We do have a pool of Rhino licenses that can be used on home machines / laptops outside the Uni. This will work on both the PC and Mac versions of Rhino 8.
To install first download the latest Windows or Mac version here
On first run you will need to license the software via a login – use your short userID@gre.ac.uk (do not use “@greenwich”), e.g. ab123@gre.ac.uk
This will take you to the Uni login pages for validation and MFA authorisation – and then back to Rhino
Keep an eye on all the userID logins – and ensure that they are all the same Uni shortID@gre.ac.uk; if you’ve used Rhino before as a trial then an older existing user account might automatically fill in here and stop the license validation going through properly.
It is possible to configure your own machine to print directly to the University MFD devices. This means you can send from any application on your PC / MacBook straight to a printer – and then swipe your card on any MFD to release and print the job.
You do not have to be on site to send the job – just to swipe / release it on the MFD
You will only be charged once you have selected print+delete on the MFD
If you do not release / print your job within 12 hours it will automatically delete
This setup will NOT work for the plotters – this is just the A3/A4 MFD machines.
This is a very useful facility but it does need some time to set it up.
Step ONE: Install the driver for this printer on your PC
Unless you have a University issued staff PC you will need to install the driver software for this printer before adding it:
Visit the Canon website and search for Generic Plus PCL6 Printer Driver for Windows 11.
Download the file and install onto your machine
Step TWO: Get the information needed to point at the Uni system
Login with your short user ID – but do not put @gre.ac.uk after the username; so for example ab123c (not ab123c@gre.ac.uk)
Once you have successfully logged in then you need to click through these links:
Driver Print
Windows (the Windows icon)
Advanced
Continue
Greenwich – MFD
Then scroll down to point 4 – you need to copy the text that is next to Queue; note it won’t be the same as in this illustration because it is unique to each user ID.
Copy the part that starts : ipp/r/ba0d32………
Step THREE: Add the printer to your machine
Type printers in the Windows Search field and select Printers & Scanners
Select Add device
Wait a few seconds and then choose Add Manually
Choose Select a shared printer by name
Paste into here the long queue name from the webprint page; e.g. the text that begins : ipp/r/ba0d32………
Hit next and when prompted Select Canon for manufacturer and Canon Generic Plus PCL6 for printer, and press OK
Hit OK to select this printer.
Now this printer will be in your list of printers that you can send to. File – Print from any application and choose this printer then when you swipe your card on any MFD it will show on the panel and allow you to release it for printing.
If you need to add more credit to your print account visit PrintCredit.gre.ac.uk and follow the instructions to add via credit / debit card
It is possible to configure your own machine to print directly to the University MFD devices. This means you can send from any application on your PC / MacBook straight to a printer – and then swipe your card on any MFD to release and print the job.
You do not have to be on site to send the job – just to swipe / release it on the MFD
You will only be charged once you have selected print+delete on the MFD
If you do not release / print your job within 12 hours it will automatically delete
This setup will NOT work for the plotters – this is just the A3/A4 MFD machines.
This is a very useful facility but it does need some time to set it up.
Step ONE: Download and install the printer drivers to your Mac:
Visit the Canon website and look for the device driver for a Canon Imagerunner Advance 5540 – (type in 5540iii into the search field)
Look for the “UFR II/UFRII LT Printer Driver & Utilities for Mac” and click the DOWNLOAD button for that section. This will download the software for communicating with that type of printer.
Once it has downloaded then double click on the “UFRII-LIPSLX-v101920-04” file and follow all the prompts to install onto your machine.
Step TWO: Get the information needed to point at the Uni system
Login with your short user ID – but do not put @gre.ac.uk after the username; so for example ab123c (not ab123c@gre.ac.uk)
Once you have successfully logged in then you need to click through these links:
Driver Print
Mac (the Mac icon)
Advanced
Continue
Greenwich – MFD
Then scroll down to point 4 – you need to copy the text that is next to Queue; note it won’t be the same as in this illustration because it is unique to each user ID.
Copy the part that starts : ipp/r/ba0d32………
Step THREE: Add the printer to your machine
On your own Mac go to system preferences and look for
Printers and scanners (the look and location of these might vary according to which MacOS you are using)
Add Printer, Scanner or Fax
Select the globe icon in the middle (IP Printer)
In the boxes that show up now, fill these out
Address: webprint.gre.ac.uk:631
Protocol: Internet Printing Protocol – IPP
Queue: the long text you copied from the webpage – similar to ipp/r/baq394eq34q
Name: Uni Webprint (or whatever you want to call it)
Location : Any Uni MFD
Use: drag down to Select Software – this will open up a new printer list
Look in this list for Canon Imagerunner 5540iii (you can type 5540 in the filter box to narrow it down)
Select this printer and allow it to add it to your system.
Once this printer is now installed you can print to it from any application on your machine by selecting it from the Printer list in the print window.
You can also alter some of the print settings like 2 sided, borders, scale to fit etc. if you need to (and save these as your own presets).
Once you have pressed print then the job will be sent to the printer – waiting for you to swipe your card to release it.
If you need to add more credit to your print account visit PrintCredit.gre.ac.uk and follow the instructions to add via credit / debit card
It is possible to connect in via Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) to remotely send plots to the Design Studio plotter.
These plots will then be left on or beside the plotter for collection.
This lightweight VDI does not have all the applications on it so you should prepare the files you need as PDF files and upload them to your OneDrive (or other cloud) space; just use this VDI for printing.
Please ensure your PDF files are:
Correctly sized pages and artwork – at real world dimensions
Suitable resolution images
For large, complex, multi-layered PDFs consider clicking the ADVANCED – PRINT AS IMAGE option to avoid errors in processing.
Crop marks are very useful
Spellchecked, etc.
These are the paper types available on the plotter for A2/A1/A0
Standard Paper : Coated Paper (120 GSM) – £1.00 / £2.00 / £4.00 (Q1)
Wallpaper Non Woven Paper (130 GSM) – £2.00 / £4.00 / £8.00 (Q5)
Fine Linen paper (130 GSM) – £2.00 / £4.00 / £8.00 (Q6)
Connecting to the VDI
From your own machine visit the following site:
studentdesktop.gre.ac.uk
And choose VMware Horizon HTML Access (you could also connect via the VMware Horizon Client if you have it installed already)
Accept the terms of use and login with your University ID in the form of ab1234c@gre.ac.uk
Choose
VDI – School of Design.
After a few moments you will be logged into this virtual machine within your browser window
Sending your Plots
Locate the PDF files you have prepared for printing from your OneDrive or other cloud space.
Once you have your files, open them in Acrobat Reader by right clicking and selecting Open With > Acrobat Reader DC. (Say NO if asked to make Acrobat Reader reader the default, and allow)
(Just double clicking the PDF will open the file with MS Edge which is more tricky to plot correctly from)
Once you have your file open in Acrobat Reader choose FILE – PRINT and pick the printer queue you want to send to:
For the regular paper plots (120gsm / £2.00 per A1) choose:
\\GSM-RPS\STANDARD-PLOT-DST-CW7001_Q1
Then specify size by selecting PAGE SETUP and picking the size from the drop-down
Choose the size you want and then OK back to the main print page where you can see a preview indicating how your file will fit on the page. (You can choose FIT to scale to the page size but it is better if your document is correctly sized)
When you are happy then click print to submit the PDF.
After a few moments you will see a pop-up confirmation window that gives the price you will be charged (due to the way the area of plot is calculated the figure is not a round figure)
If the figure looks right then click CONFIRM. You will receive a message if there is not enough money in your account and the plot will not go through; you would need to send again after you have topped up your account.
You can monitor the progress of the plot by visiting this address in the browser window of the VDI session:
172.16112.21
Once the file disappears from here it is in the plotter’s internal queue
Print Credit
You can top up your print credit online by visiting the printcredit page – note this link will ONLY work from a browser INSIDE the virtual desktop environment, it will not work from your regular browser
Within Chrome in the virtual desktop visit
printcredit.gre.ac.uk
and follow the instructions
Collecting your Plots
The plotter will stop when there is too much paper on top, so plots will be periodically lifted off and put on the bench nearby.
Try not to leave it too long to collect your work – the longer these are left there, the more chance they’ll have of being damaged
With the return to on-campus teaching our remote direct access feature will be switched off
You will still be able to use the lightweight VDI for remote plotting but for the heavier applications there will no longer be a service to dial in to our machines here (since they will be needed for physical access)
We will soon be implementing another route to accessing all apps at home via Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop.
The machines in the School that have been cordoned off for social distancing reasons have instead been made available to access directly from your machine at home. In this situation you take over the machine and have access to the power and software resources on it from your own Mac, PC or Chromebook – with the hard work being carried out by the Uni machine rather than your own machine – which is just a conduit to it.
To set yourself up for direct access you should first download and install the client software for your Mac, PC or Chromebook (the following example shows procedure for Mac).
NOTE: In April / May the remote machine will disconnect you if you leave it idle for 10 hours. This is up from the usual 2 hour disconnect time. If you leave a render going then you can reconnect with 10 hours and it will still be logged in.
Installation
Visit : studentdesktop.gre.ac.uk and click the link for Install VMware Horizon Client (use this link, not via Microsoft Store)
You will see a list of the clients for different platforms; choose Go To Downloads next to your machine platform and Download Now to get the installer.
The process for installing VMware varies according to device but for a Mac you would just drag it across to your Applications folder then launch it from there.
Connect to a Uni Machine
Create a new connection to the Uni with the address studentdesktop.gre.ac.uk and hit Connect
And then login with your Uni id in the format ab1234c@gre.ac.uk
You will then see two “pools” which represent the remote machines in the first floor computer area:
GM-DST : these are the machines in the first floor studios. You can plot from these machines and they include ArcGIS / NetFab
GM-L2001 : this is the teaching lab on the second floor. If a class requires the remote machines you may be logged off. ArcGIS / NetFab is NOT installed in 2001.
Double click to choose the pool you want to take a machine from and you will be logged in and connected to it.
It is worth trying this out so you can become accustomed to the setup – it can be a little disorientating at first having Windows in a window and hopping between your own OS (the host) and the remote one.
Notes
You cannot use USB devices directly through the remote access – but you can use your Uni OneDrive space to transfer files.
You cannot copy and past between the host and the remote OS
When you join the pool you will be allocated an available machine at random – there is no way to choose a particular machine
You can find out which machine you have – and the hardware it us running – by pressing the Windows key and typing MSINFO followed by enter
These machines will be available any time – but 2001 may sometimes need them for timetabled classes.
If you leave the machine for two hours it will automatically log you out.
If you don’t explicitly log out of the Windows session and instead just quit VMware you are still logged in (for two hours)
Please logout / signout from the remote machine rather than quitting the VMware application – otherwise you are tying that machine up for another two hours
Chaos group who produce Vray have some excellent tutorials on the fundamentals of rendering with Vray for Rhino.
If you are intending to do Vray based rendering in Rhino then their introduction for architects is ESSENTIAL viewing, and perhaps the most useful 10 minutes you will spend this year
Vray Swarm is a “zero effort” distributed rendering system which enables all connected machines to participate in rendering images created in Vray for Sketchup or Vray for Rhino. Simply put, instead of rendering with one machine Swarm allows users to utilise 20,30,40… machines to speed up the render by that factor. The machines in the first floor studios are configured to be nodes in Swarm renders – whether logged in or not – with no noticeable affect on the machines that are loaning out their processing power.
Note: as there is a time lag in the system slicing up the render and sending each chunk (or bucket) out to the Swarm nodes there is not so much advantage in using it for smaller renders; enable Swarm for larger jobs only.
Enabling Vray Swarm for render is simply a case of enabling the Swam button in the Vray Asset Editor
[For Rhino check that Vray is set to the default renderer via Render – Current Renderer – Vray for Rhino]
Under the settings cog make sure:
Renderer is set to PROGRESSIVE
Swarm is ON
Cap CPU usage: if clicked this means your own machine will use only one of its own CPU cores for the render so that your machine will be more responsive for running other applications (but potentially a slower render)
V-Ray 3.6 for Maya 2018 is now available for the Stockwell Street PCs (first floor studios and 2001 lab).
The Vray plugin does not load automatically with Maya; it needs to be specifically selected in the Maya plugin manager:
In Maya select
Windows > Settings / Preferences > Plug-in Manager
Type vray into the search box to narrow down the list of available plugins then click load and autoload for both vrayformaya.mll and xgenVray.py and close the dialogue window
Now Vray will be available as a renderer for Maya (alongside Arnold, Maya); select
Windows > Rendering Editors > Render Settings
select V-Ray from the Render Using drop down
The current renderer is now set as Vray – and an additional Vray toolbar will be available. In that is a button to switch on the Vray Frame Buffer; click this to open the the Vray render windows plus associated render buttons etc.
If you cannot see the printer you need you can manually add it…
A print queue bug may stop the correct printers showing up on your PC automatically. You can either logout and restart the machine, or alternatively perform the following steps allow you to re-add any missing printers / plotters
Click the WINDOWS button and type GM-PS-N then hit enter
This will give you a list of lots of printers – type “DST” in the search box in the upper right hand corner to narrow this down to our printers
From this list double click the printer you need; this will reinstall it to your machine.
If you need the MFD A3/A4 laser printer then type in “MFD” in the search box (instead of MFD) and double click to install the printers “GM-MFD-STU” and GM-MFD-STU-COLOUR :
Here are some tips / solutions / workarounds / that will be very useful for studio users.
PCs : No Logon Servers Available – Cannot log on OR no internet when returning to sleeping machine.
Solution: RESTART THE MACHINE
There is a network glitch in Stockwell Street and the Maritime Campus where network cards sometimes do not wake up from power save. The only way a student can fix this is a restart
[hr]
Plot queue (or queues) not showing in the drop down list
Solution: Add the plot queue(s) manually using the following steps
Click the Windows Start Button in the bottom left hand corner:
start-button
in the Search box type
\\GM-PS-N
This will bring up a big list of plotters and printers.
In the top right hand search box type
DST
This filters the list just to the printers and plotters in our print area.
plotter-list
Identify the plotter you want from the list and double click to install it. It is then available to print to from any application.
STANDARD-PLOT-DST-CW700-Q1 :: A2/A1/A0 Standard Paper
PREMIUM-PLOT-DST-CW700-Q3 :: A2/A1/A0 240GSM MATT paper
PTYPE4-PLOT-DST-CW700-Q4 :: A2/A1/A0 Tracing Paper
PTYPE5-PLOT-DST-CW700-Q5 :: A2/A1/A0 Textured Paper
PTYPE6-PLOT-DST-CW700-Q6 :: A2/A1/A0 Satin Semi-gloss Paper
PLOT-DST-T1300 :: Sheet Feed Plotter
[hr]
PDF Documents print blank pages on the MFD printer
Solution: Flatten the PDF by clicking the ADVANCED tab and ticking the Print as Image option
Often PDF files with lots of layers created with Adobe Photoshop will not be understood properly by the MFD printer. Print as Image will flatten the whole file down so it is simpler to process – it does not affect the quality of the print.
[hr]
iMac Keychain Access nags on logon
Solution: Click UPDATE KEYCHAIN (the MIDDLE) option when it asks what to do
If you have changed your Uni password this may conflict with the iMac’s password management system when you have previously logged into a machine with your old password.
[hr]
Large Screen wheelable Screens not showing anything
Solution:
CHECK screen is on – press upwards the joystick under the screen in the middle.
CHECK input is set to HDMI1- use the joystick to select HDMI1
CHECK the PC is powered on – the small square PC is mounted to the back; if it is on the power button will be glowing.
If all else fails restart the PC by Pressing and holding down the power button to force a restart.
[hr]
Connect to the Larger Scanner / Shared Area (S: drive) from a Mac
Solution: Once logged on to a Mac you can manually connect to the shared area
The large scanner will save scans to the SCANS folder on the S drive. This appears automatically on a PC. If you are on a Mac you can manually connect by selecting
“GO” in the top menu, then choosing
“CONNECT TO SERVER“
(or press CMD-K)
this opens a dialogue window – in server address type “gm-stu-shr1”
The S drive will now open – the scans will be in the folder “SCANS”
