What advantages does a cloud render service like Zync offer?

Richard Davis , UK Mike replies Using a cloud render farm can have a transformative effect on digital content creation workflows if used properly. They can help when deadlines are tight, save a huge investment – both in terms of hardware and maintenance of creating your own render farm – and can also enable the rendering of huge projects if you are away from your main workstation.

However, it can be complex managing assets and uploads that can potentially create a whole new range of problems.

Zync was already a leading cloud render service, with tight integration in Maya across a range of render engines such as Arnold and V-ray, which allowed upload and checking from within Maya itself, minimising the pain of using a cloud render service.

Zync was bought by Google and are now offering excellent integration with software such as Maya and Nuke backed up by Google,

Zync can be leveraged in cross platform environments, whether the artist is at home or on site

who know quite a few things about computers and the internet apparently.

One of the key ways that a cloud rendering service can change the way you work is that it frees up your main work machine for other duties, which can be a huge timesaver – especially when animating. By using a service like Zync, the artist has instant access to as many computers on the cloud as they need. With each frame rendered in parallel, rather than in sequence, as they would be on a single workstation, render times come tumbling down from hours to minutes.

This saves huge amounts of time meaning that each frame can be optimised for quality rather than speed. When used with a render engine such as Arnold, Zync can be leveraged in cross platform environments, whether the artist is at home or on site with their laptop, and even when the artist only has one Arnold license for their main render machine.