AWS for M&E Blog

Category: AWS Thinkbox

Getting started with Open Job Description from “Hello World” to FFmpeg

Go from “Hello World” to a chained and configurable set of FFmpeg instructions using the Open Job Description specification and newly released tools and libraries to create and configure compute jobs. Introduction In January and February of 2024, the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Thinkbox Deadline team released specification, tooling, and sample templates for the open-source […]

AWS introduces Open Job Description for render pipelines

New open standard aims to make render jobs portable across any rendering pipeline Today, Amazon Web Services (AWS) introduces Open Job Description (OpenJD), a new, flexible, open specification for defining render jobs to be portable between studios and render solutions. Render pipelines can vary widely depending upon project, technology, and administrative decisions. OpenJD is designed […]

Figure 1: Autodesk VRED main interface showing a ray traced car presented in a realistic fashion.

Enhanced Autodesk VRED render scheduling with AWS Thinkbox Deadline

This blog was co-authored by Mike Jupp, Manager of Design Realisation & Technology, Nissan Design Europe and Rusil Patel, Sr. Manager of Cloud Infrastructure, Rivian. Figure 1: Autodesk VRED provides high-quality rendering and streaming of complex digital assets. Introduction With the release of AWS Thinkbox Deadline 10.3, AWS partnered with Nissan Design Europe and Rivian […]

Bardel Entertainment commits to expansion with AWS

Fans of popular animated series and features have likely seen the handiwork of Bardel Entertainment. Headquartered in Vancouver, BC, the 2D, 3D, and hybrid animation studio has worked with industry leaders, including Netflix, Disney+, HBO, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, DreamWorks, and Warner Brothers to create imaginative primetime programming for all ages as well as content for […]

Creative collaboration and innovation on the schedule at The VIEW Conference 2023

Since the year 2000, Turin, Italy has been the home of the VIEW Conference, one of Europe’s most prominent computer graphics (CG) industry events. With a diverse lineup of professionals from creative fields including CG, animation, visual effects, and more, The VIEW Conference is a hub for innovation, collaboration, and inspiration. This year Amazon Web […]

Multi-region workflows for Flame on AWS using Hammerspace

Scaling storage globally Building out a multi-site studio has traditionally been a challenging task for companies and productions. Driven by the need to win additional projects, hire world-renowned talent, or capture location-specific incentives, companies inevitably confront the realities of large-capital expenditures, forecasting for maximum size, and onboarding a large quantity of local IT staff. As […]

Figure 1: There are three locations shown on a world map, western US, eastern US, and Europe. At each location an overlay on the map shows a folder structure. Each location has the same folder structure, but different files are highlighted at different locations.

Multi-Region Rendering with Deadline and Hammerspace

Over the past few years, Visual Effects (VFX) studios have gone more global by opening satellite studios or hiring artists working from home all around the world. Whether the reasons are location specific financial incentives, unlocking local talent, or co-locating with a production team, having a render farm in a single location is no longer […]

Figure 02: The Unreal Engine interface, with the movie Render Queue shown. At the bottom of the Movie Render Queue panel, two blue buttons can be selected; one reads ‘Render (Local)’ and the other ‘Render (Remote)’. A new Deadline pane is shown to the right of the Movie Render Queue, with various render parameters visible.

Scheduling Epic Games’ Unreal Engine pipelines with AWS Thinkbox Deadline

This blog post was co-authored by Michael Muir, Senior Product Specialist at Epic Games. Figure 01: Epic Games’ Unreal Engine provides real-time content generation, manipulation and rendering. Introduction Epic Games’ Unreal Engine has revolutionized the creation and manipulation of real-time 3D content. With technology advances such as Lumen and Nanite in Unreal Engine 5, leaps […]

Deadline 10.3 Featured Image

AWS Thinkbox Deadline adds final-pixel render support for real-time animation work in Unreal Engine 5

AWS Thinkbox Deadline 10.3, a new version of the batch compute render scheduler, is now available. This version introduces support for Epic Games’ real-time 3D content creation tool, Unreal Engine, and includes version updates for many other industry standard digital content creation (DCC) applications. Compatible across Windows, Linux, and macOS platforms, Deadline 10.3 supports over […]

Landscape VFX

AWS enables Outpost VFX to service new clients anywhere in the world in hours

When he founded Outpost VFX in 2012, CEO Duncan McWilliam never thought that his studio’s on-premises computing infrastructure would max out the building’s electrical system—or that he would be asking the landlord for more power. Outpost VFX creates visual effects for films and episodic television. Some of its recent credits include the Amazon Prime series, […]