Price Match Guarantee?
To get the 25% Price Match Guarantee (PMG), you must first get a detailed quote from us using our procedures. If you find a lower rate, we will beat it by 25%! Our competitor’s rates must be confirmable on their website. The PMG does not include one time specials, “New Client” deals or emailed quotes. The maximum discounted rate achievable is 6¢/Ghz Hr. We reserve the right to escalate your estimate to the next higher discount tier or to a Budget Account. All payments and jobs must still follow our workflow.
Discounts are attained by the total amount purchased per day unless prior arrangements have been made. PMG is not retroactive. Further, we can only compare rates for the same level of service, same software, and for the same job. We only price match major commercial render farms (usually in the USA or Europe). We will not compare our superior service with unknown, shady, or illegal render farms.
Thank You for your understanding.
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NDA Okay? Involvement & Confidentiality?
We respect your privacy and as a standard procedure we keep all files and information sent to us in the utmost confidence. We are happy to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement, assuming it doesn't effect our normal business operations. However, we do have our default in house NDA policy listed on our website for your review that we follow for all clients.
Click here for more...
Through our 24/7 support and normal system maintenance, we internally must work to bring your projects to a successful completion based on the latest information you have provided us. When issues are discovered, our first action is to attempt to contact the client and then proceed to explore options to protect the health of the farm.
If we must make a decision, we will take all of the information provided to us in hopes of creating a solution that meets your deadlines and our overall workflow as well. Our first priority is to get projects rendered as fast as possible. However, if we feel we do not have enough information to make a judgment call, we will delay your job until we can confirm. Our decisions are final so please be available when you send us a job in case there is a problem.
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Setup Fees or Minimums?
We do not have a setup fee unlike other services where they tack extra costs on to every job. In general we only charge for time on our systems. We do however have to address that there is a human element involved in administering your files. Therefore there is a minimum amount of credits that must be used per job which is at least 100 credits ($25) per file submitted. You would only need to cover the difference if your job is smaller than normal.
For instance:
If your job costs 60 credits, your account will reflect 100 credits used. If your job costs 100 credits, your account will reflect 100 credits used. If your job costs 110 credits, your account will reflect 110 credits used. Etc…
Please note: If you send files for us to administer and you end up not rendering that file or make changes that force us to re-administer, then the minimum costs will be applied plus any rendering that did occur. Please be careful to not use us as a beta tester or because you will end up exhausting your credits through the minimums, etc.
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What do I send and how? Go back to the top.
Please only send your files production ready because we cannot not check your files because we do not know what you are trying to achieve. We only check for common technical errors, such as linking assets (like textures, IR Maps, etc). Please do not forget to send all your associated files. Even though we can technically support XREFs, they are a source for bugs and severe delays because associated files are often missing. You will be surprised how many people forget to send the textures, but do not feel bad, you are not alone. However, this does delay your job because we will have to wait for your files to be uploaded so we can administer again. You will lose your place in the queue.
After you make your first purchase, we will create for you a personalized and secure FTP folder on our 100 Mbps server. You will then be sent a "Welcome to RenderTITAN" email with instructions on how to send and launch a job. For most clients, you will basically upload your files to your FTP folder at which point you can use our online “blind render submission form” to request a job launch. The link is found in your welcome email (unless you have a remote access account at which point you can just launch the job yourself.)
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Test Renders? Go back to the top.
There are 3 kinds of test that are needed to ensure a quick and cost effective experience. One is to make sure the file does render on your local system, then on a separate standalone system, and then finally on our render farm.
1)
First test render on your systems.
Use this test to confirm that when you render, there are no errors or warnings. If it doesn’t render on your system, it usually will not render here. Any errors will stall your job because we will have to be manually administered to correct these issues which can cause undesired delays while we work with you to solve the issue. Many of which you will have to correct.
2)
Test on a standalone computer.
Moving your files to a secondary computer is the best test for determining how your files will look when transferred to our system. This will also reveal any absolute paths that are still present. You will be able to trouble shoot overall problems like baking, render settings, or wrong camera selected. You must send your file to render through batch commands to simulate how we administer files.
3)
Test render on our systems for compatibility.
Once you know that you are ready to remotely render, send us all your files and we can perform a test before sending the final project to the render farm. Only the first render test for each job is free. Please understand that we cannot constantly make "test" renders for you while you tweak your files because of the human element involved. These tests are meant to help you confirm that your files are setup correctly so that you can render your scene quickly and successfully.
We understand that many clients do not have a separate standalone computer to test on, which is why we give the first test free. Please realize that we always try to work with you but there are always those that try to abuse our system forcing the minimum amount.
Please note: If you send files for us to administer and you end up not rendering that file or make changes that force us to administer again, then the minimum costs will be applied plus any rendering that did occur. Please be careful to not use us as a beta tester or simply send files that are not production ready. Just let us know what you need and we can work something out to be streamlined and cost effective.
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When will I get my frames? Go back to the top.
Please be aware that we cannot guarantee any render times for a variety of reasons (estimates are based on user input) so please allow for unforeseen problems such as missing textures, etc. Also, we do not have experience with your file so the more accurate you are with us the better the estimates.
Our goal is that any file that is submitted before 3pm will be placed on our render queue same day. Most files render same day. However, if there are any technical issues, you may get pushed to the next business day so please always be available so we can communicate with you.
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The GHz Myth... Go back to the top.
In the early days, processor speed was king and a simple gauge for performance. Now with the availability of multi core chips, varying architecture in each generation, and the growing popularity of mobile workstations there are more factors to look at than just the CPU clock speed when trying to determine a system’s performance.
Many render farms claim to have hundreds of computers or terahertz of computing power but these figures do not mean anything without noting the overall CPU architecture. This is why we support independent benchmark tools such as Maxon’s CINEBENCH which is designed to measure the performance of a system in a 3D environment. Our score is over 1.3 million.
Most of our competitors use old computers and state clock speeds ambiguously to confuse you into believing they are modern CPUs. Nobody would pay the same price for a Pentium4 and Quad-Core Xeon just because they were both 3GHz. Some competitors use older systems to stretch render times to inflate the costs. We use only modern architectures to complete jobs faster which lower costs significantly.
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Why Charge by GHz per Hour? Go back to the top.
GHz per hour is a common unit for comparison between render companies and is also a simple business model that is easier for clients to budget for. In essence, you are paying for rendering speed. You will also pay less for slower systems within a single render farm ecosystem. Since we use all modern architectures, all our CPUs have a similar level of rendering efficiency making our model very homogenous.
If a competitor is using older systems then your overall render time is much longer and your costs will be higher because old CPU architectures are very inefficient compared to modern systems. You should also avoid plans that force you to purchase blocks of scheduled time that may not be convenient to your production schedules or do not take the render farms speed into consideration. What use is a month of rendering on slow systems? Why purchase render time for the entire day when you only need an hour.
Our business model allows you to render quickly, when you want, and with your budget in consideration. You can even make bulk purchases and only render when you need to in smaller segments. You are in control of your budget and results.
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Zero Balance? Add Credits? Never expire! Go back to the top.
If while rendering you run out of credits, the render nodes will just stop at "0 Credits" and any frames not completed will be lost. However, all previously rendered frames will still be available to you which can be accessed on your personalized FTP folder. Any remaining credits will remain available for your next project. Credits will never expire.
To add more credits, simply make another purchase to continue rendering. If your job actually stops rendering, we will have to administer again and you will lose your queue placement, but you will be able to restart from the last completed frame. Please do not jeopardize your deadline by trying to be too "exact" with your budget. Rendering is an untamed art and we have to balance several clients simultaneously.
If you do not render for more than 30 days, our systems will delete the folders and lock remote access for security and capacity reasons. No 3D/job related data is retained but we will store account information. Just contact us to reopen our account.
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How long do you keep my files? Go back to the top.
You are free to delete you files at anytime. However, we reserve the right to manage any files that are being stored on our systems. Our normal operation is to delete files 30 days from the last render. If you keep in contact with us about special needs, we would be happy to accommodate you. If you need a complete reset of your FTP account, contact us and we will cleanse the system of all traces of your files.
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Plug-Ins? Go back to the top.
We do support several plug-ins, but it is always best to bake any results from the plug-ins that you are using. In most cases, files render faster. If they cannot be baked, you must check with us if the plug-in is currently available on our systems. Depending on the plug-in and size of job, you maybe required to supply the license for our use. We take this on a case by case basis.
Please do not assume we have a plug-in no matter how popular it is. Please always contact us to confirm. Not all software is compatible with something else we may already have so check with us early so we can make arrangements for you if possible.
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Baking? Go back to the top.
No, we are not talking about cooking! Due to the nature of render farms, frames get broken into segments to be rendered by multiple computers. The best way to do this is through batch rendering which means each node is assigned a frame one at a time, but not necessarily the next frame in the sequence. The benefit of this is that we can assign many computers to work on your animation simultaneously. The only caveat is that each node doesn’t know what was calculated on the previous frame. Certain elements, like dynamically calculated particles, need to be baked so that each computer knows what will happen next and render the exact same thing.
By baking as many aspects of your animation as possible, you are limiting the number of possible errors that may pop up. Also, when an error does appear, it reduces the number of things we have to investigate speeding up support.
Some baking examples
Irradiance map modes: static scenes from multiple angles
http://www.spot3d.com/vray/help/150R1/tutorials_imap1
Light Cache
http://www.spot3d.com/vray/help/150R1/tutorials_imap2
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Do you support LAYERS or PASSES? Go back to the top.
It depends on how you define these terms. Items like alpha passes, Z-Buffers, etc… we refer to as PASSES, however we refer to things like having another sequence, multiple cameras, or another scene, etc. embedded in the master project file as LAYERS.
We do not make any limits on PASSES, however, please be mindful that having too many passes may hinder you because you may have too much to download. We do have shipping options if you do need to acquire all the passes. Also, too many passes can sometimes slow down the render nodes so please chose only what you need.
With layers, some things are just known to cause problems. (Maya tends to have the most issues with this technique.) Having layers were each layer has a different camera, different set of objects, or different render engine usually creates errors or an overall failure. It is best to send one file for each camera so that if a job does fail, it maybe easier to find the problem. You will be responsible if any render fails with layers.
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Manual Administration? Go back to the top.
Not all 3D files can be safely launched remotely so we are forced to manually administer some hosts. Therefore there are some time constraints for this service. We must have your files in house by 3pm our time so we can launch them same day, otherwise we will launch next business day, assuming there is not a technical delay. We do have an after hours service (after 3pm or weekends) for emergency situations. Please call in advance for availability and pricing.
The benefit of manual administration is that there is an actual person administering your files that can be in contact with you to make sure that the rendering is done correctly; however, we must limit our involvement to render issues, and not 3D work.
Please note: If you send files for us to administer and you end up not rendering that file or make changes that force us to administer again, then the minimum costs will be applied plus any rendering that did occur. Please be careful to not use us as a beta tester or simply send files that are not production ready. Just let us know what you need and we can work something out to be streamlined and cost effective.
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VRAY FIX? Go back to the top.
In C4D, there is a bug where the light's unit of measurement is only stored locally, so when you send your files to any render farm that isn't setup exactly as your workstation, light distances will be calculated differently. We use the default measurement.
We created our own script to fix the problem.
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Pre-Calculations / IR Maps / GI Maps Go back to the top.
The concept of a render farm is to use many computers to speed up calculations; some operations CANNOT be speed up by the use of multiple computers. Pre-Calculations use the info from the previous frame to calculate the next frame which means a linear workflow is needed and if you try to force the issue you will either get intense flickering, and a significantly higher cost of rendering.
NOTE: We can render Pre-Calculations, however, before contacting us, you should already know your Pre-Calculation settings otherwise you do not know what your final look will be. There is no universal answer or common settings for us to suggest that will magically make your client happy. If you must ask, we always suggest stochastic or brute force for liability reasons. Yes it takes longer, but it always works. Rendering still frames DOES NOT show what the quality of an animation.
Also, Maxon's new GI render farm solution asks all computers to calculate the same solution and takes the results from the fastest computer so why not just send it to your fastest computer from the start? If you do use this feature, you will then be paying each computer to calculate the same solution.
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We do not do 3D Work! Go back to the top.
We prefer to never touch your files. Our normal workflow is for you to send us a production ready file and we will Batch submit your job. We do this not only for liability reasons, but to avoid subjective questions like "is this good enough?" We do not optimize files, recommend "photo real" settings, test to reduce noise or grain, play with cameras, or do general 3D work. However, if you get to the point that you do need our help to troubleshoot a problem file (beyond the normal support we offer) we will look at your file for a cost of $250 USD.
Just to be clear our render support is for making sure our systems are working properly, elements like textures and plug-ins are present, no error messages are displayed, that your file is batched correctly, and so forth...
If something is failing on the farm, we first need to make sure that our systems are operating properly but often in that investigation we also discover what maybe wrong with your file which we are happy to share that info. If it is a hardware problem or an issue with our software, we will correct the issue and re-render any problem files. If it is in your file and you want us to correct the problem, then that is 3D work.
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Re-Render? Go back to the top.
We only will re-render a file if it is discovered that it did not render correctly due to our manual work or a hardware failure. If this is the case we will happily correct the problem and re-render at no extra charge.
However, if the problem is with the file, you will need to correct the problem and resubmit the file. We cannot be responsible for any rendering anomalies, "buggy" software, or unexpected results that are due to your software, workflow, or optimization.