Here we go. GPU in the cloud. By Subscription.

[Steve Connor]

[Bill Davis] “Or will you be able to do all your actual editing without it – then just link up for when you need it for a super-res render or an export?”

Yep and with IOT fast approaching I’m going to be doing all my editing on my Toaster

[Tero Ahlfors]

[Bill Davis] “Or will you be able to do all your actual editing without it – then just link up for when you need it for a super-res render or an export? “

No because the GPU is accelerating effects and all kinds of interactions during editing (at least in Premiere) so I prefer having a proper GPU installed. Especially when the latest and greatest Nvidia cards are insanely cheap for the performance they give out.

Also Resolve is using GPU for everything.

[Tero Ahlfors]

There are rendering services that can put your Maya/Softimage/Houdini/whatever comps in their farms and render stuff for you but they are usually for CG renders. The materials for that kind of work are usually easier to send around instead of footage.

[Andrew Kimery]

The article, especially the headline, isn’t very clear. “GeForce Now” is a game streaming service (like Playstation Now and the defunct OnLive service). You aren’t playing the game on your Mac, you are basically logging into Nvidia’s servers and playing the game via remote desktop. If you have a fast, low latency Internet connection then it’s fine, but if you don’t then the lag is going to be annoying as hell.

Microsoft uses it’s cloud computing service, Azure, to help render AI and GFX for Xbox One games (thus freeing up some load from the local CPU/GPU) and Adobe has floated the idea of cloud-assisted rendering for AE coming to CC subscribers. So it is possible, but to Tero’s point, I don’t think this works well editing for a couple of reasons.

1. Many programs use the GPU for basic operation so having a strong GPU locally is still worthwhile (which is why Apple doubled down on GPUs in the nMP).

2. For editing you also have to figure out how to transfer the media. If I want someone to remotely render something in AE or a CG program I just have to send them the data from my project and they send back the rendered media. If I want someone to remotely render something in my NLE I can’t just send them my project file/data I have to send them the media too which complicates thing if it’s a big project (ex. sending 90min of ProRes HQ for someone to render out remotely).

If we reach a point in the US where data caps don’t exist and 1gig up/down is common place (or even 10gig up/down is affordable) then these problems obviously are reduced. Another possible alternative to a ‘cloud GPU’ is hooking up an external GPU, but IIRC MacOS currently doesn’t support that feature.

EDIT:
Of course the other thing related to this is the Avid Everywere/Adobe Anywhere solution where all the media is stored on a ‘big iron’ server and users just remote into it. That’s obviously a more enterprise level solution at this time.

[Shawn Miller]

[Andrew Kimery] “If we reach a point in the US where data caps don’t exist and 1gig up/down is common place (or even 10gig up/down is affordable) then these problems obviously are reduced.”

Yup, all we would need is a landscape where there are more than a handful of high speed internet providers, and common sense net neutrality principles codified into law. ☺

Shawn

[Simon Ubsdell]

[Andrew Kimery] “If we reach a point in the US where data caps don’t exist and 1gig up/down is common place (or even 10gig up/down is affordable) then these problems obviously are reduced. “

Good grief!

I thought things were bad in the UK, but if you’re having issues with tiny file sizes like that you really do have problems.

Whereas in the rest of Europe, let alone Japan …!

Simon Ubsdell
tokyo productions
hawaiki

[Shane Ross]

[Tero Ahlfors] “Also Resolve is using GPU for everything.”

Mainly when playing back complex grades or noise reduction. But I find that it pings my processor mainly…especially when rendering. It only gravitates to the GPU when it hits heavy vignetting and NR. Straight color it gobbles my CPU. So much that it caused it to overheat one day and restart my computer!!

Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Andrew Kimery]

[Shawn Miller] “Yup, all we would need is a landscape where there are more than a handful of high speed internet providers, and common sense net neutrality principles codified into law. ☺”

Someday… hopefully. ????

[Simon Ubsdell] “I thought things were bad in the UK, but if you’re having issues with tiny file sizes like that you really do have problems.”

Not transfering files 1 gig in size, but 1 gigabit per second, symmetrical Internet speeds. Speeds usually associated with fiber connections though I believe cable Internet can now hit 1gig speeds (but not 10gig AFAIK).

[Shawn Miller]

[Simon Ubsdell] “[Andrew Kimery] “If we reach a point in the US where data caps don’t exist and 1gig up/down is common place (or even 10gig up/down is affordable) then these problems obviously are reduced. ”

Good grief!

I thought things were bad in the UK, but if you’re having issues with tiny file sizes like that you really do have problems.

Whereas in the rest of Europe, let alone Japan …!”

Even worse, we pay the highest rates for broadband access in the world. How much do you pay for a 20Mbps connection? In the US, the average is around $50.00 a month.

Shawn

[Michael Gissing]

[Bill Davis] “Still thinking you’re going to need that massive CPU/GPU combo hard-soldered in your machine in a few years?”

Yes I will need onboard heavy lifting hardware but no I don’t want it soldered in. Thats why I dropped Apple hardware. Soldering in upgradables like GPU & CPU is just dumb.

Getting rid of bottle necks is critical for RT performance of heavy codecs in large frame sizes. Rendering is not something that I need till the job is nearly done. RT performance while grading needs fast PCI bussing and there is no way that the internet is going to be nearly fast enough in my neck of the woods to deal with remote GPU tasking.

As we lurch rapidly towards camera originals in 8k, big iron CPU/GPU is actually more important to people like me. For those that want to edit proxy on a laptop this might help specific needs. But for people like me that finish, I don’t even see this as competition.