Other new features include support for Microsoft Azure.
PipelineFX has updated Qube, its popular render farm management software for visual effects. Qube 6.10, adds online reporting, support for the Microsoft Azure cloud utility, and other features for studios that need to render, report and automate in the cloud and on-premise.
The new online reporting is accessible through the metered licensing website. It offers by-the-minute reports, showing actionable data on how the Supervisor is doing at any given time. PipelineFX says the focus on this initial release is on operations and stability; the graphs will reveal site stress, distribution rates and other data points that help render wranglers reallocate and troubleshoot.
“Our metered licensing site is quickly becoming a full service portal for our clients,” said Richard Lewis, CEO of PipelineFX. “With cloud use on the rise, a one-stop shop for licensing and reporting is of growing interest to studios who see the value in cloud rendering, but want remote access to pipeline intelligence as well.”
Additional Qube 6.10 features:
Updated Shotgun Integration — Qube Images to Movie submission will now pull select job data in from Shotgun; the movie upload script has been updated, fixing a major bug that prevented automated movie uploading.
Online License Keys — Perpetual license keys created for Qube 6.10 and after will now be downloaded via the metered licensing website. Additional information on license history and total worker numbers is also available, with more management features planned for the future.
Microsoft Azure Beta Integration – During the beta, users will have command line access to Microsoft Azure, allowing them to start and stop cloud nodes from within Qube. PipelineFX says plans for Azure node management through ArtistView are underway.
Clarisse Renderer Support — Clarisse renders can now be dispatched from within Qube via command line, in app, and load once job submissions.
Partner Licensing Daemon — The PipelineFX team has also developed the Partner Licensing Daemon, a new codebase in Qube 6.10 which will provide the foundation for easier cloud integrations moving forward.
What do we think?
The democratization of rendering continues. For years only the studios large enough to have in-house programmers had render farm management, and that was for an in-house render farm. Now a one-person studio can render on a cloud-based render farm of infinite nodes, and run it from a laptop.
Render farm management is mission-critical support software. The greatest animation ever created will be a financial and visual disaster if the rendering goes sideways. Qube is the tool keeping everything running smoothly, out of the box for Windows, Linux, or Mac.
