3 posts tagged with "file transfer"

This is a blog post about data-distribution in VFX. This post also touches on cloud vs on-prem, and how file-streaming adds new opportunities and challenges to the debate.

Why File Streaming?​

Ever since the pandemic, post-production houses of all sizes have been exploring the best ways to work remotely. Remote desktop emerged to bridge existing on-premise environments with this new world order. However, some began to wonder about the need for on-prem in the first place. Cloud workflows reemerged as a solution, and file-streaming services came onto the scene boasting the ability to work from anywhere. In the midst of the age-old fierce debate of cloud vs on-prem, file streaming entered the chat.

This post outlines a workflow with Tailscale, a VPN tool, and Thinkbox Deadline for rendering.

The Genius of Meshes​

I recently stumbled upon a very cool FOSS tool called Tailscale. Tailscale is a secure and easy-to-use VPN that allows you to connect to a network remotely — like from an airplane or in my case, often from China.

Something specifically interesting about Tailscale is that it uses a mesh network topology, which means that every device on the network is connected to every other device. This allows for quick and reliable communication between devices, even if they are behind firewalls. On top of that, Tailscale gives you a pretty sweet user interface, making it easy to set up and authenticate with, certainly easier than opening up ports and forwarding stuff. Tailscale is built on top of WireGuard which is their cryptographic foundation for secure peer-to-peer connections. There's a bunch more that they do with smartly storing keys and how they exchange, but essentially, there's no single point of failure (or bottlenecking), and the scalability factor of this particular type of distributed mesh is huge too (but they let you select "exit nodes" where you can funnel traffic specifically if you still want stuff to go through a chosen node).

This is an overview of how remote VFX workflows can be improved by adopting Suite Studios.

Introduction​

At the core of every VFX workflow is thoughtful consideration of who the users are. Typically this includes artists, TDs, coordinators, supervisors and producers. A good remote workflow, that does right by these users, needs the following qualities...