The Best Cloud Rendering Service for Axiom & Houdini

Axiom is a sparse GPU accelerated volumetric fluid solver for computer graphics and visual effects. What sets it apart is the ability to run true sparse simulations fully on a GPU to leverage its computational power. To day, we will explore the Best Cloud Rendering Service for Axion & Houdini with iRender Cloud Rendering.

This plugin can be used to simulate a wide variety of effects such as fire, smoke, pyrotechnics, and more! It’s fully production ready and offers all the common features you’d expect from a fluid solver. In this article, I am giving you an introduction to the amazing Axiom GPU Accelerated Sparse Volumetric Fluid Solver and the best hardware system to use Axiom and Houdini.

First released in 2020, Axiom is a GPU-accelerated sparse gaseous fluid solver, intended as a faster alternative to Houdini’s Sparse Pyro solver for look dev work. Like the native solver, Axiom is intended to provide near-real-time viewport feedback on complex fire and smoke simulations, speeding up look development.

However, unlike the CPU-only Sparse Pyro, Axiom is GPU-accelerated via OpenCL, falling back to the CPU if a simulation exceeds GPU memory: each GB of GPU memory is enough for around 8.5 million voxels.

According to Puchala’s teaser video, simulations run 6-11x faster in Axiom than the Sparse Pyro solver. (We haven’t seen any comparisons with Houdini’s Minimal OpenCL Solve mode, which wasn’t introduced until after the original release of Axiom, in Houdini 18.5.)

In September 2021, Former ILM FX TD Matt Puchala released Axiom 2, a major new version of the popular GPU-accelerated sparse gaseous fluid solver for simulating effects like smoke and fire inside Houdini.

Version 2 of the solver adds new simulation source types and forces, support for colour dissipation and diffusion, a new Volume Visualize node, and a lot of workflow and performance improvements. The release also makes the software, which was previously available free, a paid-for plugin, although it is still free for non-commercial use.

• Full node-locked licences now cost $399; floating licences cost $499.
• The software can also be used free in trial mode or inside Houdini Apprentice; the Indie edition, which is compatible only with Houdini Indie, costs $99.

Axiom will work with most hardware however for the best experience it is recommended to have a system that at least meets these specs.

1. Houdini

• It can be an apprentice, indie, or commercial version.
• Supported Houdini Versions: 18.0, 18.5, & 19.0
• Must be a production build, not daily build.

2. System

• Windows, Linux, or macOS
• At least 16GB of RAM.

3. Processor

• Modern multi-core CPU.

4. Graphic card

• OpenCL 1.2 or 3.0 capable.
• At least 8GB of VRAM

The more the better. You can simulate 13m voxels per GB. Remember that your GPU uses VRAM for many different tasks and won’t always be fully available for compute tasks. Most systems have utilities to show how much VRAM is available.

Recommended Nvidia GPUs:

• Turing Titan RTX
• Turing RTX Quadro series
• Ampere RTX 30 series
• Ampere A Series

iRender is a Professional GPU-Acceleration Cloud Rendering Service provider in HPC optimization for rendering tasks, CGI, VFX with over 20.000 customers and being appreciated in many global rankings (e.g. CGDirector, Lumion Official, Radarrender, InspirationTuts CAD, All3DP). We are proud that we are one of the few render farms that support all software and all versions. Users will remotely connect to our server, install their software only one time and easily do any intensive tasks like using their local computers.

There are a variety of servers from single- GPU 1x RTX 3090 to Multi-GPU 2/4/6 x RTX 3090, you can choose one server that is suitable for your demand and your software to get started. Besides, we offer clients the powerful processor Intel Xeon W-2245 @ 3.90GHz/AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3955WX @ 3.90GHz and 512 GB – 1 TB SSD to load your Houdini scene quickly.

Moreover, on-demand NVLink helps you increase the amount of VRAM to 24 x 2 = 48 GB which is powerful enough for very large projects/cache. In which, I truly recommend that server 5P /8A/9A will be the best options for Houdini and Axiom (which option depending on your budget). Why? Because as we analyzed, AMD Ryzen Threadripper workstations that contain 4-8 graphics cards are perfect for Houdini.

Take your render performance to the next level with the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3955WX. Built using the 7nm Zen Core Architecture with the sWRX8 socket, this processor is designed to deliver exceptional performance for professionals such as artists, architects, engineers, and data scientists. Featuring 16 cores and 32 threads with a 3.9 GHz base clock frequency, 4.3 GHz boost frequency, and 64MB of L3 cache, this processor significantly reduces rendering times for 8K videos, high-resolution photos, and 3D models. A faster CPU will allow you to extract mesh data, load textures, and prepare scene data more quickly. Check out our Houini test below:

Last but not least, the cost for the Redshift License is $500. For maximum support to deliver the smoothest rendering experience possible with Redshift on our servers, iRender offers PRIME customers a/many free Redshift/Octane floating licenses. Users who top up enough points to become Prime customers will be able to use the Redshift license without usage or maintenance costs. Our opinion is that the customer experience comes first.

With all the outstanding advantages mentioned above, you must have found yourself the perfect choice for Houdini. We provide unmatched support tailored to your specific needs and goals. SPECIAL OFFER for this January: Get 20% BONUS for all newly registered users. Let’s CHECK IT OUT!

For further queries, please feel free to contact Ms. Jenny: [email protected]. Sign up now to stop wasting pointless hours of rendering. We do the rendering, the creativity is yours!

iRender – Happy Rendering!

Source: sidefx.com