. Hyper-threaded processors are seen as two processors. The smallest seat license for Mule is 2 clients, so if you have a HT machine, you will be able to take advantage of the hyper-threading.

Q. Can I render the same scene several times with different output formats?

A. Yes, you can render the same scene as a video resolution animation, a thumbnail animation and a print resolution still in the same render cue.

Q. After my scene renders, can I view the rendered frames, and if so, what file formats can I view?

A. Yes you can. With MULEVIEWER, you can also load a scene that has been rendered in the past, or load the scenes from your current render. You can also play the scene back in relative real-time, that function will depend on the amount of memory in your system. As far as the file formats, MULEVIEWER can handle most bitmapped file formats, TGA, TIFF, JPG, BMP etc.

Q. Why the name MULE?

A. Well, a mule is the hybrid offspring of 2 powerful animals, and MULE software is a hybrid of two powerful technologies - .NET and LightWave imaging -- brought together to make one extremely powerful tool. A mule is smart, strong, and dedicated. Failure isn't an option. MULE the software is very much the same.

Q. Why do I need Mule if I am a VT user?

A. Most broadcast graphics work is a series of graphics with a consistent look. This usually requires the rendering of several animations for one project. An example would be chapter separators for a DVD. After creating several animations for render, MULE allows me to stack them all in a cue, and render across my network. Even if you only have one machine, MULE is very useful to any VT user.

Q. How does MULEs frame splitter help me?

A. MULE has a frame splitting feature that allows the user to split up and render one frame across the network. If you are rendering very large resolution single frames, MULE will speed up your workflow substantially. This is great for print work.