Is it possible to use a Raspberry Pi cluster to process large files?

Question

Hi! I am an indie filmmaker and tech enthusiast and I've been reading a lot about raspberry PI clusters. I was wondering if you'd be able to help me.

I'd like to use it for large file processing, such as rendering 3D vídeo on blendr and generating dcp files. Is that possible? Also, I have a couple of secondary questions that I hope you'd be able to help me with:

1- Can I use it also as a "regular PC"? I'd like to run Ubuntu on it

2- How would I plug it to a monitor? If there's multiple boards, can I control all of them from a single screen? And combine their forces for a single activity?

3- Do I have to use identical boards or can I get different PI models?

Thank you!

shabaz · Answer

Hi,

1. You can run Ubuntu if you wish on the Pi 3, or alternatively 'Raspbian' which is Linux too - if you're familiar with Ubuntu then the difference isn't huge. However it doesn't meet the minimal requirements for Blender : https://www.blender.org/download/requirements/

It might compile but you'd have to try it. The minimal requirements specify SSE2 which ARM processors do not support. However there is a possibility it will compile into a 'slower' mode if the build detects that SSE2 is not available. This is speculation however.

2. There is a HDMI socket to plug in a monitor. If you have multiple boards then you can use one as a kind of 'jump server', i.e. use SSH to access the others, or (if you really need access to a GUI) use something like X Windows.

3. Why would you consider different Pi models? Surely you need the highest performance for video rendering, in which case the Pi 3 is the highest performing one. Even with the Pi 3 I think it won't be effective for movie rendering needs even as a cluster but again this is speculation, I'm not a filmmaker. If you need high bandwidth links, bear in mind that the Pi's have 100Mbit Ethernet.