Customer Overview


SideFX Software is a leading provider of 3D animation and visual effects software, best known for its flagship product, Houdini. The company needed a high-performance, scalable virtual desktop environment to facilitate a live, hands-on classroom for the Houdini Hive Horizon Conference in Toronto in September. This setup aimed to support over 60 digital artists in interactive sessions in the latest release of Houdini using high end workstations, powered by Nvidia GPUs in the AWS cloud infrastructure.

Integrated Media Technologies (IMT) was asked to work with SideFX and AWS in creating the AWS Cloud environment.

Challenges

IMT faced several key challenges in preparation of this event:
  • Seamless Access and Collaboration: Artists connecting from their own laptops needed access to the secure AWS environment containing the pre-configured workstations over the Internet with consistent performance.
  • Temporary Cloud Infrastructure: The setup needed to be temporary, efficient, and cost-effective, requiring a specific AWS infrastructure that could be quickly deployed and decommissioned post-event.
  • AWS Deadline Cloud: Deadline Cloud was to be integrated with the latest Houdini version. Deadline Cloud allows integration with Amazon EC2 Instances across CPU instance families for rendering, without the need for on-premises render compute or infrastructure management.

Solution

IMT, in collaboration with AWS and SideFX, deployed a robust and flexible AWS-based virtual desktop solution tailored for the Houdini Hive event. The key components of the solution included:
  • Networking and Security: A new AWS account was created specifically for the event. IMT set up secure VPCs, security groups, and networking infrastructure, ensuring that artists could connect to the AWS environment securely over the Internet. This also allowed capturing all costs for the event.
  • AWS Virtual Desktops: IMT created a VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure), using NICE DCV for remote access. Each of the 60+ artists were assigned a pre-configured virtual workstation with Houdini 20.5 in a virtual studio environment. All workstations contained Nvidia GPUs to ensure adequate power for the artists requirements.
  • Golden Image Creation: IMT built and deployed an AMI (Amazon Machine Image) with a “golden image” of the workstations. This image contained all pre-installed software (SideFX Houdini 20.5), utilities, and licensing to ensure consistent performance across all workstations.
  • Monitoring and Support: During the event, IMT provided real-time monitoring and standby support, ensuring minimal disruption and resolving any potential issues promptly.
  • Deadline Cloud Rendering: AWS integrated Houdini 20.5 with AWS Deadline Cloud to demonstrate to artists to offload rendering tasks to AWS service managed fleets. This allows artists access to large render power in AWS without having to setup and administer their own fleets of render instances.    

Implementation
  1. Account Setup and VPC Creation: IMT established a new AWS account and configured the necessary VPCs, security groups, and permissions. This ensured that the environment was secure and standalone for the event.
  2. VDI Deployment: IMT deployed over 60 virtual workstations in advance of the event, using the pre-configured AMI, ensuring all artists had the necessary applications and plugins installed.
  3. On-Demand Capacity Reservation: AWS On-Demand Capacity Reservations allowed us to reserve compute capacity for the Amazon EC2 instances for the duration of the conference without the longer terms required for a “Reserved Instances” option  
  4. NICE DCV Access Console: This was deployed to allow IMT, and end users to manage their NICE DCV sessions. The Access Console consists of installable software packages that include a Handler, an Authentication Server, and a Web Client configured to provide a graphical interface. It enabled IMT to give the attendees a common, simple web interface to setup, access and login, with credentials, to their assigned AWS workstations.
  5. Shared Storage: Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) was used to store common files and content needed by the instructors and to be shared to the attendees. EFS is a fully managed cloud file storage service provided by AWS. It offers scalable, shared file storage in the AWS Cloud, and can be accessed by multiple EC2 instances concurrently.
  6. Deadline Cloud: The Deadline Cloud was configured to handle rendering tasks efficiently. Artists were to be able to offload their renders to the AWS cloud, ensuring fast and high-quality results without the need for local computing resources.
  7. Testing and Optimization: AWS and SideFX conducted extensive testing of the workstations and rendering capabilities to ensure optimal performance for the live demos. The NICE DCV client was also tested on user machines to ensure compatibility.
  8. Monitoring and Support: IMT provided real-time monitoring and support during the event, ensuring that the virtual desktop environment remained stable and responsive.

Results and Benefits

The AWS-powered solution delivered impressive results during the Houdini Hive Horizon Conference:
  • Seamless Performance: All 60+ artists successfully accessed their virtual desktops with minimal latency, even during peak usage. Houdini and associated plugins ran smoothly, providing a seamless experience for both artists and viewers.
  • Scalability: The AWS infrastructure easily scaled to accommodate the 60+ workstations, with capacity and performance remaining consistent throughout the event.
  • Common Experience: Each artist attendee had a consistent experience by accessing identical workstation instances. It allowed them to use the latest version of Houdini with Nvidia GPUs regardless of their own laptop used for access to the Cloud environment. The AWS environment was also secured to ensure any data or assets shared with the attendees remained in the Cloud environment should there be IP concerns.
  • Cost Efficiency: By utilizing AWS cloud infrastructure, SideFX avoided the need for expensive on-premises hardware, opting instead for a flexible, temporary environment that could be easily decommissioned after the event.

Future Plans

IMT will provide AWS infrastructure for future events and large-scale virtual collaborations as part of their offerings. The deployments exist as Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and so can be deployed and customized as required by future clients. Deadline Cloud as a managed service is being deployed to many VFX and Animation customers as a modern, cost-effective solution for rendering. NICE DCV Access Console remains a solid solution for these events as well as being used for more permanent deployments by IMT clients who required remote access to Workstation for their employees.

Conclusion

Through its collaboration with AWS and SideFX, IMT successfully delivered a high-performance, Nvidia-powered, virtual desktop solution that enhanced the artist and attendee experience at the Houdini Hive Horizon Conference. AWS provided the scalability, flexibility, and cost-efficiency needed to meet the event’s demands, establishing a solid foundation for future virtual events and workflows.