I’ve been creating in 3D for over 10 years and I still get excited to learn new tools. I constantly experiment to enhance my pipeline, and in order to keep up with advancing workflows, we are consistently investing in updated hardware and software.
To keep the 3D pipeline streamlined, we custom built a GPU render farm to compliment our render engine. Over the past 12 months, we’ve tweaked, tinkered, and improved the system to optimize our workflows.
At first, the render farm included 3 GPUs and was utilized as a standalone solution, but as we explored other options, we found a hybrid approach to be more time efficient. Being connected through our internal network, the render farm can be used individually, or as a render node in off-hours, to boost performance. In its current version, we have the ability to connect 8 GPUs and provide a maximum render speed increase of 750%.
In a simpler way, we can export a single frame of animation in 8-seconds instead of 1-minute. Over the course of a 60-second animation @ 24 fps, those speeds make a huge impact on our efficiency.
This is just one way that we are trying to make your post-production experience better at Pixel Planet Studios.
Cheers,
FX Jedi