Optimizing Render Costs: Getting The Most Bang For Your Buck With Cloud

These days, you don’t have to build your own server room and fill it with top-grade technology in order to render your designs, animations, and games. These days, you can use cloud rendering services and have them do all the rendering and processing. Meanwhile, you can keep working on your computer to build more designs and keep the workflow going. Still…cloud rendering is a service, and with all services, you need to balance cost with service quality. With that in mind, consider the points made in this article to help you get more bang for your buck.

Try Out The Free Trials to See How Much “Buck You Get For Your Bang”

Most of the rendering services have a free trial and/or offer free credits (and they would be fools to do otherwise). There is no end of things that can go wrong with a rendering service, not least the fact that numerous designs may simply fail to render. It isn’t even the fault of the software in many cases, sometimes, a few settings are off and the thing you receive back is a mess. In the worst-case scenarios, the thing you receive back is a massive file that is completely unusable and would have been expensive if it were not done under a free trial.

Check Out Their Free-With-Service Offers

Now that rendering services are becoming more popular, we are seeing more and more free features creeping into their services. Just like how WordPress has a bunch of free tools, or how social media marketing tools let you use part of their tools for free, people are starting to expect a certain amount of free stuff with their package deals. Here are just a few of the free services you should expect if you want to get more back for your buck.

• Data storing – They shouldn’t be charging you to store your renders
• Uploading and downloading – It is probably a scam if they charge for this
• Their Own Software – It eases the transition and makes the system more easily usable
• Support – Those who charge for support will benefit from your failure
• No minimum turnover – This is a very new and very positive trend
• A Quickstart Guide – The more they do to make it easier…the better

As you probably noticed from the use of the word “Scam,” there are a few nefarious companies out there who are looking to rip you off. If their prices and service terms look too good, then look for their sneaky practices, like claiming the copyright of your renders, having you pay unfair fees, or having you pay to remove watermarks from your renders.

What Types of Software Do They Support?

In most cases, the more the merrier. Remember that render services work with a wide range of companies, from industrial services who are testing large constructions, to solo game developers who are working from their bedrooms. Here are just a few of the software tools you would expect a rendering service to support.

• 3ds Max® (Autodesk®)
• Cinema 4D (MAXON®)
• Mental Ray® (Nvidia®)
• Maya® (Autodesk®)
• Blender®
• Softimage® (Autodesk®)
• MODO™ (Foundry®)
• LightWave 3D® (NewTek)
• V-Ray™ (Chaos Group®)
• Maxwell Render™ (Next Limit®)
• Corona Renderer™ (Chaos Group®)

In reality, it only really matters if the company supports the software you and your team are using. Remember that remote workers and third-party groups may be using different software than you, so keep that in mind when choosing your render service. Check the small print with cloud companies because they may still support your software even if they don’t put it in their marketing.

Look for Volume-Based Discounts

This is the cloud company’s way of trying to appeal to larger users. On the one hand, look out for volume-based discounts, but also beware of overly appealing starter discounts. In some cases, the smaller users get the royal screw job. Nevertheless, there are times when fair volume discounts add up to a tidy saving over the year.

Are There Student and Small-Entrepreneur Discounts?

Since cloud rendering is a service, you can sometimes find student discounts and low-volume-user discounts. It is usually set up in an oddly confusing way, such as by giving you a timeline and then an amount you can use. Take a look to see if the company allows you to figure out your costs using their fees calculator. If they allow you to figure out your costs beforehand (including discounts), then you can often measure your usage and play the system for a little extra saving.