I would like to know if it’s worth and how it works to use google cloud for rendering 3ds max2016/vray3 jobs via deadline 7.1
First, Do I need to apply for the beta google cloud wizard? Or is it now integrated with deadline 7.1?
Also how does the deadline licensing work for the cloud? Do we get like a super computer with hundreds of cores that would use only one license or what? Or do we need to buy hundreds of deadline licenses??? I hope not
And I lost a lot of time in the past trying to use amazon EC2 cloud for 3D rendering just to realize their hardware was so outdated and slow that it was useless for 3D rendering. Is it the same with google cloud or is it more powerful?
does VXM or cloud wizard take car of installing 3ds max, vray and all the plugins and licensing or how do we do that?
Deadline can be configured to run on the cloud without the use of the Cloud Wizard. The best way to think of the Cloud Wizard is that it is a fancy installer that installs Deadline into your cloud account and sets up some some demo VMs and jobs. That said, I strongly recommend the Cloud Wizard to anyone who is just getting started with the cloud because it simplifies several complex steps. If you want to give the Cloud Wizard a spin, you can find more info here: thinkboxsoftware.com/cloud-wizard-overview
Each virtual machine needs a Deadline license, just like a physical machine. You can manually spin up virtual machines or you can configure Deadline Balancer to dynamically spin up and shut down VMs based on the load in the queue. The VMs can pull licenses from your existing license pool over a VPN connection, or you can set up a separate license server in the cloud. Our sales team can provide you with information on obtaining short-term licenses. We will soon be entering beta for our on-demand licensing, which should make licensing for cloud slaves much easier.
Each cloud vendor has their own blend of VMs. The big advantage of the cloud is not necessarily the speed of the cores but the ability to scale as needed to large numbers of cores. The cost/benefit analysis really depends on the individual use case. Regarding the cost of testing, with the Cloud Wizard you get 30-days of Deadline trial licenses and a $500 credit on the Google Cloud Platform, so the only real out-of-pocket cost for testing Deadline on the cloud is your time, and Cloud Wizard can typically get the demo repository up and running in your account in less than 30 minutes.
The Cloud Wizard provides demo VMs and demo jobs that show an example configuration. For production use, you’ll want to tailor the VM images to match your particular software stack. You can start from the the demo VM images provided, or you can use the demo VM images as a reference for configuring new images from scratch. It’s really not much harder than configuring a physical machine, and our support staff can give you a hand if you need help.
Let us know if you have more questions. We’re here to help!
