Per-minute billing supports burst rendering requirements in the Cloud and in-house; currently in use at DHX Media and LAIKA advertising arm HouseSpecial.
LOS ANGELES -- PipelineFX has announced metered licensing for Qube!, a new usage-based option. Licenses are dynamically provided as needed, and billed on a per-minute basis, so customers never have to pre-pay. Only 10 cents/hour, metered licensing can be used for all Cloud and on-premise projects, giving render wranglers and IT managers supreme flexibility when planning tasks and future expenditures.
“You don’t want to pre-pay your electricity bill or your cell phone bill, so why would you want to buy minutes ahead of time?” said Richard Lewis, CEO of PipelineFX. “Metered licensing is the best model to take full advantage of the Cloud, preserve cash flow and matches industry-standard utility billing practices.”
For a long time, metered licensing has been a missing link for studios considering Cloud rendering. The Cloud can be a life-saver for accepting last-minute change orders and extra projects, but if it’s not affordable due to software licensing costs, or inconvenient to acquire licenses at the last minute, then it’s a tough sell. Now Qube! enables access to the full power of the Cloud.
Additional Benefits Include:
- Maximum Bursting Potential - All artist desktops can be used (when available), but will only be billed for the time they spend rendering.
- Cloud Rendering Made Simple - The new metered Supervisor provides Qube! Worker licenses needed to render on cloud instances on-demand.
- License Utilization Optimization - Perpetual or subscription licenses are counted before metered licenses, so users only pay a per-minute charge when they use up all other types of Qube! Worker licenses.
DHX Media, the world’s leading independent, pure-play content company for kids, has been testing metered licensing for months. “At DHX Media we see metered licensing and Qube! as key pieces of a modern, agile and affordable pipeline,” said Troy Brooks, VP of Technology at DHX Media Ltd. “With metered licensing, we can put in place the optimal mix of rendering resources, including dedicated render nodes, desktops, short-term rentals, and cloud instances. This approach produces the lowest overall cost with the most flexibility and scalability.”
As part of their continuing focus on the Cloud, PipelineFX has organized a Birds of a Feather event at SIGGRAPH 2016. Titled “The State of Cloud Rendering for VFX”, this panel will cover the most pressing Cloud topics to VFX studios, including Cloud licensing, and will feature representatives from VFX studios, Cloud vendors, and industry veterans. The panel will be held at 3 p.m. on Monday, July 25 in Room 213D at the Anaheim Convention Center.
Metered licensing is available now and billed by the minute at the equivalent rate of 10 cents/hour. Users are billed at the end of the month and only charged for what they use. Interested parties can sign up for a metered license account by contacting sales@pipelinefx.com(link sends e-mail). This is the third licensing option available to Qube! users, complementing perpetual and subscription licensing.
Source: PipelineFX
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
