Example 1 - How to Create Template for Blender

9min
Finding a docker image that allows customers to use Blender like a remote desktop while Blender runs in a container was tricky.
However, Kasm Technologies offers remote desktops that can be accessed through your web browser and has released a lot of
docker images including a blender image that allows you to run blender in a container and access it through a web browser.
You can follow along with kasmweb's page in dockerhub for their blender image:
https://hub.docker.com/r/kasmweb/blender/.
You can also follow along with the Blender template by going to this Blender Template and clicking the blue "kasmweb/blender in the cloud" hyperlink next to Template.
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Step 1 - Run Locally With Docker Run Command in Container Repository Page
In the Stand-alone Deployment section, there is a docker run command that will pull the kasmweb/blender:1.14.0 image and run
container from that image with some additional commands. I used that run command to run this blender container on my local machine so I can
understand how it works before I can figure how to convert it to run in Vast's environment.
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Step 2 - Choose Suitable Image Tag
I chose to use the tag 1.14.0 because this will give me the release version of this image.
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Step 3 - Specify your Image and Tag Combination
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I started to create a template  and specified that the kasmweb/blender:1.14.0 image would be pulled in on one of Vast's machines.
Step 4 - Add Your Docker Options and Environment
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I added -p 6901:6901 -e VNC_PW=password to the Docker Options section so the docker run command would be executed with these options
on one of Vast's machines, similar to the run command on that page in Docker Hub.
I also added environment variables "-e OPEN_BUTTON_PORT=6901 -e OPEN_BUTTON_TOKEN=1" so when I press the Open button once the instance is ready, Blender will be opened.
Step 5 - Select the Jupyter Launch Mode
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I selected the Launch Mode as Jupyter for this use case because I wasn't able to directly upload files from my local machine to Blender and download from Blender to my local machine while testing.
However, if I uploaded a file like 100_color_vortex.blend to the instance/container through Jupyter's interface, I could access and open that file in Blender.


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Original Upload Blend File To Jupyter
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Step 6 - Fill Out On-start Script section
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In the on-start script section, we added commands to be able to use this image to build and run as a standalone container in Vast's environment, even though the image/container
is designed for the KasmWorkspaces environment.
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# This container is for KasmWorkspaces and is not designed to run standalone, but it can with the following tweaks. 
# It will also try and fail to start docker in docker but this does not seem to be a problem

env >> /etc/environment

# Useful in desktop containers - remove if unwanted
echo 'kasm-user ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL' >> /etc/sudoers

# This should be handled by kasm_default_profile.sh - It isn't and it may be because we're not running inside kasm workspaces
sudo -i -u kasm-user "mkdir -p /home/kasm-user/Desktop"

# Remove the sslOnly flag - We probably don't have certs installed in the browser and we're already tunneling. 
# If choosing not to tunnel, SSL can be achieved with cloudflared
sed -i 's/-sslOnly//g' /dockerstartup/vnc_startup.sh
sed -i 's/require_ssl: true/require_ssl: false/g' /usr/share/kasmvnc/kasmvnc_defaults.yaml

# We're starting in Jupyter mode so we have to manually exec the entrypoint command
sudo -i -u kasm-user /dockerstartup/kasm_default_profile.sh
sudo -i -u kasm-user /dockerstartup/vnc_startup.sh
# This container is for KasmWorkspaces and is not designed to run standalone, but it can with the following tweaks. 
# It will also try and fail to start docker in docker but this does not seem to be a problem

env >> /etc/environment

# Useful in desktop containers - remove if unwanted
echo 'kasm-user ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL' >> /etc/sudoers

# This should be handled by kasm_default_profile.sh - It isn't and it may be because we're not running inside kasm workspaces
sudo -i -u kasm-user "mkdir -p /home/kasm-user/Desktop"

# Remove the sslOnly flag - We probably don't have certs installed in the browser and we're already tunneling. 
# If choosing not to tunnel, SSL can be achieved with cloudflared
sed -i 's/-sslOnly//g' /dockerstartup/vnc_startup.sh
sed -i 's/require_ssl: true/require_ssl: false/g' /usr/share/kasmvnc/kasmvnc_defaults.yaml

# We're starting in Jupyter mode so we have to manually exec the entrypoint command
sudo -i -u kasm-user /dockerstartup/kasm_default_profile.sh
sudo -i -u kasm-user /dockerstartup/vnc_startup.sh
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We appended environment variables to /etc/environment file in our on-start section.
This makes environment variables available to all users and processes and ensures they are persisted even if our instance/docker
container is rebooted. We suggest doing the same for your templates.
In this case, we also had to make the directory "/home/kasm-user/Desktop", which I expected would be already be there.
Certain docker images might not be completely ready to create a running container.
We also had to read the source code and make changes to some of the entrypoint scripts to get this container running as a standalone container and work within Vast.
The repo with this blender image's Dockerfile could be found:https://github.com/kasmtech/workspaces-images/blob/develop/dockerfile-kasm-blender.
We didn't need to specify container repository server, username, and password.
Step 7 - Finish Creating Template
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We finished creating this template by specifying the template name and description.
You can select and save to go to a screen to select a GPU instance and save your template.
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Updated 21 Jan 2025
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