June 5, 2015 at 13:17Dell comes to the rescue of video production studio
The right choice of equipment is the key to success not only for technology companies. This aspect is no less important for creators, because a computer system should not be a bottleneck in the process of creating content of any complexity. Roughly speaking, the hardware should “keep up” with the flight of thought of creative workers - designers, animators, video editors - and help (and not interfere) to create masterpieces.
This claim is illustrated by the story of Texas-based creative agency Sparksight. It specializes, in particular, in the creation of promotional videos, which in itself imposes serious requirements on the technological component of the business. Like many American companies working in the field of video sales, the agency for many years used Apple Mac computers. But over time, the tasks became more and more complicated, and the existing infrastructure turned into a bottleneck: it did not allow to complete the work in full in the shortest possible time.
Agree, if we are talking about processing high-resolution photos, 4K video and creating complex videos with hundreds and thousands of layers, the system should be ready for such loads. Kelly Shores (Kelly Shores), head of the agency, complains: every time the animators try to make small changes to the video, they are forced to wait from 30 seconds to 2 minutes to process the process. What to say about the rendering of 3D models: sometimes this process lasts all night and does not always end successfully. This impermissibly increases the time spent on each task, and completely kills the desire to bring the work to perfection.
Sparksight employees decided not only to replace the hardware, but also to switch from Apple Final Cut Pro video processing software to Adobe Premiere Pro. This choice is made by many video industry workers after not very successful, in their opinion, changes in Apple software. The abandonment of software that is compatible exclusively with Mac computers has made it possible to choose from a wider range of platforms. In a word, now it was possible to organize the agency’s infrastructure based on its needs, rather than software requirements. After a short meeting, the creators decided to switch to PC, although they feared difficulties with adapting to Windows 8. However, the fears were in vain: Kelly claims that employees got used to it very quickly.
What system did you choose in Sparksight? After exploring the market, they settled on the Dell Precision M3800 and M6800 mobile workstations .as well as tower-type stations equipped with professional NVIDIA Quadro graphics adapters. Video processing in After Effects now takes less: 45 minutes versus 10 hours on Mac Pro. The turning point was the use of the exclusive Dell Precision Optimizer software, which automatically configures the core processor, NVIDIA graphics adapter and other parameters. As a result, the system becomes as productive as possible for working with a specific application. The first test rendering process on a Dell Precision workstation, according to Kelly, took about four hours. This was a good result, but far from the one that Sparksight employees expected. But after the launch of Dell Precision Optimizer, rendering time decreased to 45 minutes - and this is a completely different matter.
By the way, Dell worked closely with Adobe to create an optimizer utility, which is why the Precision workstation-based hardware platform is ideal for working with Adobe Creative Cloud programs. As a result, the agency was able to significantly increase the workload and complete tasks faster. For example, for video editing, Sparksight employees no longer need to convert footage. It is downloaded from the camera’s memory directly into Premiere Pro, which saves a huge amount of time and terabytes of memory on your hard drive. Integration between several Creative Cloud applications allows designers, animators, and other team members to simultaneously work on different parts of a single project and seamlessly put together the best practices.
Thanks to the new hardware platform and software, studio employees were able to speed up other work processes. If earlier for video preview it was necessary to reduce the resolution by half and wait about 20 seconds until it renders, now video editors open it in maximum resolution and view it in real time.
Sparksight’s productivity has increased not only when processing photos and videos in the office, but also during filming. Every day working at a location is very expensive, so it is important to act quickly. Field teams use the Dell Precision M3800 mobile stations to “distill” high-resolution photos and videos, quickly synchronize sound with video sequences, and even process pictures when the photo session has not yet ended. Previously, all this was done only upon returning to the office, and now the finished work can be shown to the customer literally two days after the shooting. One of the clients was so surprised by the speed and quality of work that he now plans to conclude a long-term and very profitable contract with Sparksight, making the agency a provider of photo and video content for hundreds of its offices around the world.
Having increased the work efficiency, the agency team began to master more complex tasks. Employees improve their skills and try their strength in new directions. Previously, this was problematic, since almost any process took an unreasonably long time. Dell Precision workstations and NVIDIA graphics made it easy for Sparksight creators: they’ll be able to complete their current tasks faster, so there’s time for experimentation and new projects. And the more work, the more profit.
In the design environment, attachment to Apple products is very strong, and sometimes it is difficult to overcome, even if the productivity on Macs is several times lower than on PC. The Sparksight team is rather an exception to the rule. But, according to the head of the agency, the benefits of switching to Dell workstations are more important than traditions and personal preferences. According to Kelly, the computing power of the new infrastructure for every dollar spent on it is two times higher than what Mac computers can offer. For business this is more important than the power of habit - you can’t argue.
This claim is illustrated by the story of Texas-based creative agency Sparksight. It specializes, in particular, in the creation of promotional videos, which in itself imposes serious requirements on the technological component of the business. Like many American companies working in the field of video sales, the agency for many years used Apple Mac computers. But over time, the tasks became more and more complicated, and the existing infrastructure turned into a bottleneck: it did not allow to complete the work in full in the shortest possible time.
Agree, if we are talking about processing high-resolution photos, 4K video and creating complex videos with hundreds and thousands of layers, the system should be ready for such loads. Kelly Shores (Kelly Shores), head of the agency, complains: every time the animators try to make small changes to the video, they are forced to wait from 30 seconds to 2 minutes to process the process. What to say about the rendering of 3D models: sometimes this process lasts all night and does not always end successfully. This impermissibly increases the time spent on each task, and completely kills the desire to bring the work to perfection.
Sparksight employees decided not only to replace the hardware, but also to switch from Apple Final Cut Pro video processing software to Adobe Premiere Pro. This choice is made by many video industry workers after not very successful, in their opinion, changes in Apple software. The abandonment of software that is compatible exclusively with Mac computers has made it possible to choose from a wider range of platforms. In a word, now it was possible to organize the agency’s infrastructure based on its needs, rather than software requirements. After a short meeting, the creators decided to switch to PC, although they feared difficulties with adapting to Windows 8. However, the fears were in vain: Kelly claims that employees got used to it very quickly.
What system did you choose in Sparksight? After exploring the market, they settled on the Dell Precision M3800 and M6800 mobile workstations .as well as tower-type stations equipped with professional NVIDIA Quadro graphics adapters. Video processing in After Effects now takes less: 45 minutes versus 10 hours on Mac Pro. The turning point was the use of the exclusive Dell Precision Optimizer software, which automatically configures the core processor, NVIDIA graphics adapter and other parameters. As a result, the system becomes as productive as possible for working with a specific application. The first test rendering process on a Dell Precision workstation, according to Kelly, took about four hours. This was a good result, but far from the one that Sparksight employees expected. But after the launch of Dell Precision Optimizer, rendering time decreased to 45 minutes - and this is a completely different matter.
By the way, Dell worked closely with Adobe to create an optimizer utility, which is why the Precision workstation-based hardware platform is ideal for working with Adobe Creative Cloud programs. As a result, the agency was able to significantly increase the workload and complete tasks faster. For example, for video editing, Sparksight employees no longer need to convert footage. It is downloaded from the camera’s memory directly into Premiere Pro, which saves a huge amount of time and terabytes of memory on your hard drive. Integration between several Creative Cloud applications allows designers, animators, and other team members to simultaneously work on different parts of a single project and seamlessly put together the best practices.
Thanks to the new hardware platform and software, studio employees were able to speed up other work processes. If earlier for video preview it was necessary to reduce the resolution by half and wait about 20 seconds until it renders, now video editors open it in maximum resolution and view it in real time.
Sparksight’s productivity has increased not only when processing photos and videos in the office, but also during filming. Every day working at a location is very expensive, so it is important to act quickly. Field teams use the Dell Precision M3800 mobile stations to “distill” high-resolution photos and videos, quickly synchronize sound with video sequences, and even process pictures when the photo session has not yet ended. Previously, all this was done only upon returning to the office, and now the finished work can be shown to the customer literally two days after the shooting. One of the clients was so surprised by the speed and quality of work that he now plans to conclude a long-term and very profitable contract with Sparksight, making the agency a provider of photo and video content for hundreds of its offices around the world.
Having increased the work efficiency, the agency team began to master more complex tasks. Employees improve their skills and try their strength in new directions. Previously, this was problematic, since almost any process took an unreasonably long time. Dell Precision workstations and NVIDIA graphics made it easy for Sparksight creators: they’ll be able to complete their current tasks faster, so there’s time for experimentation and new projects. And the more work, the more profit.
In the design environment, attachment to Apple products is very strong, and sometimes it is difficult to overcome, even if the productivity on Macs is several times lower than on PC. The Sparksight team is rather an exception to the rule. But, according to the head of the agency, the benefits of switching to Dell workstations are more important than traditions and personal preferences. According to Kelly, the computing power of the new infrastructure for every dollar spent on it is two times higher than what Mac computers can offer. For business this is more important than the power of habit - you can’t argue.
