WeFX Adopts SoDA on AWS, Empowering Remote Artists around the World

WeFX scaled to support a global remote workforce by adopting SoDA on AWS. As its talent pool grew, the visual effects studio needed to improve the internal syncing of data so that local and global artists could enjoy efficient, lag-free working experiences. AWS Partner Integrated Media Technologies, Inc. and AWS Partner DeadDrop Labs (DDL) built an integrated system for WeFX that supports data sharing across AWS Regions, powered by AWS services like Amazon EC2 and Amazon VPC. After adopting SoDA, WeFX improved performance, reduced data transfer costs, and empowered its remote artist experience to match the experience of local teams.

WeFX brings together some of the best artists from around the world to work on high-profile streaming and film projects. Based in Toronto, Canada, the visual effect studio’s globally acclaimed artist pool collaborates closely with production teams to deliver state-of-the-art effects to bring a director’s vision to life.

As a fast-growing visual effects studio, WeFX needed to scale its systems and infrastructure to support its expansion. It also needed to improve the working experience for its remote artists to match the experience and performance of its in-house team. So, WeFX chose to adopt Amazon Web Services (AWS) and SoDA, an implement data management software from AWS Partner Integrated Media Technologies, Inc. which is available in AWS Marketplace, a service that helps organizations find, test, buy, and deploy software that runs on AWS.

Working closely with the SoDA team and AWS Partner DeadDrop Labs (DDL), WeFX quickly adopted SoDA on AWS. Using this solution, the studio is now able to support a global remote workforce while improving performance and reducing data transfer costs.

SoDA’s data management software is storage agnostic and environment aware, providing companies with insight into their unstructured data. SoDA reduces hidden storage costs by using predictive analytics and user-defined policies that intelligently and transparently migrate data across tiers and from edge to core to cloud for optimal data placement, peak performance, and maximum savings. With SoDA, companies like WeFX can take the cost and complexity out of managing data at virtually any scale.

As WeFX expanded its pool of artists, it needed to accommodate a global remote workforce in addition to its local team. Artists in the studio’s headquarter region can access shared storage on premises to collaborate on common projects. When the artist pool expanded to remote locations, WeFX artists began to experience high latency. WeFX needed to overcome this issue if it was going to match the speed and efficiency of its in-house systems. So, it engaged Integrated Media Technologies, Inc. for a solution that would match the experience of local artists by delivering the project data to the remote user. When this is completed, SoDA is used to accelerate the project back to the studio’s headquarters.

DDL, a company that helps studios harness the power, flexibility, and cost efficiencies of AWS for their specific needs, was brought on to act as a consultant for the project. Integrated Media Technologies, Inc. and DDL designed an integrated system for WeFX that supports fast, efficient content delivery and data sharing across AWS Regions, which are physical locations around the world where AWS clusters data centers.

Working with Integrated Media Technologies, Inc. and DDL, WeFX has empowered its remote artists to operate with the same speed and efficiency as the artists who work in its Toronto headquarters. In fact, SoDA’s performance is over 20 times faster than comparable open-source solutions. “It’s simple to use, it’s fast, and it has a high success rate,” says Laurence Cymet, head of technology at WeFX. “SoDA had the right feature coverage and tool set to make working with DDL quick and cost effective. We were up and running fast.”

Integrated Media Technologies, Inc. solution for WeFX is powered by Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances, which provide secure and resizable compute capacity for virtually any workload. These Amazon EC2 instances host the SoDA agent and conductor. Because Amazon EC2 is fully managed, WeFX does not need to focus on maintaining or managing the SoDA infrastructure. Instead, the studio can focus on performing its visual effects work.

SoDA facilitates secure data sharing between artists in different regions and their associated Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC), which helps define and launch AWS resources in a logically isolated virtual network. Using this solution, WeFX has accelerated file transfer to get content to and from remote artists, helping them collaborate on and complete their projects faster. The solution also offers a simple data management interface to track and report data movement and costs, as well as complete data encryption to help the studio better meet security standards set by the Motion Picture Association.

Because the SoDA infrastructure is highly scalable, WeFX can spin its artist workstations up and down to accommodate new artists and support a remote workforce. Because WeFX artists work in different time zones, DDL created a custom web portal where they can launch their own workstations on their own time. Each workstation includes a specific Amazon Machine Image (AMI), which is a supported and maintained image provided by AWS that provides the information required to launch an instance. The AMI comes with the connection to SoDA and its data already configured. After launching their workstation, an artist can quickly and automatically access data that are stored on SoDA’s file system. As a result, they can get to work faster and collaborate on projects from anywhere.

WeFX also uses SoDA to transfer finished data from remote artists back to the central render farm in a different Amazon VPC. With these capabilities, the studio can render remote artists’ work on the full power of the render farm using hundreds of Amazon EC2 instances.

With advanced, intelligent SoDA infrastructure in place, WeFX can better support its remote workforce. WeFX has been able to expand to new regions on SoDA, using the solution to quickly spin up a site in South Korea and expand its talent pool. The studio has quickly grown from 5 to over 140 artists. Additionally, its global remote workforce enjoys low latency and fast performance. “What makes SoDA effective is the fact that we can have workstations in the artist’s local region,” says Cymet. “This means that latency is low, and the artist has a fast, lag-free remote working experience. This is crucial for us.”

WeFX’s remote artist workforce can access files and perform their work at any time, reducing the inefficiencies and barriers that are often created by time zone differences. With these capabilities in place, WeFX can recruit and attract top visual effects talent regardless of location. “With SoDA, WeFX can hire the best talent from around the world and provide artists with the best experience possible by enhancing visual effects workflows on AWS,” says Greg Holick, vice president of product at CloudSoDA.

Alongside Integrated Media Technologies, Inc. and DDL, WeFX has accelerated remote file transfer and content delivery, providing a fast, seamless remote working experience for its remote artists. Now, artists around the world can collaborate quickly and efficiently on shared projects without losing time, improving the productivity of the whole studio.

“We have been able to hire some of the best artists in the world, and we don’t believe that would have been possible without the help of SoDA,” says Cymet.