Community rendering with spare capacity

[domdib]

I was daydreaming a little about owning one of these beasts http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=9459.0 (in actual fact, just a core i7 would be enough), and I got to thinking about what I might do with any spare capacity I had on it – after all, I wouldn't be rendering 24/7, would I? In my slightly idealistic daydream, I figured that I'd offer the machine for one or two evenings a week to the community, since I'm guessing there are some folks (like me) who'd like to make largish renders but who don't have a sufficiently powerful machine, and for whom render farms are just too expensive.

I know that, from time to time, folks with fast rigs do help out those with slow ones – I'm still grateful for the help neuspadrin gave me a while back – but that is a little ad hoc, and so I wondered if it makes sense to ask the community if there is much spare capacity out there, and if there is some, to start a thread where people could submit requests for big renders. Then those with spare capacity could hook up with these requests. This wouldn't have to be free – how I'd imagine it might work is the two parties might negotiate a small fee – perhaps the requestor would put a maximum amount in their initial request. Payment might seem tricky, since we're in different countries with different currencies etc – but perhaps a way round that would be to offer to buy something off the provider's Amazon (or NWDA!) wish list. So what do you think guys – is there any mileage in this? 

[FrankB]

interesting thought, Dominic. I'm sceptic as to whether there is demand, commercially speaking, but let's see what others have to say about this.

Regards,
Frank

[domdib]

When you say "whether there is demand, commercially speaking" Frank, what do you mean? That those with spare capacity won't think it worth their while? But by definition, they would be getting something for (almost) nothing, since by definition, the capacity is spare. Or are you saying that you doubt there's much spare capacity out there? I'll concede that that's a possibility, so it's why I'm asking the question.

Also, the use of "commercially" is a little odd, since I'm talking about the community here - I'm not expecting people from outside the community to start making requests. Plus professionals won't be asking, since they will be going to big render farms. It's just us, helping each other out. Maybe you think there aren't many folk who would pay a small fee just to have a render done that's beyond the capacities of their current rig. Well I know I would, and I'm guessing there are others like me who don't currently have the resources to buy the rig of their dreams, and/or can't leave whatever computer they have on for several days running. But again, I might be exceptional.

[Henry Blewer]

I can pump out fair renders enough to tie up the machine for a month. It's a nice offer, but I will use my machine.

Let someone use your resources for a deadline or for something special. Thank you for the very kind offer. It is quite generous.

Maybe Wetbananna could be helped out?

[Seth]

This wouldn't have to be free – how I'd imagine it might work is the two parties might negotiate a small fee – perhaps the requestor would put a maximum amount in their initial request. Payment might seem tricky, since we're in different countries with different currencies etc – but perhaps a way round that would be to offer to buy something off the provider's Amazon (or NWDA!) wish list.

You spoke about small fee, that's why Frank said "whether there is demand, commercially speaking".
fee, even small, means business.
And you have to ask for something in exchange otherwise you'll be drowned under massive demands of rendering from everyone, friend or not, people you know or don't know.

Let me explain : tomorrow, you propose to rende stuff freely for people, I send you right away a dozen animation files that I can't render by myself because it will take more than 500 hours to renders (minimum)
And I can assure you i won't be the only one ^^

So, yes small fee, so it's commercial business. And believe me, as soon as you demand even a penny in exchange of something, you'll have people spitting that you could do it for free
not speaking about your electricity charge, your computer risking crash during huge core use... oh and yes : you can't do TG2 while you're rendering other people stuff ^^

anyway, the idea is good, and had already been suggested some months (years ?) ago...
the problem is the way it could be organised.

[old_blaggard]

I agree with you in most areas, Seth, except the one: I don't think that people on this forum would submit dozens of jobs or make unreasonable requests. Since this is a relatively small, tight-knit community, I think that there would be a strong honor code to keep people from being jerks.

One idea for compensation would be for the renderer to have permission to peek into the submitter's .tgd file. I know the renderer could anyways, but this would remove questions of IP that people might have, and could also benefit the renderer in terms of TG2 knowledge.

I would try donating some of my cores for this at some point if it can get organized.

[domdib]

Seth, I think I understand you - you're basically pushing the argument to the limit, in which case I agree it falls over. But what old_blaggard says is actually the key to what I was suggesting. Because this is a small, tightly-knit community, there would be a strong disincentive to do what you're suggesting - and in any case, in the model I've proposed, you would never just send a bunch of files off to someone - instead, you would submit a request to the thread, detailing the parameters of the render so that anyone with spare capacity could judge whether they had enough to satisfy it. If someone did, they would then contact the requestor, and agree a price – and remember, the requestor will have already stipulated their maximum budget. If they don't come to an agreement, then nothing happens. And yes, you can't do TG2 while rendering other people's stuff, (unless, like some folks, you have multiple cores, in which case you could) which is why I emphasised SPARE capacity.

[Seth]

I understand your point of view ^^
I was pushing the argument to the limit, that is right.
I was only emphasis the problem that I really think might happen. A lot of people might want to use such a service : low cost renderer that keeps your computer free to work (or permit low tech machine to render something impossible without fast machine).
Again, I truely think the idea is great, the problem is the organisation. We can ask each others or propose to other to "rent" some rendering time, like we already do sometimes (freely of course), but as soon as you want to propose it as a service, then you have to think about the way everything is settled.

I am very interested. I always lack free time to render stuff... or to be honest, I always hate to not do some TG2 while I render some shot. And, well, if you ever tried animation, you know that rendering might be almost impossible on only one computer ^^

[TheBlackHole]

And believe me, as soon as you demand even a penny in exchange of something, you'll have people spitting that you could do it for free

You mean like me?