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Cluster with Mac Minis for FCP doable??
This was proposed to me today by my new boss. We are trying to setup a new FCP workstation. What I want to know, is if this will be effective or just more headache than it is worth?
“Rather than rely on a single computer’s power, use of a cluster of a few computers may be more efficient in rendering (and in terms of cost).
Setting up a semi-isolated sub-network for that cluster wouldn’t impact the main LAN while maintaining the network speed necessary for the inter-cluster communication, I think. A decent spec Mac Pro with a few MacMini may result in a high performance cluster.” -
5 Replies
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FCP cannot utilize a render farm.
Do yourself a favor and get a MacPro and do things right. Avoid MacMini except as client computers for e-mail and internet.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
As Shane notes, FCP cannot take advantage of a render cluster right now.
And even if you wanted to do that, MacMinis are a terrible choice for this one. Pick up another MacPro and cluster those together if you really want to do that in the future. Minis are not high performance machines, they’re consumer machines geared towards email, surfing the web and photos.
You can read some threads on this forum where folks tried to us iMacs for lots of compressor renders and such and the darn things overheated. They’re not made for continuous heavy use of the processors like the Mac Pros are.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
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You look at render farms the PC 3D guys use. They’re always towers. You can use cluster nodes for faster encoding. FCP does not take advantage of distributed processing but Compressor does. Anything you send there can be “rendered” faster. This includes Motion, which does via an Export To Compressor command.
Kevin Monahan
http://www.fcpworld.com
Author – Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Pro -
I disagree with Shane and Walter. I don’t think using Mac Minis as render nodes is necessarily a bad idea at all. People out there are doing this. They’re not very powerful (although quad-core models may come out soon), but they sure are more efficient in terms of space, electricity, and money. It all depends on the situation.
Sean
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[Sean ONeil] “I don’t think using Mac Minis as render nodes is necessarily a bad idea at all. People out there are doing this. “
Yes- I am one of them ( I have 10 Intel Minis in my rack) but since there is not any multi node render capabilities in FCP – they are fairly useless for that but I am able to use them for RED conversions, AE, Color and Compressor multi threaded processing however.
these machines are used for rendering only – nothing else- Low power, Low Heat, ZERO noise.
gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production WorkflowsInside look at the IoHD
https://library.creativecow.net/articles/adcock_gary/AJAIOHD.php
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