Render farm

A render farm is a computer cluster that is used to render 3D computer graphics and computer animation . Commercially available IBM-compatible or Apple computers are usually used with the Linux , Mac OS X or Windows operating systems. UNIX systems such as Solaris or FreeBSD are also rarely used.

Compared to a single supercomputer for computing the images, the render farm has various advantages: if a single computer fails, the other systems continue computing, i.e. H. the failed computer can be replaced on the fly. If there is not enough computing capacity available, the render farm can easily be expanded. The individual computers are inexpensive and easily available and can be used for other purposes after the project is complete. It is also possible to use the office computers already available in a company at night for rendering tasks. The underlying technical topic is presented in detail in the article Computer network .

Many 3D graphics programs already have the option of setting up a render farm as standard or as a module. This simple and inexpensive availability has created production options for film and animation projects with a low budget that a few years ago were only available to large film studios .

Render farms were used, among other things, for complex 3D animations for movies such as The Lord of the Rings or Titanic . In the past they were used almost exclusively by film studios for computer effects, but today there are also some commercial render farm operators.

Render farm

See also