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Google Buys Zync Cloud Graphics Rendering Service

Posted by Unknown on from the cloud-tracing dept.

mpicpp (3454017) writes To beef up its cloud platform with more specialized packages, Google is acquiring Zync for its large scale rendering service for movie special effects, called Zync Render. Google plans to offer the Zync service on its Google Cloud Platform, where it can be used by motion picture studios that do not want to build their own rendering farms.

20 comments

  1. Is rendering clouds that difficult? by i+kan+reed · · Score: 5, Funny

    I mean... they're just white and a little self-shadowed.

    1. Re:Is rendering clouds that difficult? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But rendering god rays requires divine intervention.

    2. Re:Is rendering clouds that difficult? by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

      Nah, just Photoshop and a bit of an 'S' curve.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  2. I don't understand this... by Arkh89 · · Score: 1

    What are they (Zinc) providing that is not just computing power? Custom interfaces?
    Why would Google be interested in such thing?

    1. Re:I don't understand this... by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 4, Interesting

      What are they (Zinc) providing that is not just computing power? Custom interfaces?
      Why would Google be interested in such thing?

      Customers, perhaps? Maybe Google needs better relations with the movie industry. Being a service provide is one inroad.

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    2. Re:I don't understand this... by SpankiMonki · · Score: 1

      Seems to me they are providing a very specialized form of computing power - one that Google's current cloud services don't offer. I guess Google could have built this service themselves, but I'm sure it was more cost-effective to simply acquire an existing service and integrate it into their platform. Put another way, Zync just got Borged. (much to the delight of Zync's owners I'm sure)

    3. Re:I don't understand this... by Richy_T · · Score: 1

      Haha. Remember when Microsoft would go around buying everyone up to lock customers in to using their software and services and we hated them for it?

    4. Re:I don't understand this... by mspohr · · Score: 1

      TFA said that Zync has rendering software. Google has computers. Perfect match.
      Rendering software has many applications... try to think for a minute and I'm sure you'll come up with something.

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    5. Re: I don't understand this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Two words.

      Augmented Reality.

    6. Re:I don't understand this... by Thagg · · Score: 1

      It turns out that the software used in VFX rendering is pretty darn expensive. Licenses of RenderMan, for example, were several thousand dollars a node (RenderMan just lowered their prices, it's true). Nuke, Maya, and other tools were similarly expensive.

      The companies that created the software typically wouldn't consider licensing on shorter terms than six months; which made scaling up for a big movie very expensive. Zync managed to negotiate deals that would allow them to license software on an hourly basis. That is their real innovation.

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  3. Thank goodness... by jellomizer · · Score: 1

    Thank goodness I still live in a world of telephones, car batteries, handguns, and many other things made of zync!

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    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    1. Re: Thank goodness... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Come back zync!

  4. Re:What's the catch? by i+kan+reed · · Score: 2

    No, they're dealing with other big companies. Screwing over rich people for easy money is harder.

  5. Security ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can't see motion picture studios trusting their not-yet-released movies or rendered effects to a cloud storage system.

    1. Re:Security ? by Richy_T · · Score: 1

      Already been done.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  6. Instead of buying up everything in sight by Mister+Liberty · · Score: 0

    Maybe Google with all their wealth should have their oil paintings done by some Dutch Master.
    Although ... --- come to to think of it -- what should be in it?