Eight VFX Produces High-End Visual Effects for Commercials

Avere Systems, Inc., a provider of enterprise storage for the hybrid cloud, announced that Eight VFX Ltd, a visual effects studio known for its work in commercials, feature films and music videos, uses its Virtual FXT Edge filers to speed up production times, remove rendering limitations and enhance its storage infrastructure.

Eight VFX, delivers high-end visual effects on tight timelines, was experiencing challenges when delivering on-demand render power to customer projects for BMW, Chevrolet, HP, Mars, Nike, Puma and Samsung. The studio initially turned to rental nodes to manage its fast-changing production pipeline and dynamic digital assets, however this process proved to be time and equipment intensive. Due to these issues, the studio explored a number of cloud-based rendering solutions with burst-compute capability, and found that Avere was the only solution that did not require complex scripting or data management.

Eight VFX runs an Virtual FXT (vFXT) Edge filer cluster with Avere FlashCloud software alongside the studio’s 3D rendering engine on the compute cloud. The solution delivers high-networking throughput to ensure peak performance for rendering processes and automatic access to digital assets, with no complex data movement and synchronization.

“Avere is a seamless drop-in between our on-premises storage and Google Cloud Platform, hiding latency and minimizing network traffic to increase rendering performance,” said Philippe Chotard, in charge of IT, Eight VFX.

“Avere’s solution lets us take full advantage of the cloud, removing all the limitations that prevent us from expanding our project pipeline or accommodating last-minute changes. Today we can deliver the quality of artistry equal to our talent, even within the tightest of deadlines.” said Damien Bataille, head of development, Eight VFX.

“Avere-enabled cloud rendering empowers VFX teams to create awe-inspiring work regardless of production schedules and budgetary restrictions,” said Ron Bianchini, CEO and president, Avere. “With Avere and Google, Eight VFX can spend more time on what matters most to the growth of their business without compromising artists’ creativity and vision.“

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