The Screamer
The rendering would not necessarily be done EXACTLY when dialed in.
Basically the rendering ORDER is placed by phone with all the
attendant information (tx maps, images, motion and object files).
Rendered frames would be sent back via tape (video, dat or QIC),
Removable Media (syquest, bernoulli or 3.5/5.25 rewritable optical)
or, for the "sure, its the final version that I wan't to keep
forever" types, CD-ROM for frames or Laser disk for real-time
playback at full fidelity.
Guess I should have mentioned the part about the routing of the
finished product. Getting the finished frames over the phone could
bog down the operation on both ends. As a user, I want to send the
stuff off to render while I do something else with the machine that
would have had to render what I sent out. If that machine is tied up
in the process of recieving rendered output, my only gain is if the
renders were going to be longer than the transmit, sream at it,
receive frame back. Doesn't seem efficient to me, plus you would
probably only be able to get 4 lines (4 jobs) in process at once
without really degrading the system performance if there are lots of
textures/maps involved.
No, I sorta always took it for granted that it would be an order by
phone, receive physical media with rendered frames in return. I
suppose you could do return vei modem, but like you said, that will
really tye up the lines and probably tick off those who couldn't get
in. (Theres a fly in every ointment…)