Dear Peter Thank you for the incredibly comprehensive response.
The crazy kindergarten accountancy at the university means that the lab computers need to be paid for by the schools from their operating budgets (which are not keeping up with inflation). However things like VCA are expensive enough to be considered Major Capex and that amazingly enough they have funds for. So its mostly about reading the situation at the University and trying to plan around it. Kind regards Angus ________________________________ From: pete...@skynet.be [pete...@skynet.be] Sent: 10 June 2015 02:41 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Virtual Apps if you mean using a thin client on the desk, to connect to a remote workstation (in the server room) – then yes – have used this at a former studio. overall it worked quite well. on the thin client you would launch an app, on which you chose the workstation to login to and then a full screen window opens on which you see the workstations’ desktop – and you work you session. It’s very intuitive – apart from a few keyboard combos (ctrl-alt-del is on the thin client, so there’s a different combination to send that to the workstation) You could use the thin client at any desk to log in to any equipped workstation – handy at times – chaotic when your team members end up all over the place. The overhead on the workstation is pretty much zero. The added card handles the compression/communication – so you can push the workstation exactly as before. there was hardware compression/decompression of all signals – so it meant adding a dedicated card in the workstation - all data (kb, mouse, usb as well as monitors) goes through network. afaik the screen refresh is done on the thin client – which reduces the amount of data to be sent (no screens full of pixels) but also makes sure that despite long cable length, image quality is high . (compared to all KVM extenders I ever saw) To the very demanding artist there is a barely noticeable lag and some degradation – you can kind of make out the compression – but you do have to look for it. We decided on using the thin clients only for 3D artists, not for compositors. It would work for compositing most of the time, but when checking final images/shots, occasional little flicks or spots from the compression are disturbing. If you are the person who has 3 oversized monitors on his desk, and expects to have film quality visuals while modeling – this might not be for you. image quality can suffer from network load – as compression adapts some – and at a few peak moments network was so taxed (not because of the thin clients) that connections between clients and stations were lost massively. That’s unfortunate and real disruptive – but once the load was balanced again you would just login and the workstation was right where you left off – preferable to crashes and shutdowns. But it’s something to be aware of - if you have a problematic network, thin clients will add to the frustration. An added benefit was that there was much less heat generated and electricity used in the office rooms – in small cramped, badly ventilated and badly equipped offices that can be a tangible benefit. I have memories of humming workstations under desks, burning desklights and running ventilators everywhere (including on an opened workstation case which is a very bad idea) creating an unpleasant and unhealthy microclimate. The switch to thin clients was heavenly. As were LED desklights. Hope it helps some. It’s a big step – that you need to consider carefully with your supplier (ours was HP) – and ideally in a riskfree way, where you get the setup on test, with the option to return if unsatisfactory – because some consequences/constraints are unexpected and to a degree it’s a personal experience. I can very well see this working marvelously in one studio and being a total no-go in another. Now, I’m not getting the financial angle – to me a thin client is an added cost – it would not replace any workstations or make them any less redundant. The idea of a thin client is that the heavy lifting is done elsewhere – workstation, server, on the cloud,... If you mean using a thin client (as in: a very low specced computer) instead of a workstation – that’s something else altogether. Now, a thin client today might more powerful than a supercomputer of the past – so there might be cases where it would work. But if you want to get bang for buck, I’d look elsewhere – as a thin client is not made to customize and beef up and ultimately to put decent specs in. I’d look at barebones rather. From: Angus Davidson<mailto:angus.david...@wits.ac.za> Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2015 8:29 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com<mailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com> Subject: Virtual Apps Hi Folks Has anyone had any experience using 3d apps like Softimage, Maya, Unity (for our games side) via a thin client. Most of the marketing stuff pretty much makes it look like Christmas in July, but is very thin on actual metrics. ie Latency, numbers of concurrent apps etc. We are in a position where our currency is dropping against the dollar/euro a lot faster then we are allowed to raise fees. So in 2 years when our currently negotiated lease for our 100+ machines runs out, we are looking at the very real possibility of not been able to afford machines that are 3D capable themselves. Oddly one of the few relatively untapped budgets is Major Capex (minimum $50 000 - $250 000), which wont cover a computer but would cover something like a few NVIDIA VCA's Kind regards Angus This communication is intended for the addressee only. It is confidential. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately and destroy the original message. You may not copy or disseminate this communication without the permission of the University. Only authorised signatories are competent to enter into agreements on behalf of the University and recipients are thus advised that the content of this message may not be legally binding on the University and may contain the personal views and opinions of the author, which are not necessarily the views and opinions of The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. 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Only authorised signatories are competent to enter into agreements on behalf of the University and recipients are thus advised that the content of this message may not be legally binding on the University and may contain the personal views and opinions of the author, which are not necessarily the views and opinions of The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All agreements between the University and outsiders are subject to South African Law unless the University agrees in writing to the contrary. </span></font></td> </tr> </table
