"Render-farm" is a computer cluster (a group of computers interconnected via a high-speed channel, representing a single resource), which makes it possible to considerably reduce the time of rendering complex scenes by means of parallelization and running on many computers simultaneously.
"Render-farm" is a system for managing rendering tasks (the process of generating an image from a model using a computer application). This startup makes it possible to quickly obtain result for users without computers powerful enough to execute model r vendering within a reasonable time.
The goal
We faced the following tasks:
Developing a web application for rendering tasks management:
- loading source files by the user;
- task state management;
- uploading the result to the server;
- payment for the work by the user;
- downloading the result on the server;
Also, important for any project is the feedback from administrators; for this purpose we developed a messaging system between the user and the administrator.
Another important task was to create the possibility to translate the website into various languages.
Implementation
While working on the "Render-farm" project, we have developed a fully featured web application that includes the following modules:
Each module may be translated into any language.
Monetization
Rendering is paid for in the special "Renderpoint" currency (RP). This currency, like votes in the Vkontakte social network, is bought at certain exchange rate. The exchange rate depends on the currency of payment, and is configured by the administrator in the control panel for each type of currency.
For each type of currency, certain payment systems are connected. In this project we used the following payment systems:
Thanks to flexible architecture of the application, there is the possibility to connect additional systems without having to alter the logics of billing, which fact speeds up the integration of a new payment system.
Integration
Before our system was developed, the customer's company had had its own business logics, and the main goal was to simplify the work with clients without disrupting the well-established, time-tested life cycle of models processing. For this purpose, we developed a special API for exchanging messages with the software systems already launched in the company. Thus, the working process has not been altered for operators, while for the end users the rendering process has become more transparent, therefore, customer loyalty has increased.
Safety
Understanding the task of ensuring security of data exchange between the server and the client, a decision was made to transmit all traffic of the web application over HTTPS protocol in order to prevent data interception between the user and the server. Attention has been paid to the security of financial transactions in the system. Each payment made through the payment system is logged in detail, so that lost data could be easily recovered in case ofa malfunction. Also, a personal receipts and expenses log in RP is kept for each user.
Multilingual support
Until now the system has been translated into two languages, however, thanks to the flexible localization system, it can support any number of languages.
The translator does not have to be familiar with any programming language, since the entire translation process is completely independent of the program code. The specialist is given a file withphrases in the default language (usually English), and all that remains to be done is to provide translation for each sentence.
Due to flexible URL generation system (http://domain.com/ru/page) for pages, the system is rather easy to promote in search networks, since the page address uniquely identifies the language that the news is displayed in.
The outcome of the startup development
- A convenient system for managing rendering tasks that is accessible from anywhere where the Internet is available.
- A multilingual startup optimized for search engines.
- Several payment systems are available, and integration of the new ones will not cause problems.
- A system with a well thought-out security system.