An architectural rendering company needed to work faster. Previewing their high-quality still images took hours and full-quality renders sometimes took several days to render.

Spitzer Creative helped this client reduce rendering time dramatically by reconfiguring the existing network and by adding dedicated render nodes and a server. We worked with them to understand their budget and needs, and then planned a system that would meet short-term requirements while allow for future expansion. We installed 3 render nodes and coordinated installation of support systems including power, networking, and cooling.

Preview and rendering time has dramatically improved, resulting in higher productivity and faster delivery to clients. With the improved system, this client also gained the ability to easily queue render jobs which helps them to focus more on their designs and much less on managing render jobs. Since the initial project, we helped this client quickly install 6 more render nodes to accomodate their increasing workload.

A marketing firm with about 25 employees that had recently experienced significant growth was quickly running out of storage space on their Microsoft Exchange server. They had contacted other IT consultants and were told that their only options were the installation of a new server or the addition of an expensive storage array to their existing server. Each of these solutions would cost the company several thousand dollars.

Spitzer Creative looked more closely at the situation and found other potential solutions. We worked with the management to determine the cause of the increase in storage capacity and developed simple protocols for the staff to use to reduce the rate of storage increase We also identified and eliminated a significant amount of unnecessary data on the server.

With these changes, the mail server is forecasted to be usable for at least 2 years longer than originally projected. By focusing on the business, and not on the technology, Spitzer Creative helped saved the company thousands of dollars and avoid significant downtime.

An architectural design firm was struggling with the enormous amount of time needed to render animations. The company had a render farm system of over 10 computers dedicated to rendering, but full-length renderings were taking over a week to complete. Often, by the time the renderings were completed and could be reviewed, it was too late to make necessary changes in time to meet deadlines.

The estimated cost to add enough additional rendering computers to reduce render times to less than 2 days at the existing rate was over $15,000.

When Spitzer Creative was asked to explore the problem, we discovered that the hardware configuration of the render farm was adequate. Looking further, we found inefficiencies in the way the rendering program was being used to render and after some experimentation, we found more efficient methods to render the same animations.

For one particular project, rendering times for were reduced from about one week to just under three hours, achieving a speed increase of over 50x.

The increased productivity saved the company thousands of dollars, gave the design team more time to perfect their work, and enabled the firm to more quickly satisfy its clients’ needs.

A growing design firm found that each time they needed new computers for their staff, they were starting from scratch. Different types of employees needed different types of computers and each time they called their salespeople, they were given new pitches for new products and services. As a result, the person responsible for ordering the computers was wasting significant time and money ordering each new system.

Spitzer Creative was tasked with simplifying the procedure for ordering new systems. We briefly interviewed several staff members at the company about their daily tasks, the programs they used, how they used their programs, and their overall technology needs.

By the end of the process, we developed a simple document outlining four distinct computer specifications that could easily be ordered by anyone. As technology changes, the document continues to provide the framework for what specifications are needed for each type of user. In addition, when significant technologies are introduced into the marketplace, Spitzer Creative is called upon to update the specifications to incorporate current products.