Whether you're starting in the 3D world or you're a 3D artist with many years of experience, this article will help you understand why you need a render farm and how you can benefit from it.
To summarize why it is beneficial to you; a render farm will save you a lot of time and it will help you save costs, along with other benefits that you can learn in detail by reading the full article.
To start off with an example; for an animation with a length of one second, at least 25 single frames have to be calculated for a fluid motion. This means that a render sequence with a length of one minute consists of about 1500 single frames.
How long it takes to calculate a frame is highly dependent on the complexity of the scene, the render settings and the computing power. A Single frame can be calculated within seconds or it can take many minutes to hours. A computer system, which can calculate a frame of a simple scene within 10 seconds, needs about 4 hours for a sequence with a length of 1 minute. Your computer works 4 hours at full capacity and is not usable during this time.
High-quality animations are often based on complex 3D scenes with complex lighting calculations and require more time to calculate the frames. 30 minutes per frame is very common.
In our example, we assume an average render time of 10 minutes. The local computer system, running at full capacity, would need 10 full days to calculate the frames. In cases like this, the use of a render farm is inevitable.
Save time
If you have a project or a deadline that you know your local computing system won't be able to finish in time, a render farm will always be there to make sure your job gets done. Your frames will render on the most powerful nodes simultaneously, all of them having the necessary software and plugins the project needs, so you receive your results in no time.
As a big plus, when you render on a commercial farm, your computer is free for usage when you submit the project to render, which gives you more control over your tasks and time.
Save costs
The cost of running your own render farm is very high. The hardware must always be up-to-date. The software must be licensed. You need a complex infrastructure, maintenance and a lot of power. By using a commercial render farm, you save on costs, since you have all the benefits from a render farm for a small percentage of what it would actually cost to build and maintain one. Plus, you always get to render on the newest and most powerful hardware, which would cost you even more to continuously update your hardware.
As the render time may vary depending on the project, some commercial render farms have a free calculation tool, so you can know in advance how much the job will cost you before submitting it to render.
Get support
Most commercial render farms have a support team to help you out with any technical issues that may arise while your sequence is being calculated. Or even to answer questions you may have when starting in the render farm world. We advise you to not use a render farm, that does not offer 24/7 support, as assistance is crucial if your rendering does not turn out the way you wanted it to.
Benefit from discounts
Some cloud render services offer volume discounts and educational discounts. Find the one that fits you and learn how you can save even more on costs.
But it is important to know that when choosing the right render farm to use, you should not only look for the costs but also how easy the procedure, service and fairness of the provider is.
RebusFarm constantly improves its technology to offer you the best possible render experience. Feel free to test our service, and get a free trial credit to start with us free of charge and without any obligations.
About the author
Nicole Holt is an experienced 3D enthusiast with a career in marketing and content writing. Thanks to this unique combination, she is able to showcase the technical intricacies of 3D art and rendering while also making the subject accessible to a wide audience. When she's not immersed in the digital world, Nicole can be found in the great outdoors, most likely with her beloved dog, Sammy.
