SuperRenders Client App: Install, Upload, and Download

Overview

The SuperRenders Client App is the desktop tool that ties upload, submission, and download into one workflow on your machine. You sign in once, drop a project into the app, watch it upload with resumable chunking, submit through the in-app dialog (or via a submission plugin inside 3ds Max or Maya), then let frames stream back to a local folder as the farm finishes them.

For one-off jobs and small projects, the web dashboard at superrendersfarm.com handles the same upload-and-submit flow without any install. The Client App is the right choice once you submit jobs regularly, your projects run into multi-gigabyte territory, or you want output to arrive on local disk without babysitting a download queue.

This page covers install, the canonical upload workflow (including the absolute-path case archviz studios run into), job submission, output download, and a troubleshooting section for the issues that come up most often. It closes with a note about the Spaces migration tool we are introducing alongside the Client App.

When to use the Client App vs the web dashboard

The two are not mutually exclusive — jobs submitted through either path show up in both views; they read from the same backend.

Choose the Client App when at least one of these is true:

• You submit jobs more than a few times a month.
• Project sizes regularly exceed a few gigabytes (resumable upload + background service matter).
• You want output frames to land on local disk automatically as they finish.
• You work in 3ds Max or Maya and want one-click submission from inside the DCC.
• You manage multiple concurrent jobs and want a panel-style queue view.

Choose the web dashboard when the job is a one-off, the project is small, you cannot install desktop software on the workstation, or you only need to download a handful of frames manually.

Either way, the workflow gates are the same: upload → Scene Analysis → submit → render → download.

Install

The Client App is downloaded from the dashboard once you have signed in. There is no separate marketing page for it — the install link lives inside the authenticated Client Area, which keeps the download tied to your account.

1. Sign in or sign up. Go to https://superrendersfarm.com/ and sign in. New accounts register at /account/sign-up. After sign-in you land in the Client Area, the authenticated dashboard surface for your account.

2. Open the download panel. From the Client Area, locate the DOWNLOAD CLIENT APP button in the top panel of the render dashboard.

3. Pick the right build. Three builds are available:

• Windows — the most-tested and most-frequently-updated build.
• macOS — supported for Intel and Apple Silicon. Signed installer; if Gatekeeper challenges the open action, see the macOS note in Troubleshooting.
• Linux — limited builds published as the customer base grows. Linux users between builds can use the web dashboard or SFTP.

4. Run the installer. Standard .exe on Windows, .dmg on macOS. Follow the prompts. The Windows installer registers a background service that handles uploads and downloads when the main app window is closed — this is what lets the Client App keep transferring frames overnight or after the foreground app is restarted.

A note on antivirus and SmartScreen: the installer is signed, but because any render-farm desktop app has a relatively small customer base, some antivirus tools flag it on first run as a low-prevalence executable. If yours blocks the install, add an exception for the SuperRenders directory or temporarily relax real-time scanning during installation, then re-enable.

5. Sign in inside the app. On first launch, the Client App prompts for your superrendersfarm.com credentials. The app stores a session token locally; you will not need to re-enter the password on subsequent launches unless you sign out.

If sign-in fails despite correct credentials, the two most common causes are clock skew (your workstation clock is significantly off from server time, which invalidates the auth handshake) and a stale session token from a prior install. Fix the clock if needed; otherwise sign out, quit the app, and sign back in.

Plugin v1 currency note (2026-05-12): The install flow above mirrors the canonical screen capture flow from the Crisp KB download-install-client-app-r42a6x article (October 2023). [RICHARD: cần confirm] — verify with anh / Plugin team that the dashboard download placement and OS picker are unchanged in the current shipping build before Phase 2c translation cascade. If the UI has moved, flag in review report; copy update Phase 2d.

The Plugins panel and submission plugins

Once the Client App is running, the Plugins panel manages the DCC submission plugins that ride alongside it. The submission plugin is a one-click integration that adds a SuperRenders menu inside 3ds Max or Maya so you can submit the open scene without leaving the DCC.

Plugins panel basics

By default, the Client App detects your installed DCCs (Windows registry on Windows; the macOS Applications folder) and offers to install the matching submission plugins automatically. After the auto-install, you may need to restart the DCC once for the new menu to register.

If the SuperRenders menu does not appear in 3ds Max or Maya after restart:

1. Open the Client App.
2. Go to the Plugins panel.
3. Click Scan To Update.

The Client App rescans for installed DCCs and re-installs the plugin where needed. The status next to each DCC will change to Up to date once the install completes. Close and reopen the DCC and the SuperRenders menu will be present.

Currently the submission plugin ships for 3ds Max and Maya only. Other DCCs (Cinema 4D, Blender, Houdini, After Effects) use the web upload or Client App upload path — there is no in-DCC menu integration for those today. We are tracking demand for additional DCCs; see the per-DCC setting-up-* docs for the recommended submission flow per software.

Plugin v1 currency note: The Plugins panel and Scan To Update flow are documented as of Plugin v1 (Crisp source 2023-10-27). [RICHARD: cần confirm] — anh to confirm whether Plugin v2 ships with the same panel/button labels, or whether v2 introduces a renamed panel ("Submission Plugins" vs "Plugins" was discussed informally). Hold this section as-is until Plugin team confirms label set; copy patch Phase 2d if any UI string moved.

Upload a project (canonical workflow)

The Client App's upload flow is the canonical path for projects that exceed what is comfortable through a browser upload — multi-gigabyte scenes, archviz projects with deep asset hierarchies, or recurring jobs where you want the absolute path on the farm to mirror your local disk layout.

1. Open the SRF Spaces panel

Click the SRF SPACES panel located on the top of the dashboard inside the Client App. SRF Spaces is the cloud storage namespace tied to your account — files uploaded here are visible to all the render workers your jobs will run on. Anything not in SRF Spaces cannot be referenced by a render job.

2. Choose Add Files / Add Folders, or drag-drop

Inside the SRF Spaces panel, click UPLOAD. Two paths in:

• Add Files / Add Folders. A standard file-picker dialog. Multi-select works as expected.
• Drag and drop. Drag a folder or selection of files from your operating system file manager directly onto the Client App window.

For most workflows, drag-drop is the faster path because you are typically uploading a single packaged project folder (the output of your DCC's "package" or "archive" command — see the relevant setting-up-* doc for your software).

3. Configure "Auto keep local path"

This is the option archviz studios care about most. Inside the upload dialog there is an Auto keep local path checkbox.

When Auto keep local path is checked, the Client App preserves the absolute path of your local files when it uploads them to SRF Spaces. If your local project lives at D:\projects\client-acme\scene-final\ on Windows, the Client App will create the same directory structure inside SRF Spaces and place files there. The render workers, when they pull the project, see the same D:\projects\client-acme\scene-final\ path that exists on your local machine.

This matters for projects that contain absolute-path references — Anima people libraries, Substance materials, alembic caches, Corona 4K cache, and many archviz Forest Pack scatter setups all hold absolute paths internally. When the upload preserves those paths, the render workers find the assets without you having to re-link or relativize anything.

When Auto keep local path is unchecked, the Client App uploads files into a default upload directory inside SRF Spaces, and projects with absolute-path references will fail Scene Analysis with "Asset Missing" errors. Leave it checked unless you know your project uses relative paths throughout.

For projects that need a specific absolute path that is not your current local path — for example, a project copied from another studio's drive layout — see the section of the Utilities doc. That feature lets you specify an arbitrary absolute path target on the farm-side regardless of where the file sits locally.

4. Watch BACKGROUND TASKS for progress

Once upload starts, the Client App opens a BACKGROUND TASKS indicator at the bottom of the window. The indicator shows bytes-transferred, ETA, and per-file status. You can close the upload dialog (or even the foreground app window on Windows, where the background service takes over) and the upload continues.

Two upload behaviors worth understanding:

• Resumable uploads. If your connection drops mid-upload, the Client App resumes from the last successfully transferred chunk when connectivity returns. There is no "start over from the beginning" penalty for transient network issues, which matters on residential connections and tethered uploads.
• Parallel chunk transfer. Large files are split into chunks and uploaded in parallel to saturate high-bandwidth links. The default parallelism is tuned for typical home and studio connections; if you have a very fast or very slow link, the parallelism can be adjusted in Settings → Network.

For projects above roughly 300 GB, the Client App is still slower than SFTP — SFTP achieves higher single-connection throughput on long-haul transfers and has lower per-chunk overhead. See for that path.

5. After upload — the Scene Analysis gate

Once the upload finishes, the project is in SRF Spaces but is not yet a submitted job. The next step is Scene Analysis, which validates that the uploaded project will render successfully on the farm before any credits are charged.

From the Client App you can either continue directly into Scene Analysis (the upload dialog offers it) or close out and run analysis later from the SRF Spaces panel.

To start analysis manually from the SRF Spaces panel:

1. Open SRF SPACES.
2. Click the project folder you just uploaded.
3. Choose Yes! Analyze it when prompted, or right-click the folder and choose Analyze Scene.
4. Fill in the analyze parameters (scene file, render engine, frame range hint) and click Analyze scene.

Scene Analysis status will appear in the Scene Analysis tab. Possible states:

• Checked In Analyze — analysis queued.
• Analyzing — analysis is running on a worker.
• Analyze Complete — analysis succeeded; the project is ready to submit.
• Analyze Failed — analysis surfaced an issue. Open the error log to see which assets or settings need adjustment.

Scene Analysis is a gate, not an optional step. The system runs it because render credits are charged per-job per-frame, and discovering a missing texture three hours into a 600-frame animation is the kind of failure mode customers rightly find frustrating. The analysis step is the system's safety net.

For the error messages that Scene Analysis surfaces and how to fix them, see .

Submit a render job

Once Scene Analysis completes successfully, the project is ready to render.

Option A: Submit from the Client App

From inside the Client App:

1. Go to the Scene Analysis tab.
2. Find the analyzed job; click Start Render Job. The "Add New Render Job" dialog opens.
3. Review Analysis Results and choose Continue to advance to Scene Params.
4. Configure render parameters — frame range, output format, priority (Normal or Express), and any DCC-specific options that came through analysis.
5. Click Start Render Job to commit.

The Client App sends the job to the farm queue and the Render Jobs panel shows status updates as the farm assigns workers and begins rendering.

Option B: Submit from inside 3ds Max or Maya (via the submission plugin)

If you are working in 3ds Max or Maya and you installed the submission plugin (see Plugins panel section above), you can submit directly from inside the DCC without going through the Client App's submit dialog.

In 3ds Max: open your scene, then click the SuperRenders menu. The submission plugin opens. At startup the plugin runs an analysis pass on the open scene; if there are warnings or errors, address them and click re-analyze to re-check. When the scene is ready, click Submit to SuperRenders. A review dialog appears with your render job parameters; click Submit Render Job and the plugin handles upload, job creation, and download configuration automatically.

In Maya: open your scene and click the SuperRenders menu. The flow is identical to 3ds Max — analyze, review, submit. Maya's plugin reads the active render layer and respects the render setup as configured in the Maya scene; if you have multiple render layers you want submitted separately, submit each layer as its own job.

If the SuperRenders menu is missing in either DCC, close the DCC, return to the Client App's Plugins panel, click Scan To Update, wait for the status to read Up to date, then re-open the DCC.

Track progress

Once submitted, the Render Jobs panel in the Client App shows:

• ID # and scene name — the job identifier and source file.
• Cost — the render credits charged for this job (1 credit = $1).
• Status — In Rendering / Paused / Completed / Error, with a progress bar and per-frame completion count.
• Action column — Sync output (re-download missing frames), Pause, View details, Delete, Download render output.

The same job list is also visible on the website at the Render Dashboard if you prefer the browser view.

Download the output

Output download is the part of the workflow the Client App was specifically built to streamline. Two modes:

Auto-download (default)

By default, the Client App downloads each output frame to your local machine as soon as it finishes rendering on the farm. By the time the full job completes, all frames are already on your drive — no separate download step required.

The default download location is configured in Settings → Downloads → Default download path. Per-job overrides are available in the job's detail view; if you want frames from a specific job to land in a project-specific folder, set that path when you submit.

When auto-download is on, the Client App also adds a per-job Open Folder action to the Render Jobs panel. Click it to open your file manager directly at the output location.

Manual download

If you would rather download all frames at once when the full job finishes — typical for bandwidth-constrained connections where you want to download overnight in one block instead of continuously throughout the day — switch the mode in Settings → Downloads to manual.

In manual mode, the Client App holds frames on the farm until you initiate the download. When the job completes:

1. Open the Render Jobs panel.
2. Find the completed job.
3. Click Download Output in the Action column to pull all frames down at once.

You can also use Change Folder in the job's detail view to select an alternative save location before initiating the download.

Output retention window

Rendered output stays on the farm for 45 days after job completion, then is deleted automatically. Auto-download mitigates the retention window because frames pull down as they finish. Manual-download users should make sure to download within the 45-day window — there is no extension and no "we still have a copy somewhere" backup once retention expires.

Retention does not vary by plan. If you need long-term storage of finished output, pull it to your own infrastructure (local storage, S3, Wasabi, etc.) before the retention window closes.

The output appears in a folder named SuperRendersOutput inside the per-job output directory, alongside any log files the farm produced during rendering.

Configuration and settings

A few Client App settings that matter for day-to-day use:

• Default output folder (Settings → Downloads) — where auto-downloaded frames land when no per-job override is set.
• Run on Windows startup (Settings → System) — keeps the background service available across reboots; useful for studios with continuous workloads.
• Bandwidth limits (Settings → Network) — upload and download caps for shared connections.
• Concurrent transfer limit (Settings → Network) — default is 1. Raising it improves throughput when uploading multiple jobs simultaneously, but uses proportionally more bandwidth.
• Notification preferences (Settings → Notifications) — submit / complete / milestone / error events.
• Account sign-out (Settings → Account) — sign out from a shared workstation or to reset a stale session.

Troubleshooting (Client App-specific)

For cross-DCC error messages — "Asset Missing", path resolution issues, render quality drift — see . The list below is for issues specific to the Client App itself.

• Sign-in fails despite correct credentials. Two common causes. First, a stale session token from a prior install: Settings → Account → Sign Out, quit the app, sign in fresh. Second, clock skew: verify your workstation's system clock is within a minute or so of actual time. Auth tokens are time-bound and significant clock drift invalidates them.
• Upload appears stalled at 0 bytes for a long time. Check the Client App's network indicator (bottom of the window). "Disconnected" means your internet dropped — the upload will resume on its own once connectivity returns. "Connected" but no progress usually clears with a Client App restart; the background service typically resumes correctly after relaunch.
• Auto-download is not pulling frames down. Verify the download path is writable. The most common cause is a path that was deleted or moved since the job was submitted (an external drive that was unplugged, for example). Update Settings → Downloads → Default path to a current location, then click Sync output on the job in question to retry.
• "SuperRenders" menu missing in 3ds Max or Maya after installing the Client App. Open the Client App's Plugins panel, click Scan To Update, wait for Up to date, then restart the DCC. If the menu still does not appear, manually install the submission plugin per the per-DCC instructions in or .
• Client App uses excessive CPU during upload. Rare, but can occur during very large parallel uploads on machines with limited cores. Reduce the concurrent transfer limit in Settings → Network.
• Job submitted via the Client App does not appear in the web dashboard. Refresh the web dashboard; a 1–2 minute sync delay between the Client App submit and the web view is normal. If the job still does not appear after 5 minutes, contact support — the submission may have failed silently.
• Windows service does not start after a Windows update. Re-run the Client App installer with administrator privileges. Some Windows updates reset service permissions and require re-registration.
• macOS "App is damaged and can't be opened" error. macOS Gatekeeper occasionally flags downloaded installers. Open System Preferences → Security & Privacy → click Open Anyway next to the SuperRenders entry. Alternatively, run xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/SuperRenders.app from Terminal.
• Auto keep local path checkbox is greyed out. This happens on a fresh install before the Client App has indexed your local file system. Restart the Client App; on relaunch the checkbox should be active.
• Output download is paused and will not resume. Right-click the job in the Render Jobs panel and choose Sync output. This re-queues the download from the farm. If sync output also fails, verify your account is in good standing on the website (a billing issue can pause active job activity).

Currency note (2026-05-12): The troubleshooting list above merges the Crisp download-install-client-app-r42a6x install scenarios and the Zendesk disabled "Upload by SuperRenders Client App" longer issue catalog. [RICHARD: cần confirm] — verify with anh / Plugin team that Scan To Update, Sync output, and Open Folder are still the canonical button labels in the current build. If any button has been renamed in Plugin v2, flag at review and Phase 2d copy patch.

Migration path: SuperRenders Spaces

We are developing Spaces, a successor desktop tool that folds the Client App's capabilities (upload, download, job management) into a broader project-workspace concept — per-project storage allocation, team sharing, and cross-DCC scene management.

The plan, as ratified for public disclosure on 2026-05-11:

• The current Client App continues to be supported. Existing customers can keep using it indefinitely; no forced migration date has been set.
• Spaces will ship alongside the Client App initially, not as a replacement, so customers can choose during the overlap period.
• A formal migration guide will be published here when Spaces reaches general availability — covering import of existing SRF Spaces project structures and any DCC-side configuration changes (the submission plugins continue to work; transport changes are transparent to the artist).
• No deprecation of the Client App is planned for 2026. Any retirement decision will come with the standard 12-month overlap window we use for major tooling changes.

If you are starting out today, the Client App is the recommended path. Existing users do not need to take action for the Spaces transition — we will reach out directly when migration tooling is ready. For Spaces early-access interest, contact support; beta availability is limited during the initial rollout.

Cross-references

• — full submission walkthrough from a new account's perspective
• — how render credits are charged per job
• — comparison of web, Client App, SFTP, and cloud-sync upload paths
• — alternative upload path for very large projects (300 GB+)
• — browser-based submission flow without the Client App
• — Simulate Local Path, Render Node Template, Troubleshoot Machine, API auth
• — submission plugin install and DCC-side setup
• — Maya submission plugin install and scene preparation
• — cross-DCC troubleshooting for Scene Analysis and render-time errors

FAQ

Q: Do I have to use the Client App, or can I do everything from the web dashboard? A: The web dashboard supports the full upload-submit-download flow without the Client App. The Client App is the right choice for studios with recurring jobs, larger project sizes, the absolute-path archviz workflow, or auto-download requirements. Both paths read from the same backend, so jobs submitted via either tool show up in both views.

Q: Which DCCs does the in-app submission plugin support? A: 3ds Max and Maya as of the current Plugin v1 build. Cinema 4D, Blender, Houdini, and After Effects use the Client App's upload-and-submit flow without a DCC-side menu integration — submission still works, you just submit through the Client App or web dashboard. See the per-DCC setting-up-* docs.

Q: Does the Client App work on Linux? A: Linux builds are published when the user base justifies a fresh release. In periods between builds, Linux users typically use the web dashboard or SFTP. Contact support if you need a current Linux build and one is not posted.

Q: Can multiple people in my studio share one Client App login? A: Multi-user / team features are not currently available — each user signs in with their own account credentials. Studios that need shared billing across separate user identities should contact support to discuss workarounds. Sharing one login between multiple people is not recommended because audit trails become unclear.

Q: My upload is paused and I closed the Client App. Will it resume when I reopen? A: Yes. The Client App stores upload state to disk, so closing and reopening picks up where you left off. On Windows the background service handles uploads even when the main window is closed.

Q: How does the Client App's upload speed compare to a browser upload? A: For small files (under a few GB), comparable. For larger files, the Client App is typically faster because it uses parallel chunk upload to saturate high-bandwidth connections. For very large files (above roughly 50 GB on long-haul links), SFTP is often faster than either because it has lower per-chunk overhead.

Q: Can I use the Client App without an internet connection? A: No — an active internet connection is required. You can stage uploads offline and they will begin transferring when connectivity returns, but submission, job tracking, and download all require an active connection.

Q: My output frames downloaded automatically but I cannot find them. Where do they go? A: The default download path is shown in Settings → Downloads → Default path. Per-job overrides are visible in the job detail view. If you cannot find frames at the default location, search your system for .exr or .png files modified within the job's completion window.

Q: Does the Client App support two-factor authentication (2FA)? A: 2FA is not currently supported on superrendersfarm.com accounts (web or Client App). 2FA support is on the roadmap; this doc will be updated when it ships.

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