PipelineFX, makers of Qube! software, the leading render farm management software for digital media creation, today announced that RodeoFX has expanded their use of Qube!™ to manage their growing visual effects render pipeline.
Rodeo FX is a Montreal-based visual effects company founded in 2006 by Mathieu Raynault and Sebastien Moreau. Sharing over 25 years of visual effects experience, the partners are known for creating stunning photorealistic and creative visual effects. Recent film projects include Terminator Salvation, Mr. Nobody, Amelia, The Day The Earth Stood Still and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. When the studio was formed, Rodeo FX was looking for a render manager that could handle a mixed operating system environment. They needed the render manager to work easily with all parts of the software production pipeline. Studio tools included Shake for compositing and XSI for 3D animation and modeling. The system needed to be truly compatible across platforms.
“Qube! came highly recommended to us and its features matched up with the demands we had when researching a render manager,” said Curtis Linstead, Systems Administrator at Rodeo FX. Rodeo FX chose Qube! and initially customized the artist submission interface for Shake down to a two click process. For peak periods, Rodeo FX pushes render out to high-end desktops to help get the work done. Qube! is installed on all systems in the studio.
“Qube! is great for render management, and I’ve also found other powerful uses for it as a system administrator,” said Linstead. “Since Qube! is installed on all the workstations and all the dedicated render systems I can push out all my software updates and installs to the users without interrupting their workflow. This saves me time and is less intrusive to the artist.”
The studio has recently added Nuke for compositing and now the artists enjoy the same ease of submission they enjoyed with Shake.
“With the seamless integration of Qube! with Nuke, Shake, and XSI our render pipeline is really streamlined,” added Linstead. “The in-application submission helps speed things by automatically filling in many of the dialogue entries. Cross platform capability with Nuke has been really helpful. We can send renders from a Nuke-based PC system to a Mac OSX workstation for rendering and vice-versa. No compatibility issues. Jobs just run.”
Rodeo FX has made use of Qube!‘s internal database and callback functionality. In computer programming, a “callback” is executable code that is passed as an argument to other code. It allows a lower-level software layer to call a subroutine (or function) defined in a higher-level layer.
“We are now leveraging the ability to create callbacks,” Linstead continued. “We render a job, then create a quicktime movie, then create a daily with a slate and finally move it to preview location. This level of render pipeline automation allows us to maximize our infrastructure and automate repetitive processes like dailies.”
“PipelineFX has been very quick to respond to all of my support requests,” concluded Linstead. “Support has been phenomenal. Cases get immediately resolved and we benefit from the deep render pipeline knowledge held by the support team at PipelineFX. I look forward to working together as we grow our studio.”
“Rodeo FX is a good example of a smaller studio with lots of experience leveraging the best in technology to their competitive advantage,” said Richard Lewis, Vice-President of Sales for PipelineFX. “Since our companys’ birth out of the Square Pictures studio in 2002, PipelineFX is proud to be able to deliver large studio features and functionality to digital media professionals around the globe.”
About Qube!
Qube!™ is a robust and highly scalable render management solution that can be quickly integrated into any production workflow, and is backed by world-class technical support. Qube! can be easily tailored to any pipeline requirements and works with all leading content creation applications including Autodesk® 3ds Max®, Autodesk Maya® NUKE™, SOFTIMAGE®|XSI®, Shake®, Adobe® AfterEffects®, Pixar’s RenderMan®, DNA Research’s 3Delight, and Eyeon® Digital Fusion™. Qube! is the only production proven solution that is certified IBM ServerProven® and runs on Windows® Linux® and Mac OS® operating systems.
About PipelineFX
PipelineFX is the leading provider of renderfarm management solutions for digital content creation. PipelineFX has more than 350 customers worldwide including BBC, Digital Domain, Electronic Arts, Fisher Price, General Motors, Herman Miller, Imagemovers Digital, Laika Studios, Lockheed Martin, MTV, NBC, NHK, Rainmaker Entertainment Inc., Reel FX, Smoke & Mirrors, Sony Computer, Sony Pictures Imageworks, South Park Studios, Starz Entertainment, Technicolor and Telemundo. PipelineFX is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, and has offices in San Francisco, San Diego and Las Vegas.