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Dedicated Computing Power Improves Rendering Efficiency
5 Nov, 2009 By: Kevin BreslinWhen an Indiana AEC firm struggles with a cobbled-together rendering farm, Avatech Solutions prescribes new hardware and software.
There aren't many types of work within the built environment that American Structurepoint doesn't perform. The Indianapolis, Indiana–based company offers services in disciplines including highway and bridge design, architecture, construction inspection, environmental site assessment, wastewater treatment, master planning, landscape architecture, investigative engineering, surveying, site development, and information technology. Since it was founded in 1966, the company's staff members — now numbering nearly 300 — have won multiple awards for their work. American Structurepoint has taken on projects such as Hyperfix and Super 70, which are major interstate rehabilitation projects in Indianapolis; the Anson residential and commercial development in northwest Indianapolis; and the Keystone Parkway reconstruction project in Carmel, Indiana, which features six roundabout interchanges — a first for the Midwest.
The Keystone Parkway reconstruction project is an example of the large-scale design projects American Structurepoint commonly handles.
Rendering Taxes CPU Resources
To communicate to clients how projects look and work, the American Structurepoint team relies on high-detail, photorealistic renderings and animations. Preparing these presentations, however, is a very CPU-intensive process. Until recently, the firm relied on a makeshift rendering farm, grabbing CPU minutes from dozens of PCs whenever they sat idle.
This unreliable setup meant renderings were slow; creating a single still image often required more than four hours. "The farm was crashing and jobs were mired in delays," said Cash Canfield, manager in charge of the graphics department at American Structurepoint. "If we were going to produce animations, we had to get serious about supporting that process."
Obtaining Outside Assistance
Lacking in-house expertise in visualization support, Canfield called on Avatech Solutions. The first step that Avatech took was to conduct a "state of the union" assessment to better understand what American Structurepoint's end goal was and where exactly the company was along this path. The firm's ultimate aim was to provide visualization with every project. Avatech helped American Structurepoint take a step back and review their entire process.
After this roadmap was laid out, Avatech determined where potential and real bottlenecks were located and then created solutions to overcome these issues. The solutions included upgrading both the software and hardware systems, as well as customized over-the-shoulder training. American Structurepoint's IT Services Division, in conjunction with Avatech, recommended that the company migrate to a dedicated rendering farm, adding four quad-core Hewlett-Packard workstations and upgrading to the latest version of Autodesk 3ds Max animation and rendering software to improve performance. American Structurepoint contracted Avatech for more than 150 hours of consulting time. Avatech focused on training employees, developing new methodologies, and incorporating best practices.
The combination of more horsepower and workflow improvements cut rendering times from hours to minutes, and yielded higher reliability as well. "We can quickly figure out the best solution for a project because we can visualize the final design better," Canfield explained.
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About the Author: Kevin Breslin
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