Patent ID: 7062527

Claim:
A computerized method for rendering images, comprising: for each of a plurality of render hosts associated with respective render servers coupled to a network, collecting system information associated with the render host; broadcasting a search message across the network to locate a database application operable to maintain a database comprising system information associated with each of the plurality of render hosts; receiving from the database application a response to the broadcast search message; for each of the plurality of render hosts, transferring the system information to the database application via the network; receiving a rendering job having at least one render frame and an associated profile, the rendering job being associated with a motion sequence of graphic images; distributing the render frames via a communications medium to at least one of the plurality of render servers based at least in part on a comparison of the job profile to the system information stored on the database; and rendering the render frames by the at least one of the plurality of render servers.