3D News: Chaos Group Launches New Chaos Cloud Rendering Solution

The Chaos Group has announced a new one-click rendering solution called Chaos Cloud. The idea is simple— anywhere access to powerful cloud-based rendering enabling artists and designers to tap the unlimited power of the cloud from locations like client sites, remote offices, and home.

“Artists love the idea of throwing hundreds of computers at a job but dislike the hidden costs and challenges that come with traditional cloud rendering services,” said Boris Simandoff, Chaos Cloud Director of Engineering at Chaos Group. “Chaos Cloud simplifies this process, reducing it to a single button inside the world’s most popular renderer. With so many artists and designers already using V-Ray, the benefits of the cloud can now be accessed by the widest group possible.”

Chaos Cloud

Over five years of R&D research has gone into Chaos Cloud. An extensive beta period saw testers render over 6 million frames.

01 – An example render from Chaos Cloud.

Thanks to these tests, artists can now easily render an entire animation in the time it takes to render a single frame, without having to track assets, manage licenses or set up virtual machines. Chaos Cloud also removes the need to pack scenes, a laborious process that required artists to manually assemble bitmaps, scripts, and plugins every time they wanted to render to the cloud. Now, this all happens automatically.

Chaos Group says that behind the scenes smart features are doing all the hard work and removing the complexity of typical cloud rendering services. Features include:

• SmartSynch — With SmartSync technology, data only needs to be uploaded once to the Chaos Cloud. After that, only the parts of a scene that change will need to be resynced, keeping upload times to the absolute minimum and ensuring quick iterations as you work.
• SmartVault — All data uploaded through Chaos Cloud is stored in its secure SmartVault database for easy recall and additional renders. SmartVault keeps track of asset “fingerprints,” so they never need to be uploaded again – regardless of how they’re named, what scene they’re used in or where they’re stored locally.
• Live View and Remote Control –Since the Chaos Cloud interface is entirely browser-based, artists can also control it from almost any device, including a smartphone. With Live View and Remote Control, users can monitor progress, preview images, pause or even cancel renders from anywhere with an internet connection.

While V-Ray rendering is the first offering on the Chaos Cloud, plans are already underway for Corona Renderer and Phoenix FD. In the future, Chaos Cloud will also add compatibility for distributed and GPU rendering, promising even faster speeds in the years to come.

“Chaos Cloud is undeniably the best rendering cloud out there,” said Gerardo Capote, beta tester and Lead 3D Artist at Embraer Executive Jets. “With a friendly user interface and unparalleled reliability, it provides peace of mind to any studio when you render on the cloud.”

“Chaos Cloud is perfect for time-critical projects and production deadlines,” said Ralf Pohl, beta tester and Senior Key expert 3D Visualization & Virtual Reality, Siemens Healthcare GmbH. “It’s very user-friendly and we look forward to integrating it in our render pipeline.”

Sign up now for 20 free credits.

Pricing and Availability

Chaos Cloud is available now and accessible via a button within V-Ray for 3ds Max, Maya, Rhino, Cinema 4D, Revit, Modo, Houdini [beta] and SketchUp (Next and 3.6 editions).
Unlike some cloud rendering services, pricing for Chaos Cloud is all-inclusive. There are no hidden fees or extra charges for licensing, uploads, downloads, storage or starting your render job immediately. Customers purchase packages of Chaos Cloud credits, which are available with volume discounts. Right now, packages begin at $100 for 100 credits and prices go as low as 55 cents per credit for larger packages. Upon sign-up, every user will get 20 free credits. Since every scene is different, Chaos Group has also compiled a gallery of samples to help see how render times and credit cost vary by scene.