Estimation Doubt

The most concerned issue from artists and designers who decide to use a Render Farm would be SECURITY and PRICE.

Let’s talk about PRICE issue here today.

Once, a client asked me to estimate for his project. First, he asked me how much it would take to render 10 still images in our render farm. I asked him how long it took to render 1 frame on his machine and what his machine spec was. He told me, and I did the estimation for him. Then after 2 days, he asked me how much it would take if he wanted to render a 5 minutes animation. I still asked the same question. But this time, he wouldn’t tell me and then questioned my professionalism by saying “Do you not know anything except for how to plug in numbers to a formula? Do you have any actual experience in this business?”

I have to say, yep, I’m not a typical 3D designer, BUT I had professional training before and I’ve tested our platform on my own with different scene files. The reason why I ask so many questions about your machine spec because I’m trying to be responsible. Every client renders different scenes, some scenes are simple and some scenes are complicated. Every client may use different processor to render their scenes, some will be faster and some will be slower. If I’m going to do an estimation for you, how can I do that more precisely without knowing any information about your scene files and machine spec?  Actually our first suggestion is always “You can register on our website and do a free testing for your project.” YES! Once you register on our website, you will have 20 credits to experience our platform and do the estimation for your project.

Honestly, the estimation from the system is far more precised than the one I do for you. And you can also get to understand how our system works. If the credits are not enough for your testing, tell us! We will add more in your account!

Speaking of this, I have to stress again, rendering simple scenes (it means it only take 10-60 seconds to render 1 frame on your machine) usually takes more time in our system because the time of running software maybe longer than the actual rendering time. We are figuring whether we can minus this software-running time out of rendering time so that we can save the cost for you. We are trying to take some measures because we don’t want to lose any clients for this problem. It takes time. But eventually we will make it.

Be patient! We will keep you posted!

Upload and Download

Time to time I hear from our clients that the uploading speed is too slow. This is the last thing I want to hear because it is true that sometimes it takes a long time to upload files to our servers if you are far far away from China. Sometimes I feel frustrated about it since it is a distance problem and this problem may cause our clients give up on us so that they can not experience how great our service is.

However, we still figure out several solutions that may do some help on this.

a)       If you are uploading by FTP, and the speed is slow, try use WEB uploading. In theory, WEB uploading is faster than FTP since it is multithread;

b)      If you are uploading by WEB and the speed is slow, try use FTP. Sometimes FTP is just faster WEB uploading;

c)       If both these ways do not work well, please contact us at sevice@foxrenderfarm.com or Skype-foxrenderfarm.com and MSN:  foxrenderfarm@msn.com. We will provide you another FTP which is based in USA. It’s much faster, but we have to manually copy the data to our servers after your uploading.

Now let’s move forward to downloading.

Actually there is nothing much to talk about it, it is almost the same as what I said above. What I want to say here is most of our clients have never used our self-developed widget for downloading. On my opinion, it is very convenient. After submitting your task, you can leave for a break, letting the widget download rendered images for you.

a) This widget is only an exe. file, no need to install and just put it in the desktop then you can run it.

 

 

 

b) This is how it looks after you running it, then enter your username and password.

 

c)       Then click ‘+Add download task’, or right click to add download task, as shown:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

d) Then the interface will show your recent 10 tasks and you can select one to save.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

e) As it is shown, the task has been added to download list. Even though this task is being rendered, the rendered images will be added to list automatically. And you can continue to right-click to add other rendering tasks to the list. As long as you run this tool, rendered images will be downloaded automatically. So at this point, you can take a break!

 

 

That’s quite almost what I want to say today. Hope this is going to do some help for your rendering service!

It’s time to enjoy my high tea now—Strawberry Tart,(¯﹃¯) yummy! I believe high tea can always help people go back to work with energy after a hard day. Have you had it yet?╮(╯▽╰)╭

 

1200Cores Daily Package Available!!

  As we mentioned at the previous post, the machine configuration of Fox Render Farm has been updated to Intel Xeon E5645, 24cores with hyper-threading and 24GB RAM. That is to say, our former 800Cores Daily Unlimited Package is tuned into 1200Cores with price unchanged!
  We hope this promotion may be coordinated to achieve the best combined effects of the firm’s efforts. Our machines are allocated to achieve those outcomes that the firm values the most.
 

Here are the Components of the Promotion Package:

 

Package Includes:

● 50 Machines, each 24Cores(hyper threading), 24GB RAM
● Nearly 70% Discount to Basic Price
● Unlimited Render jobs
● Free trial for new member
● Free technical support
● No setup fee and no installation on your pc

Compare Normal Metered Render Price:

Platinum Price  worth $3,456 ($0.12 *1200Cores * 24hours)
Gold Price       worth $5,184 ($0.18 *1200Cores * 24hours)
Basic Price     worth $8,352 ($0.29 *1200Cores *24hours) 

With this package, you just need to pay $2,200 /day !

Who will Choose this Package?

☞  If you’re not accepting the least budget of your project.
☞  If you’re not that much care the budget but it’s extremely urgent.
☞  If you’re having continual works to render.
Fox has been always thinking how to provide an easy and affordable high speed rendering service for digital artists and illustration companies. Don’t hesitate to choose something that is few and far between. This daily package will give you more for less money.

How Does This Promotion Work ?

    • This special promotion is only valid before 31 Mar and limited to 5 users everday!
 • You are allowed to submit infinite tasks to render during one day.
 • You may also pause or abort the task at any time.
 • No any hidden cost.
 • We will provide you with free technical support during working hours. Seriously, we are trying to have someone around Skype, MSN, Email and Phone 24/7. Usually we will response within minutes (but please allow up to 30 minutes:))  

What are you waiting for?
THE BIGGER YOUR PROJECT THE BETTER OUR RENDER FARM WILL WORK FOR YOU!
Give us a go!

 For more unlimited packages’ information please visit:
www.foxrenderfarm.com

Let’s meet in 2012 TAF(Tokyo International Animation Fair)

As a leading online render farm service provider, which based on cloud-computing technology, we definitely will attend TAF this year, and show all the CG companies our advanced technology, first class service, and high level security.

Fox Render Farm was founded in 2010 in China and is now one of the largest online render farms within China. With quality performance and competitive prices, our services have already been approved by thousands of CG production companies.

We currently have over 600 servers allowing us to provide you with a professional 24/7 rendering service. Our services can be accessed globally by our customers through any internet service.

This is the first time that we go abroad for exhibition, we will assign our best technical team, engineers, marketing personnel, we will try our best to answer your concerned questions,  and let the world learn how fox render farm works, how can you easily use our platform, we will give you a fantastic experience in our rendering world. Welcome to visit and pay attention to our booth in TAF 2012.

Tokyo International Animation Fair is one of the biggest and most important comic-con in the world, which conducted by Tokyo government, Japan animation associate, while giving you access to the most creative, original and innovative animation out there.

This fair is an international exhibition in which anime-related companies and organizations such as animation production companies, TV and film companies, toy and game software companies gather from both Japan and overseas.The fair has been held in spring every year since 2002, and it marks its 10th anniversary this year.

Anime Fair 2012 Information

Name:

Tokyo International Anime Fair 2012

Organizer:

Tokyo International Anime Fair Executive Committee
(Chairman: Shintaro Ishihara, Governor of Tokyo)

Venue:

Tokyo Big Sight (East Exhibition Halls 1, 2, 3, Reception Hall, and other facilities)

Period:

March 22 (Thu) – March 25 (Sun), 2012
Business Day: March 22 (Thu) – 23 (Fri)
*On the Business Day, admission of visitors under 18 years old is not allowed in order to avoid disturbance of business meetings.
Public Day: March 24 (Sat) – 25 (Sun)

Open Hours:

Business Day: 10:00am – 5:00pm
Public Day: 10:00am – 6:00pm
*Entrance doors will close 30 minutes prior to the closing time.

Admission fee:

[Business Day]
*If you register on website beforehand or have TAF invitation ticket : Free
*If you did not register on website or no invitation ticket : 1,000JPY
*On the Business Day, admission of visitors under 18 years old is not allowed in order to avoid disturbance of business meetings.

[Public Day]
*Adults : 1,000JPY
*High school and junior high school students : 500JPY
*Elementary school children and younger, senior citizens (over 65 years old), and disabled persons and their 2 attendants : Free

-Advance ticket:
*Adults : 800JPY
*High school and junior high school students : 400JPY

 

Upgrade! 250 Machines per User Now

How is everything going, everyone?

Finally the cold winter is gone and here comes the pleasant spring!

At the beginning of another hard-working year, to provide you the better service and make rendering a faster and more convenient job, we are glad to inform our customers that from now on, the maximum amount of machines allowed for per user raised up to 250, which will help you save more time and render a complex task in a shorter time!

For specific information, please check the updated table below:

1. Metered Render

Member Level

Price

Maximum
Machines
Per User

Render
Time
Per Frame

Tech
Support

VIP

USD$2.00 per hour per machine (24 cores)
Equal to $0.083 per Core*Hour

250

Unlimited

Email
Msn/Skype

GOLD

$2.8 per hour per machine (24cores)
Equal to $0.117 per Core*Hour

250

Unlimited

Email
Msn/Skype

STANDARD

$4.7 per hour per machine (24 cores)
Equal to $0.196 per Core*Hour

250

Unlimited

Email
Msn/Skype

VIP: One-off recharge or Cumulative recharge more than USD $10,000
GOLD MEMBER: One-off recharge or Cumulative recharge more than $4,000
STANDARD MEMBER: One-off recharge or Cumulative recharge less than $4,000

I think most of you have already recognized the difference, yup, we not only increase the maximum amount of machines allowed for each user, but also lower the cost for one core in one hour.

Then what benefit could our customers get?

Well, obviously if you are working on a HD or 3D project including featured animation film like Ice Age series, Wall-E and action movie such as transformer, which is very popular in film industry in recent years, terrific workload of render is needed in later produing period. Sometimes you have to make the server room run non-stop for over two months to produce an animation, with 250 of our 24 cores bravo machines running together, we believe you can do your job faster and better.

Maybe some customers will have the concern that if more than two huge projects are using fox render farm and 500 machines are all working, will the render speed be slow?

We must tell everyone that there are still a lot of reserve machines stand by in our server room and we will add more equipment in the following 2012, please look forward to our software and hardware updates and we will post any update in our blog entry at the first time.

P.S today is February 14, the romantic ‘valentine’s day’, hooray! Have you guys already prepared fresh roses and booked a table for two in an exotic restaurant for your partner? If not, hurry up! We have a saying that good love makes you see the whole world, so enjoy this day and wish all of you an unforgettable valentine’s day!

 

 

 

Configuration Updated

Hello Everyone!

I am thrilled to tell you all that the machine configuration of Fox Render Farm has been updated.

You can see the hardware specification as follows:

Processor: Intel Xeon E5645, 24 cores with hyper-threading

RAM: 24GB

Local Networking: 20Gbps InfiniBand

As you can see, the hardware specification of our machines is much better than before and I am sure it is going to do a better job in helping you render out your job in a much shorter time with a higher perfomance.

And now I also want to solve a doubt which confuses some of our clients for a long time. As you see, we have such powerful machines, and it is only right and proper that these machines can render all scenes in a very short time.

However, recently I heard from some clients that our machines render ever slower than theirs!

What exactly happened?

The truth is, the rendering time includes the time of opening a scene, running a software and rendering. Unlike rendering on your own machine, which is already on and will not stop working unless you turn it off, our machines have to be rebooted every time they need to render a scene. So if you are rendering a less complicated scene, let’s say you render a scene which takes like 30s to 200s on your own machine, it may take longer time on our machine. However, if you are rendering a much complicated scene, our machines definitely will have a higher performance than yours and save much more time for you.

Now the problem is coming: so if I need to render a less complicated scene, I should not use your render farm because it will take more time and therefore the cost is higher?

Answer: Of course you can use our render farm and have your job done within the budget! Don’t forget we still have Unlimited Render Package for you. You are allowed to submit infinite tasks to render during the period of validity of package. There will be more CPU cores than those listed above to render your scene if our machines are idle. The system will assign machines to your task automatically and it is Free! It definitely save for your budget and have your job done in time!

I have to say our platform is not perfect, just like everything in the world. But we do kick ass to make up our deficiency. And we are open to accept any suggestions or advice from you. We may be not the best, but we definitely want to be better and you can help us with it. So, let me know~If you have any suggestions for us! Thank you so much!

p.s: Right now is the best timing to enjoy flowers in China, I’m posting a pic of peach blossoms I took days ago. Hope you will enjoy it! Have a good day~