One year after the pandemic forced animators around the world to work from home, Amazon Web Services has released a new production tool for animation and visual effects artists.

Amazon Nimble Studio lets producers set up a cloud-based production studio, connecting artists and animators to Amazon’s computers and storage infrastructure.

Cloud-based software offerings have become important tools for animators working from home because these solutions often allow them to connect to secure servers for high-load tasks like rendering, rather than relying on their weaker home processing power.

Amazon’s new service aims to reduce the number of physical resources a company needs to have on site, such as servers, as well as making the animation process faster. Studios also have the option to scale how much processing power they need through Nimble, compared to a traditional on-premise system that would require investment in additional hardware.

Additionally, the tool is designed to let animators work on less sophisticated computers—a significant cost savings when you consider that hundreds of desktops are often needed for a single feature film, according to the techco.

While prodcos won’t face any upfront fees to connect to Nimble, they will have to pay a licensing fee per artist, as well as an hourly rate. For example, if a kids prodco has 25 artists who each work for 200 hours on a TV episode, it could expect to pay around US$11,000, according to Nimble Studio’s pricing page.

The new service is currently available in North Virginia, Oregon, Canada, London, Sydney and LA, with additional regions in the works.

According to a press release, a handful of companies have already committed to using Amazon Nimble Studio, including Sinking Ship, Evil Eye Pictures and Spire Animation.

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash