Render farms have revolutionized the 3D rendering workflow, making it quicker, more efficient, and much easier for CG artists. By incorporating a render farm into the rendering workflow, artists and studios can enhance their working process, often producing better results in a shorter amount of time.
Introducing 3D Rendering Workflow
Creating a 3D artwork or animation is not a one-step process, but a continuous series of interconnected procedures each with a significant role to play. This process, known as the 3D rendering workflow, broadly consists of three stages, which are pre-production, production, and post-production.
Pre-production: The pre-production stage lays the foundation for the entire project. Artists begin with sketches that serve as a blueprint for the final work. Here, they determine detailed concepts which include identifying themes, characters, environments, and more. The pre-production phase might involve a fair amount of brainstorming and research to ensure that the vision is clear and achievable within the timeline.
Production: Once the concept is well-defined, artists begin the challenging task of bringing the ideas to life in the production stage. At this stage, an array of tasks take center stage such as model creation, texturing, shading, lighting, rigging, and animation. In model creation, artists use specialized software to create the 3D structure of the scenes. Next, textures are created and mapped onto the models for a realistic appearance. Suitable lighting is also created in this stage to mimic real-world lighting scenarios. In addition, rigging prepares the models for movement and animation by creating a series of joints and controls.
Post-Production: This stage marks the completion of the groundwork and the beginning of refining and presenting the final product. The focus here is on rendering and compositing. Rendering is the process of generating an image or animation from the prepared models. It’s the most resource-intensive step, translating the scene from a collection of assets into a final product ready for delivery. To elevate this process, artists can leverage the power of a render farm. A render farm is a high-performance computer system, networked together to render frames of animations or static images. It can dramatically reduce render times and accelerate the creation of stunning visuals.
Using Render Farm to Enhance 3D Rendering Workflow
Let’s dive into the benefits of using a render farm by walking through this tutorial made by IniAkoo on how to render using Fox Renderfarm, a leading fast and secure cloud render farm in the industry.
First, you need to log in to your account and you'll see the overview or dashboard, then click on assets.
Make sure to select your CPU/GPU region. For example, choose Region GPU 1 as what IniAkoo did.
Download the Raysync transmission tool before uploading. Install it as usual and then upload your Blender folder to Fox Renderfarm.
After uploading, click on submit and a menu will pop up. Choose the file you created and click continue.
Add or edit the config and fill in the name, software, and Blender version. Ignore the plug-in section and leave it as default, click save.
In the hardware configuration, select the GPU model you want, and select what's available for the GPU number. Choose 64GB RAM Idle and click Go Analysis.
Once the analysis is done, adjust the rendering frame settings. It is worth noting that even if it says Cycles render, it will render with Eevee if you have set the file to Eevee. Turn off everything else, leave the other settings as they are, and click submit to render. Wait for it to render your scene.
Once it's done go to the output file, select all, and download the output. Now Fox Renderfarm has successfully rendered your scene!
Check out the Blender cinematic render workflow made by IniAkoo:
Conclusion
Mastering the 3D rendering workflow involves a meticulous progression through pre-production, production, and post-production stages, each crucial for bringing artistic visions to life. Among the array of tools available to streamline this process, render farms stand out as game-changers, significantly reducing render times and enhancing efficiency. By utilizing cloud rendering service like Fox Renderfarm, artists can elevate their projects to new heights with swift and secure rendering capabilities. Plus, with the $25 new user coupon offered on Fox Renderfarm, trying out a render farm has never been more appealing!
Cover image courtesy of IniAkoo
