Network Rendering - Stops When Manager Sleeps

[dan.spore]

I continue to experience issues with Network Rendering overnight.

I have my MacBook Pro set up as the manager, and the Rendering Machine is a PC. As long as the MacBook Pro is awake, all is well. But when I leave things running (apparently not, though) overnight, the job stops until I wake the MacBook Pro in the morning. Note current job now clocked at 14+ hours. Sigh.

I’ve done everything I know to prevent the Mac from pausing the Network connection, but I am missing something.

Here are my sleep settings from the Terminal. Note Keyshot Network Rendering SHOULD be keeping the MacBook Pro awake…

Looking at this terminal output, I believe some settings are contradictory to the power management settings I shared above. I’ll look into this. In the meantime…

Has anyone experienced this, and can you share best practices here?

[maura.frost]

Hi @dan.spore! That’s frustrating, sorry that you’re experiencing this.

First, there was a thread in our old forum about this. Note it’s from about six years ago, so I’m unsure how relevant it might be today: Settings for avoiding a mac falling into sleep mode

I also asked around internally - one suggestion for you to try:

Your Mac is currently prevented from sleeping by KeyShot and caffeinate.

• If renders are still failing or pausing, it’s likely a display sleep → GPU issue on M-series chips or a battery mode override.
• Use caffeinate -i -w $(pgrep -f KeyShot) during renders to bulletproof the session.

I’ll let you know if I hear anything else. Someone else might have some good advice for you as well.

[don.tuttle]

@maura.frost You’re on it!

@dan.spore Your terminal settings appear correct. Below is an addon to Maura’s post.

---

Prevent Your Mac from Sleeping While Rendering in KeyShot

If you’re rendering on macOS and your system keeps falling asleep, here’s a simple way to stop that using a small script.

---

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Create the Script

Open TextEdit, set it to plain text (Format > Make Plain Text), and paste this:

#!/bin/bash
echo "Preventing sleep while KeyShot is running..."
caffeinate -i -w $(pgrep -f KeyShot)
echo "Done. KeyShot has closed or finished rendering."

2. Save the File

• Go to File > Save
• Name it KeepAwakeDuringKeyShot.command
• Uncheck “If no extension is provided, use .txt”
• Save it to your Desktop

3. Make It Executable

Open Terminal and run:

chmod +x ~/Desktop/KeepAwakeDuringKeyShot.command

You can now double-click the script any time before starting a render. It will keep the Mac awake until KeyShot closes.

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Optional: Advanced Version

This version watches for KeyShot and KeyShot Network Manager processes:

#!/bin/bash
echo "Monitoring KeyShot processes to prevent system sleep..."

pids=$(pgrep -f "KeyShot|keyshot_network_manager")

if [ -z "$pids" ]; then
  echo "No KeyShot-related process found. Exiting."
  exit 1
fi

caffeinate -i -w $pids

echo "KeyShot processes have exited. Sleep is now allowed."

Save this with the same steps above.

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Bonus: Testing Without KeyShot

You can test the script behavior like this:

#!/bin/bash
echo "Staying awake for 10 minutes..."
caffeinate -i -t 600
echo "Done. Sleep allowed now."

---

If these do not resolve your issue, please submit a ticket to the customer portal.

KeyShot Support

[dan.spore]

Thank you, @don.tuttle and @maura.frost! I appreciate both of your replies and I will give these suggestions a try.

@don.tuttle - especially keen to try these scripts on overnight jobs.

Thanks again!