Journal of Robotics, Networking and Artificial Life
Vol. 6(2); September (2019), pp. 101–104
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2991/jrnal.k.190828.006; ISSN 2405-9021; eISSN 2352-6386
https://www.atlantis-press.com/journals/jrnal

Research Article

High-performance Computing for Visual Simulations
and Rendering
Jasmine Wu*, Chia-Chen Kuo
Innovation Applications, National Center for High-performance Computing, National Applied Research Laboratories, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan

ARTICLE INFO
Article History
Received 12 November 2018
Accepted 26 November 2018

ABSTRACT
National Center for High-performance Computing (NCHC) built a render farm that provides a platform for the industry torender their work in a much more efficient timeframe, allowing for both central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing
unit (GPU) rendering. The throughput has also been greatly improved to support complex and large scale simulations. The main
goal of this session is to introduce the improvements and new applications of NCHC’s render farm.

Keywords
Render farmvisual simulation
virtual desktop infrastructurehigh-performance computing© 2019 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL.
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

1. INTRODUCTION
Most people have seen an animated film at least once in their lifetime, but the number of work hours put into each film has often
been underestimated. High-quality animations such as a Pixar film
can take anywhere from 4 to 7 years from start to finish [1].
Any computer graphics created will need to be rendered before it
is viewable as a high-resolution image. However, rendering takes
a lot of computing power, especially for animated films where thecontent is relying entirely on computer graphics. Therefore, it isessential for animation studios and other related industries to havea high-performance computing system to prevent excessive timespent on rendering.
National Center for High-performance Computing (NCHC) [2] at
National Applied Research Laboratories of Taiwan built a render
farm, which composes of a cluster of networked computers,including 70 machines and 32 cores; with goals to improve the film
industry in Taiwan. The render farm can be directly accessed
through Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), which allows users
to take advantage of this platform with any device available to themat any location. Since a powerful computer is accessed through
VDI, users can also use the virtual desktop to create visual simulations. This was intended for students who may not have access toa thoroughly equipped device when needed. This also means thatusers can use the render farm and still do work on their own device
without interference, allowing companies to work more efficiently.

c­ ollaboratively with the creative industry. So far, over 100 films in
Taiwan were rendered using this platform.

2. BACKGROUND
All computer graphics need to go through the process of rendering. In the film industry, rendering can be understood as to how
a computer draws an image; by calculating the color of each pixel.
A filmmaker, Sudhakaran [3], described rendering as the process
when an image contains a pixel that is red, and a filter is added tomake the red pixel blue, the software will have to recreate this blue
pixel when it exports the finished image.
In three-dimensional (3D) animation and Computer Generated
Imagery (CGI) found in films, the 3D contents modeled in thecomputer needs to be rendered to high-resolution images before
it can be composited. To render a video is the same as rendering

One of the long-term goals at NCHC is to bring forward the ­culture
aspect of Taiwan with our developing technology, by working
Corresponding author. Email: 1803040@narlabs.org.tw*Figure 1 | Cloud Render Farm at NCHC (National Center for Highperformance Computing 2016) [2].

J. Wu and C-C. Kuo / Journal of Robotics, Networking and Artificial Life 6(2) 101–104

102(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Figure 2 | Milkcrown simulation using OpenACC accelerated framework(P-H. Chiu 2011) [5].

a sequence of images. If an object moves slightly to the right sideof the frame as each frame renders, the sequence of images would
appear as if the object is moving to the right when it is being played
one right after another like a flip book. Animated films are normally set to 24 frames per second. The more information an image
has, in terms of shape, texture, lighting, etc., the more render timeeach image will take.
As technology in CGI advances, filmmakers will often choose to use
virtual props in their scenes; because in most cases, it is an easierand cheaper option than to build them in real life. These visual
effects can often be so realistic that the audience is convinced that
it is actual footage filmed with real-life setups. Whether it is photo­
realistic renders of CGI in live action films or non-photorealistic
renders of animated films, they both use simulations that emulate
dynamic behavior of the natural system in physics, chemistry, etc.,
to make the animation more believable to the audience.
Visual simulations are computer graphics that changes its formor condition to show the results of calculations done by computers,
in which variables are produced based on the given inputs andalgorithms [4]. The inserted algorithms can determine particles
used in special effect, elements of physics, or any variable that canbe calculated. This can be useful for creating graphics that emulate
the real world; such as previsualizing architecture under various
circumstances prior to the building process, or staging scenes inmovies that cannot be done physically. It can also be used in 3D
animation. Making visual simulations require a computer withenough power to run image editing or 3D modeling software.
Mathematical algorithms are used for a computer to simulatea mathematical model that is able to calculate the behavior ofdynamics such as fur, fire, or smoke. An example from NCHC thatwas presented at Siggraph Asia 2014, shows how the computer cansimulate a water crown splash through computing, as illustrated in
Figure 2. Instead of animating fluid frame-by-frame, a simulation
can be generated with information such as the size or the speed of
the water drop. Once all the information is gathered, the computercan imitate the reaction of a drop of fluid hitting surface from somedistance above. Figure 2 shows the result of a simulation over time
when researcher used a mesh size of 400 × 400 × 200 in the phasefield and momentum equations [5].

3. CONCERNED CONTENTS
With all the information required for a computer to calculate whenrendering, the amount of time and computer power to complete
even just one frame of render can be extensive. To put it in perspective: a Pixar film using as many as 2000 computers, will take up to29 h just to render a single frame [6]. Considering how there are

24 frames in 1 s, 60 s in 1 min, and about 100 min in a film, a renderfarm becomes essential for rendering a 3D animated film. This isalso the reason that planning the scene carefully before sending it
to render is so important. There would be too much time wasted if
a shot was not successful within one take.
At big animation studios such as Pixar, resources for rendering
would not be a problem, because they are able to purchase a computer cluster of their own. However, students or other smaller studios would not have the same access to these resources. For manystudents, they might not even be able to get a single computer thatis powerful enough to run the software to create 3D contents. Oneof the issues occurred in Taiwan is that there are many talented
students who do not have the tools at hand for their creativity. To
help these students, as well as the smaller studios in Taiwan, NCHC
has built a high-performance computing platform and provided arender farm service for them to use.

4. METHODOLOGIESThe 3D production pipeline is mainly split into three groups:
pre-production, production, and post-production. Pre-production
is how a story is formed, which includes coming up with anidea, laying out the story into storyboards, and creating concept
designs. Production is where High-Performance Computing(HPC) becomes helpful; it includes 3D modeling, texturing,­rigging/setup, animating, Visual Effects (VFX), lighting, and rendering. Finally, post-production takes place after all the renderedanimations are put together for compositing, and would need
to be rendered again after adding 2D VFX/motion graphics andcolor correction [7].
National Center for High-performance Computing uses a VDI
as a solution for allowing access to a stronger computer with theappropriate software. This is helpful for users who do not havethe resources in either hardware or software when creating 3Dcontents. VMware Horizon was used to create an environment
where the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) render farm at NCHC
can be accessed virtually like a cloud studio. It comprises package kits such as vSphere ESXi hypervisor, vCenter server, View
Connection server, View Composer service, etc. To access the virtual desktop via VMware Horizon Client, users can simply insert
the assigned IP with a username and a password. The H.264 encoding, accelerated by the GPU of the render farm, allows users whose
account is restricted by a limited network to have a smooth experience with the virtual desktop [8].
Authorized software and programs are also available for useon the virtual desktop known as cloud studio. This includes
animation software such as Maya, and 3Ds Max; ray-tracing
renderers such as Arnold and V-Ray; and visual effects simulators such as RealFlow. The HPC at NCHC includes Deadline, acompute management toolkit that helps to organize renderingtasks sent to the GPU render farm. NCHC’s render farm provides easy access for users through cloud studio, which enables
the production team to check their progress as each scene renders; this allows users to find mistakes in earlier stages of therender process. To render an image using NCHC’s render farm,
the user would need to do the following: submit their project
file to Deadline, set the desired renderer by selecting groups, set
the project directory, choose the project file, insert the range of

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frames that needs to be rendered, and link the output to a filelocation. This is shown in Figure 4.
Remote virtual desktop, with resources for a complete production
pipeline and batch renderer cluster, avoids the need to transfer large
files, which is often a problem found in traditional render farms. The
platform was designed so that users are able to use the cloud studio
to work on their projects from start to finished; it also provides theoption to upload files from a personal device through file transfer
applications like FileZilla, if the user wishes to finish a work-in-progress. Cloud studio also enables an easier way to cooperate on a project, with a high throughput and Input/Output Operation per Second(IOPS) performance of the storage system to support multi-user.
Moreover, NCHC render farm has expanded since 2018. The newrender farm has improved 88 times the efficiency of the original
render farm; throughput was tested to reach 2.175 GB/s, which is
10 times more efficient than the old render farm. Three more layers

Figure 5 | Dance with interactive holographic projection performed atNCHC’s experimental performance lab (C. Lien 2016).

of security were added to further secure user’s properties, including
two-factor authentication, file protection system, and lateral movement protection.

5. POSSIBLE OUTCOME

Figure 3 | Areas where the NCHC render farm/VDI can help in the 3D
animation pipeline (illustrated by author).

The GPU render farm at NCHC renders about 10 times fasterthan a CPU render farm. Moreover, it supports real-time rendering. An example of real-time rendering using NCHC’s GPU
render farm is a dance with interactive holographic projections,performed at the experimental performance lab at NCHC headquarters. Through the usage of the Kinect, a motion-tracking
camera, a dancer was able to create an interactive performanceusing both the camera and a transparent projection screen in
front of him (Figure 5).
The ability to perform real-time rendering, opens the possibility ofincorporating Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) toHPC. VR and AR technology has been improving over the years,
but it has not yet become popularized. Once VR and AR headset
are connected to HPC through VDI, they will no longer be limitedby the power of a personal device, but with the power of HPC. It
has been tested that any device supported by VMware Horizon canlog into NCHC’s cloud studio.
National Center for High-performance Computing plans on acquiring more advanced software and plugin for the render farm. For
example, a grooming plugin allows the user to create more realistic
fur and is able to simulate the way it moves or reacts with objects.
With new tools at hand, users can create a more advanced visualfor their content. The amount of time the render farm can save in
rendering provides the opportunity to create a better product withthe same amount of time spent.

6. CONCLUSION

Figure 4 | Screenshot showing the Maya interface for submitting a Maya job
to Deadline custom user interface.

Simulations are not only used in animations and films, but also
used for research or experimentation in many other industries.
However, simulations are only numbers in the computer without
rendering it into visual content. Whether the content is being rendered in real time or not, it is a computer power intensive job, inwhich a high-performance computing system would become helpful. Shortening the time needed for rendering improves efficiency
in workflow, and experiences involving interaction would only
improve in graphic and latency with the help of HPC.

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CONFLICTS OF INTEREST[4]

The authors declare they have no conflicts of interest.

[5]

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Authors Introduction
Ms. Jasmine Wu

Dr. Chia-Chen Kuo
She received her BFA from Syracuse
University in 2017. She is a Research
Assistant at National Center for Highperformance Computing of National
Applied Research Laboratories.

She received her PhD in Environ­mental Engineering from National
Chiao Tung University (NCTU) in
2011. She is a Research Fellow at
National Center for High-performance
Computing of National Applied
Research Laboratories. She is a Jointly
Appointed Professor at National Chiao
Tung University for Department ofComputer Science.