David Eisenstadt, Gnomon student
What is the biggest benefit Chaos Cloud brings you?
DE: While I rendered many of my images directly in V-Ray for Maya hastily and without hiccup, I occasionally needed to do a rush-job to create the final project by its deadline. Chaos Cloud proved to be invaluable in doing so.
Being able to so easily navigate within V-Ray and its plentiful settings, shaders, and nodes practically doubles the amount of time I save when working, which truly does assist in getting my projects done not only in time, but done well, to boot.
Patrick Hanahan, President, Executive Board of Student Council at Gnomon
In what situations do you find Chaos Cloud most useful?
For me, since its introduction at Gnomon, Chaos Cloud has always been my "emergency umbrella." While we as students are aware of how to render with V-Ray, there are times when those 8-hour render times aren't exactly what we're looking for. I think it's an artist’s instinct to want to put in as much work as possible before the deadline. More often than not, you find yourself at the feet of said deadline wanting to do more.
Having Chaos Cloud there to render my Animation and Visual Effects project’s final second, when I was running into a myriad of technical difficulties on my own machine, was a complete lifesaver.
Fiona Ng, Gnomon graduate, Rookie Awards 2021 Finalist
What effect has remote learning had on your workflow?
FN: V-Ray has always been my preferred render engine since I started my program at Gnomon, and Chaos Cloud has really come into play when Covid hit and classes switched to fully online.
With remote learning, I no longer have the luxury to render out my work with multiple computers on campus, nor do I have access to a high-end setup at home that could do the job quickly. Rendering anything, big or small, would mean losing working time, and I could only afford to do that overnight when I am sleeping.
My favorite thing about Chaos Cloud is how easy and straightforward it is to start a job. I do not need to package or upload anything manually. With just a few simple clicks I can send my entire scene to the cloud and get back to work right away without compromising my computer’s power. Not only is the user experience great, rendering with Chaos Cloud is extremely reliable as well!
Devon Rush, Gnomon graduate
What Chaos tools do you work with?
I am a matte painter so being able to get fast results so that I can iterate quickly is key to my workflow. I use V-Ray as a base for many of the matte paintings that I will paint on top of in Photoshop and then work on the geometry in Nuke. I also use V-Ray to render many of the foreground elements in my shots to achieve realism in things that are animated and can’t be painted. Chaos Cloud was a tool that I was somewhat scared of at first just because of my experience with other cloud renders and how complex some of them can be.
As soon as I tried Chaos Cloud out and saw how simple it was, it instantly became my preferred way to render final frames. It’s great that it allows me to keep working while each of my individual elements is being rendered.
Isabella Omohundro, Gnomon graduate
How does Chaos Cloud integrate into your workflow?
A quick summary of my workflow is that I typically either choose a 2D concept or draw my own. Then I begin modeling it in 3D, and after that I add fur and texturing if necessary.
Jeff Cattie, President/Director, Student Animation Club at Gnomon
Can you let us in on your latest project?
Of course! A small but dedicated group of us at Gnomon are working to bring to life a story about a princess whose creativity, along with that of other children, is being threatened by her elders' abuse of technology. The princess finds help from a robot who possesses this technology, who sees her creative potential and comes to her aid at significant risk to itself. It's set in a juxtaposed world of Brutalism and found objects and told within a Fantasia-like format.
Of course, Chaos Cloud is absolutely crucial in being able to quickly render scenes the length of short films.
