@James I guess you could potentially run a SQLite database on the host to keep track of render nodes assets by way of an md5 hash of each file across nodes? That way reporting which assets are on each device and alert before rendering? The alert could then offer to update only the nodes that are out of sync... See the programmer in my head is working overtime!

It would also have the positive affect of not having bloated blend files when syncing as textures (in theory) wouldn't need to be packed first... Syncing could then run a process, to check for new or updated assets and copy/move those too before sending across the network machines?

@James is there a way that this could be automated when the renderer is switched to 'CrowdRender' maybe a dialog that asks if it can change all paths to relative paths and then copy/move all files using python, before sending and syncing occurs for the first time? Thinking out loud on the interweb here so ignore if its not feasible!

@Tim Feathers this is the issue I found - cross platform crowd rendering with a unix server in the middle causes path issues - get it right for a OSX and the WIN pc's cant read the path and vice versa.

Hi, I just found that I need to 'File->External Data->Pack All into Blend' before I could get textures rendering across multiple nodes. I'm still having trouble with video textures though if any one can chime in and help?