3Delight Coud rendering costs 2 cent per minute of processing on 24 cores (i.e. 2 cent per 24-core-minute). The only processing charged is for the actual rendering. The processing for uploading data to the cloud is not charged, nor is the processing for transmitting the image back (a process done separately and concurrently to the rendering itself).
2 cents per 24-core-minute means that if 960 cores are used while rendering, your charge will increase at a faster rate than if only 24 cores were used. In this instance, 80 cents per minute instead of 2 cents per minute. This is very much like electricity usage. At a rate of 20 cents per kilowatt-hour, if you use 10,000 watts for one hour, your cost is 200 cents.
Monitoring the charge while rendering
To further explain and understand the 3Delight Cloud rendering charge, we will use this simulation of four independent renders:
Four independent renders shown in the 3Delight Cloud dashboard (in 3Delight Display).
Syncing | The first render is at the “Syncing” stage. This is when the scene elements are uploaded to the cloud. There is no charge during that process. This can be quick or long depending on the speed of your internet connection and how many of your scene elements are already cached in the cloud. For the entire duration of that process, the 24-core minutes counter and number of cores are marked as “-“ and the progress bar does not start. This serves as a confirmation this is not charged. |
Parsing, Rendering | The 3rd and 4th renders illustrated renders at various stage of rendering while the number of 24-core-minutes are counted and charged. As explained before, the rate of increase of the counter is proportional to the number of cores used. Prior to Parsing, there is a varying Starting time that can last up to 30 seconds but it is only charged by a fixed 10 seconds of 24-core-minute. We are hoping to reduce this further in the future. |
Completed | The last render (shown in a subdued shade) is a completed one. As such, the 24-core minute counter has stopped. It is possible at that stage the image is still being progressively displayed on your screen. This would happen if your internet speed could not keep up with the rendering speed. In this instance, the fact the 24-minute counter has stop to increase serve to confirm that the process of image transmission is not charged. |
Recording the charge
Once a rendering is completed (successfully or not), it is deducted to your minutes balance in your account. Using the completed render in the above example, here is how it gets recorded as it can be viewed in the Transaction History of your online account:
Notes:
- 10:02pm is the time the render was completed. This is unlike the dashboard which shows when it has started.
- 46s is the real time it took to render the image, including data Syncing. This complimentary information has no incidence on the cost.
- 712 cores is the average number of cores used during the rendering.
- Rendering time is calculated precisely in minutes and seconds (precise to the second). The seconds are not shown in the dashboard.