British Cloud and Connectivity provider, Exponential-e, has announced that the BAFTA-award winning, visual effects (VFX) studio, Jellyfish Pictures, has become the first VFX firm in Europe to use the Cloud for near real-time rendering.
Using Exponential-e’s high-speed network to virtualise graphic processing in the Cloud, artists and animators are now able to render scenes up to 80 times faster through its highly-protected virtual infrastructure. This enables Jellyfish Pictures to produce each frame within seconds and make direct changes to shots or sequences on the fly. When Jellyfish Pictures tested Exponential-e’s Cloud rendering technology on a number of high profile projects it cut the time it took to render a single frame from 2,700 seconds to just 34 seconds. Key to Jellyfish Pictures’ selection of Exponential-e’s platform is its investment in security – it negates privacy and security issues by being the most ISO accredited Cloud provider in the UK, having been awarded five accreditations including the highly coveted Cloud Security Alliance STAR.
“The production time saved by this technology has fundamentally changed the way we work. Rendering can take weeks to complete, especially if the shot has had to go through a number of iterations. This new way of rendering via the Cloud means we can cut rendering processes down to near real-time completion,” said Jeremy Smith, CTO of Jellyfish Pictures. “We now have the flexibility to scale our resources on demand, no longer making investments in hardware that we might not use. In addition, since we have significantly reduced the turnaround time needed for shots and sequences, this means that we are able to make quicker production changes asked for by the Director. We can now focus on strengthening the relationship between our artists and the studios commissioning the projects.”
Exponential-e’s Cloud rendering solution uses Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) compliant engines including Vray RT, iRay, 3ds Max and Maya. By virtualising the GPU, that contains thousands of processing units and significantly larger bandwidth, it bypasses maximum limitation of eight cores offered by traditional Central Processing Units (CPU).
“This new method of rendering cements Exponential-e’s commitment to the media industry and will make British VFX companies even more competitive in the bid process for contracts” added Lee Wade, CEO of Exponential-e. “One of the VFX industry’s most pressing challenges is the amount of time needed to render frames, generally rendering can take several hours, sometimes days – even when making the smallest changes to footage. Using the Exponential-e’s Cloud, VFX companies can deliver greater production efficiencies without sacrificing creative excellence, taking the industry to new heights.”
