CoreWeave Acquires Conductor Technologies to Expand Cloud VFX Rendering

What Conductor does for VFX studios

Conductor is a cloud-based platform that delivers burst rendering to visual effects (VFX) studios while removing friction from the setup process. CoreWeave says studios often struggle to get the computing resources they need, especially under tight timelines and budgets. As more teams work remotely, it adds, studios look to cloud solutions that let them render and scale on demand.

Even when a studio can reach GPUs or CPUs for burst rendering in the cloud, CoreWeave notes, the setup can be cumbersome and time-consuming. Conductor is described by the company as the quickest and easiest way to reach cloud compute for rendering at scale, and as the only rendering service that can dynamically scale to meet the exact needs of even the largest studios.

According to CoreWeave, the platform offers a simplified onboarding process and transparent pricing. It integrates into existing workflows, has an open architecture for customization, provides data insights, and can apply controls over usage so budgets and timelines stay on track.

What changes for Conductor customers

CoreWeave says Conductor customers can keep using the platform with their existing accounts and pricing. Users should see increased customer support, accelerated development of new features, and access to more high-performance compute resources from CoreWeave. They will also be able to use CoreWeave's solutions, which the company says offer more scale, on-demand burst rendering and responsive auto-scaling out of the box.

CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator said in the announcement: "You'd be hard-pressed to find a more effective path to accessing cloud-based resources than Conductor." He pointed to its orchestration across diverse compute options and its application license management.

Mac Moore, CEO of Conductor Technologies, said demand for cloud-based GPU resources to render VFX and animation projects has skyrocketed, while persistent supply chain challenges have hampered access to compute. He said Conductor has so far focused on easing pain points in content production with the artist in mind, and plans to extend its functionality to benefit CoreWeave customers across high-performance compute workloads, including AI and ML.

CoreWeave's wider pitch to studios

CoreWeave describes itself as a builder of cloud solutions for compute-intensive use cases that are up to 35X faster and 80% less expensive than legacy cloud providers. These are the company's own claims. It also says it offers the broadest range of NVIDIA GPU and CPU available on the market, which can support VFX teams including those moving on-premise infrastructure to the cloud.

The company says VFX studios already use it for flexible on-demand artist workstations, virtually unlimited rendering capacity and network-attached storage. With Conductor, CoreWeave says it can meet studios whether they need burst rendering or a broader cloud-based solution.

Team and leadership

The acquisition grows CoreWeave to more than 90 employees. Mac Moore now heads CoreWeave's Media and Entertainment division, under the purview of Intrator. The source text places the deal in Q1 2023.

For VFX studios, the practical takeaway, based on CoreWeave's statements, is continuity for current Conductor users alongside more compute capacity and faster feature development. For CoreWeave, the deal adds a rendering workflow product and a dedicated media and entertainment team to its cloud business.