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HP & Commodity Computing

Posted by Hemos on from the the-grid-network-cometh dept.

Handpaper writes "The BBC has a story about HPs SE3D lab's pilot scheme to provide raw rendering power for smaller studios and amateurs. A sample movie is available.. " Yes, the long fabled "grid computing" may arrive soon on a massive scale.

2 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. How about security by wheelbarrow · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I know that data security is a top concern in today's animated film business. This is why render farms for animated films are in secure office buildings rather than data centers. Additionally, the render farms are not networked to the internet.

    This makes me skeptical that a 'lease farm' model can work for anything more secure than things like TV Commercials.

  2. True Grid Computing by Doesn't_Comment_Code · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I just hope it is TRUE grid computing - as in following a standard communcation so that any application that is grid compliant can take advantage of the farm.

    More often than not renderfarms have a few formats that you can use (usually expensive ones) and that's it. PR-Renderman, Maya, 3dsMax, Lightwave, and a few other big ones are guaranteed to run about everywhere. Blender? Nice try, but "little" software projects like Blender don't have much of a chance at a renderfarm. Tell a renderfarm you have a Blender file to render, and that you have money in hand - they will tell you to go home.

    Grid computing is slightly less efficient than a direct rendering program since it has a little extra overhead. But the ability to run ANY program on a farm is quite enticing. That's what we should be aiming for. That is a good goal.

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