Figment - Case Study

Introduction

Figment Productions, a creative powerhouse of designers, filmmakers, 3D artists, and software developers, is renowned for producing innovative visitor attractions and experiences. Their impressive portfolio includes the groundbreaking Galactica – the world’s first VR rollercoaster. As their trusted technology partner, we’ve supported Figment for years with state-of-the-art 3D design tools from Autodesk, Adobe, Thinkbox, and Chaos Group, along with tailored IT and hardware consultation to meet their evolving studio needs.

Customer Challenge

Figment faced three key challenges:

Render times – Existing infrastructure struggled to handle the rendering demands of their complex projects.
Network bottlenecks – Their growing team and increasing data volume were straining network infrastructure.
High-speed file access – Working with high-resolution VR files required their compositing team to have instant access to networked storage without delays.
These issues created inefficiencies that impacted production and collaboration, especially with the demands of large-scale VR projects.

Our Solution

To address these challenges, we conducted a comprehensive review of Figment’s IT setup, including in-depth discussions with their CGI team. From this, we designed a staged plan to overhaul their infrastructure without disrupting production.

Network Overhaul: Upgraded their routers, switches, and domain controller to eliminate bottlenecks.
Storage Revamp: Installed a Synology NAS system with 40GbE and 20GbE connections, enhanced with SSD caching for lightning-fast access for the compositing team.
Data Syncing and Backup: Implemented a Synology NAS sync system to ensure seamless daily data access across locations, complemented by a larger storage pool for backup and disaster recovery.
Ongoing Support: Figment benefits from our Silver Support package, offering priority technical support and discounted engineering services.

Results

The infrastructure upgrades resulted in fFaster render times, significantly improving project turnaround; elimination of network bottlenecks, enabling seamless collaboration across teams; and high-speed file access, ensuring the compositing team could handle VR files effortlessly.

Benefits

Figment now operates with a highly efficient IT setup tailored to their specific needs. The enhanced infrastructure supports their creative ambitions, allowing the team to push boundaries in VR and visitor attraction design.

Client Testimonial

“We’ve worked with the team at NTI for many years and they know our IT infrastructure inside out. Their service level is unsurpassed, and they’re experts in the software and technology required to produce great VR.”
– Simon Reveley, CEO, Figment Productions.