Buisness venture research?

[danb]

well i got a few looks anyways, but no replies. if i have done something wrong with this subject please forgive me.

[jackb602]

Danb,

Take a look at www.renderking.com
They run a Cinema 4d & Maya render farm. I would guess that there's got to be more demand out there than the four slots they have available. By the way, it doesn't matter whether your renderfarm is PC or Mac based, as long as you don't mix processor types. I for one would be interested in an affordable render farm. I bet others on the forum would be too.

Jack

[danb]

well i have to say that was an encouraging post. i am just interested in making the money back for the money invested. thats about all. so i guess this would make the service very inexpensive. know i need to figure out how to charge people. i would like to charge by the render job. maybe a basic fee for basic renders and adjust accordingly to plugins etc.

i have checked out some of the other sites through the renderking links, thanks jackb602, and i can say that i will probably look to charge 1/2 to 1/4 of the price of those links.

[squidinc]

basically the cheaper the better, so if you can run the service reliably for less money than anyone else people would use your services, how much RAM do the machines have?

[dsavage]

DanB

I'd certainly be interested as I'm planning some animations over the next couple of months and I'm sure my current set-up is going to struggle to render them in a reasonable time. Keep us posted on how you go with it.

[tcastudios]

Have you thought what would be the best way to -return- the rendered material? Sending it to a farm is mostly a few Meg while the result could easily become several Gigs.
So burning DVD´s might also be considered in the services. Alt. a big FTP-server.

Lennart

[danb]

squidinc----"how much RAM do the machines have?"

each machine will has 128mb to start. then upgrading as money allows. do you think this will be enough or should i try to get more for each machine?

tcastudios----"Have you thought what would be the best way to -return- the rendered material? Sending it to a farm is mostly a few Meg while the result could easily become several Gigs.
So burning DVD´s might also be considered in the services. Alt. a big FTP-server"

i am most likely going to have the ftp transfer standard and also use cdr and possibly dvdr's. i also notice some of the other services use external firewire hard drives. i like that idea also. but that would have to be purchased extra or sent to me from the customer.

thanks peeps for the interest, questions, and suggestions. keep it up. the more i get the better the service can be.

maybe i should start a poll or someone thing. to find out how many users are interested and any special features requested from the service.

anyways i am starting to get excited about this idea.:drool:

[paulselhi]

if you are going to be serious about this your RAM should be in the several GB range and your PC's should be multi processor

[squidinc]

what internet access do you have?

[danb]

paulselhi---- if you are going to be serious about this your RAM should be in the several GB range and your PC's should be multi processor.

i think for what i am expecting to gain from thiss 15 single processors with fairly good speed and memory will be sufficient until i can generate some more capitol to upgrade to dual cpu computers.

squidinc ---what internet access do you have?

currently i have broadband. this i think would be ok for the first few projects. after those maybe i'll look for more speed. the broadband connection is only going to be used for the ftp transfer of completed files.

the renderfarm will be on its own network not physically connected to the internet. i will swap files from my internet computer to the host on the private network.

awesome keep up the comments.

does anyone have any suggestions for price. i.e. pay per, project (flat fee), cpu hour, monthly, etc......i am looking for the most user friendly way. so comments on this would really help determine that.

[Srek]

Originally posted by danb
paulselhi---- if you are going to be serious about this your RAM should be in the several GB range and your PC's should be multi processor.

i think for what i am expecting to gain from thiss 15 single processors with fairly good speed and memory will be sufficient until i can generate some more capitol to upgrade to dual cpu computers.


Hi,
with 128 MByte there won't be many scenes you can render with it. At least 512 MB should be available, over 1 Gig is recommended, otherwise swapping will kill all the renderfarm benefits since a single better equipped system will be faster.
Cheers
Srek

[kromekat]

I'd be interested for animation requirements, but it would have to be reasonable prices.

As for RAM - you will need way more than that - that's barely enough to run an OS these days, let alone big scene files etc.

You also have to consider in your investment costs that you will need a good suite of plugins and modules to accomodate what other users may have and require in their renders.

Hey I am all for it, I always need more machines! :)

[flingster]

imho...the more memory the better
the cheaper the better (but i do remember the renderking guy saying he set his pricing cheap initially and no one took him up..he raised his prices and voila got a loads of interest)
kromekat raises a good point on plugins which would be essential

(instead of investing in 15 2gig machines...why not go for 7 multi amd with more memory...just a thought)

either way good luck with it...throws up a few practical issues but certainly doable..whether you can make money out of it...don't ask me...:shrug:

[danb]

well thanks all for replying. i can see that memory is going to be the biggest cost for me i think. so i will focus on that. maybe i can opt for 1-2gb of ram for each.

as for the modules and plugins i plan on getting cinema 8.5 studio bundle with sketch and toon and everything else. those new additions will be important in bringing business i think. and if any other plugins are needed then i will try to accomidate when needed.

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