A VFX shot like this is created through a collaboration of multiple artists that bring
different skills and tools to the project. Each of the artists builds upon the work of
the others creating elements that all interact with each other. We see how changes to the lights
and displays affect the environment and all the little graphical elements on the displays that
bring additional light to the composition. There's also just enough dirt and dust around to add to
some of the realism. Scenes like this one are built from many large files, often requiring hundreds of
gigabytes. When multiple artists work on their own systems, often from home, the long download
and upload times for those files start to add up, hindering productivity and collaboration.
Thanks to the NVIDIA EGX platform, the scene we're looking at was created in a completely different way.
All the artists work in a different location on the same machine at the same time. The EGX platform
eliminates tedious file transfer bottlenecks and provides easily configurable hardware
to help artists accomplish their unique tasks. Let's take a look at how we did this. Each of the three
artists created a different element using tools that are designed for the tasks that they're doing.
There are many apps that can be used here, but for this project, the 3D artist uses Max on
Cinema 4D and OTOY Octane to model and create the environment and set the mood with the lighting.
The motion graphics artist uses Adobe After Effects to create the animated content on the main center
and background displays. And finally the compositor uses Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve Studio to assemble
all of these pieces together and to add more details to create the final look. Powered by the
NVIDIA Virtual Workstation Software, each of the artists remotely accesses the NVIDIA EGX platform
to work, enabling a distributed production. They create in a virtual workspace also known as a
virtual machine or VM for short. Each VM can have a different amount of GPU and system resources
assigned to it so each artist gets exactly what they need for their work -- whether it's just a part
of a GPU or multiple. Although the tools that we're using here take advantage of NVIDIA RTX
to speed up the creative process, Octane is an RTX accelerated renderer that becomes more interactive
with more GPUs. So for our project, we'll allocate half of our GPUs in the system for that artist.
Resolve leverages AI and CUDA acceleration of our RTX GPUs to deliver real-time effects so
we're going to give it two GPUs. After Effects only needs a small amount of GPU so we're only going to
give it a fraction and have the rest available for more artists for future rendering tasks.
All of this is easily adjustable through NVIDIA's Virtual Workstation Software so as the production
needs change, the system can adapt with just a few clicks to update the VMs. Let's see how the artists
are putting each of their VMs to work. Starting with the motion graphics, we can see that the
artist is making animated and stylized content for the final shot. Once the animation is established,
the artist arranges it into elements so they can be added into the hanging cluster of TVs
during the composition. All of this work is being done in Adobe After Effects which utilizes the
video encoder built into the GPU to take exports from hours to mere minutes. Since the artist is
accessing the EGX platform through VMs there are even more production benefits here. Artists can get
fast and secure access to files because the server is in the data center right next to the storage.
Additionally, since the artist can interact with a compressed and encrypted view of the desktop,
the content never leaves the data center. All artists working on the same project have immediate access
to the same files and productions can keep their production IP secure. As the motion graphics are
being created the 3D artist is bringing the base of the scene to life with materials and lighting.
Here they're working with Octane to leverage NVIDIA's Ampere GPUs to render scenes up to
two times faster compared to previous generation GPUs. This speedup delivers an interactive experience
that saves time so the artist can make many more creative decisions. When the lighting is just right
it's time to render. The NVIDIA EGX platform can help productions also stay on schedule because
any unassigned GPUs can be used for rendering in Octane -- or any queue manager. When the artists are
done working for the day a simple logout frees up their resources to render until they come
back the next day and start creating again. While the platform renders and continues to provide a
workspace for the motion graphics and lighting, another artist is working on bringing rendered
sequences into DaVinci Resolve Fusion to composite them together. Compositing brings all the elements
together in an adjustable composition so the artist can refine to get just the right look .
Compositors fix any issues with the images, apply color corrections, change the look of the lights,
and add atmosphere like smoke or dust to the scene to get just the right look all without needing to re-render.
During this stage it is really important to be able to see these details and colors clearly
because this is the last stop for final adjustments. When artists work on the EGX Server,
the experience is the same as working on a local machine so even the smallest grain of
noise can be found and fixed. A VFX sequence like this is often one shot in a long list of curated
visuals that are used to tell a larger story. These stories can take an army to bring to life
and the EGX platform's flexibility helps studios meet production timelines and goals confidently.
It's scalable, secure, and completely configurable so studios can enable artists to play to their
strengths no matter where they are, or what tools and what hardware they need to get the job done.