4k / UHD Post Production and the need for GPUs

For SD editing, you need nothing other than a decent computer and one or two monitors. For color grading and visual effects, using applications such as Maya, Resolve, Flame, and Premier Pro, a high-end workstation will provide a smoother and faster workflow. 4k / UHD media and above can tax a computer so having access to a top-of-the-line machine such as an HP Z840 or a Boxx Apex 4 can improve your quality of life as a creative artist. These computers are better because of their ability to use multiple GPUs in addition to powerful, multi-core CPUs. This technology is expensive but, increasingly necessary. On a project by project basis, it may be better to rent.

The importance of GPUs is that the video software mentioned above is now able to dump much of the heavy lifting onto the GPU (or even several GPUs), leaving the CPU free to do its job of delegating tasks, applications, APIs, hardware process, I/O device requests, and so on. The CPU just makes sure all the basic tasks run in harmony while the GPU takes care of crunching the more complex and intensive computation needed by the application. It is important to know that for all but the most basic video (and certainly for any form of 4K), the computer should have a dedicated graphics card for processing your editing tasks.

You may need several graphics card for any serious 4K work, especially RAW. The stock graphics card just needs to drive the number and resolution of whatever computer monitors one will use. One or more additional GPUs should be there to provide accelerated parallel processing crucial for any serious workstation. These extra graphics cards should be as powerful as one can get. Since these cards are very expensive, renting is a practical option. (Note that additional GPUs, when configured to provide acceleration cannot drive additional monitors.)

For many years, powerful GPUs were primarily only valuable to gamers drawing complex 3D worlds in real time, until software developers like Apple and chip makers like ATI and Nvidia realized they were sitting on a gold mine of untapped computational power. In response, two important standards emerged – OpenCL and CUDA.

CUDA is a proprietary specification exclusively available on specific Nvidia GPUs, including all of their professional Quadro models. Suffice it to say tests show CUDA beating OpenCL at floating-point and OpenCL ATI products beating Nvidia at integer math. Either way, they both do the same thing, make editing systems scream because they can process video way better than any CPU ever could.

We now have several models of GPUs in our rental pool and for sale. NVIDIA M6000, K6000, K4200, GTX 1080TI, GTX 1080 and GTX 980. If your computer has space to accommodate these, we can install and configure. If you need a complete workstation, we have those as well. For more information contact Jim at 800 516-4302 or email.

Much of this blog is derived from an article by Howard Gotfryd. I thank him for his insight and highly recommend you follow him on eXplora. - Jim Reisman

Today's VFX Leaves Mac Users Behind

The demand for visual effects is growing while deadlines, budgets, and resources are tightening. In all aspects of media production, the need to produce footage combining 4K and greater resolution and high dynamic range color space puts a strain on all the components of a computer. Apple's Mac computers have been the standard for creative artists to practice their craft but, Apple's computers are falling short of what's needed to process all the data associated with today's visuals.

I refer to an article published by one of our clients, Jan Ozer, that we featured in a VFX Insider email sent back in 2016. Jan rented one of our Mac Pro 12-core (late 2013) computers to test the top-of-the-line Mac against an HP z840 workstation. It's easy to see how the benefits of the architecture of the HP and how you can put in the CPUs and GPUs necessary to handle the media coming in from the field. HP and other companies such as Boxx, Dell, Digital Storm and some others; are addressing the needs of power-hungry creatives who are taking their technology to the max!

It is likely that Apple will step up to the plate with something eventually but, meanwhile, other VFX artists and producers are winning projects because they have what's needed to deliver the director's (or agency's) vision.

VFX Technologies sees this all the time. Working with the top post-production facilities in the USA, we work to bring out the maximum performance from our clients' technology. We are upgrading their networks, providing faster-shared storage solutions, and renting or selling new computers.

We rent a lot of Apple computers. They are still great machines and can handle many people’s media needs. Using Adobe Premiere and After Effects on Macs is second nature to most visual artists. Media Composer and Pro Tools from Avid work best on a Mac. The bottleneck comes when you start talking about Flame and Resolve and rendering. We have many filmmakers that do their editing on an iMac and then call us to rent a Mac Pro to finish the job so that they're not agonizing over the final rendering of their effects. It is a  reliable and economical solution.

At VFX Technologies, we hear about every challenge an artist or technologist working at a post company has. We handle the problems they can't. We attend trade shows, seminars, view webinars, and learn about technology trends constantly. That's why we become so vital to our customers. While they're creating and generating revenue, we are making sure they're prepared for whatever monster their client throws at them.

Heres How We Feel about the Apple Rumors

It's been over two and a half years since Apple released a new Mac Pro. The current Mac Pro was first unveiled just over two and a half years ago at WWDC in June 2013. With the rumors of a potentially new Mac Pro releasing this year, Apple hasn't announced a launch date for the next generation of Mac Pro systems, so we did our investigation.

First up, code in OS X El Capitan is hinting that a new Mac Pro may be on its way soon. There is a reference to a new Mac that is code named "AAPLJ951" within El Capitan. The current Mac Pro is codenamed AAPLJ90 so there is some logic to this new reference being a new version of the professional-level workstation.

Another clue that this is the Mac Pro is the fact that the code hints that there are 10 USB 3.0 ports. Currently there are 4 USB ports and 6 Thunderbolt 2 ports on the Mac Pro. We think Apple is trying to phase out the Mac Pro in favor of a more powerful iMac line-up. It's more likely that it's just spending a long time getting the new Mac Pro just right before it launches after the issues it experiences with the previous launch. 

We think that it would make more sense if Apple adapt's Thunderbolt 3 on the Mac Pro - this standard of Thunderbolt supports USB Type-C and offers 40Gbps transfer speeds. Improving Intel's Xeon E5 V2/V3 processors and creating a faster graphics platform will make so Mac Pro users get the best of both worlds.

Since there's no guarantee on the 'New' Mac Pro being released. We think it's best to stick to the latest Mac Pro until then. The VFX team is happy to announce that we are now offering hourly and weekly rates for Mac Pros/iMac Rentals, located in the Los Angeles and Playa location.