Sherpa + LucidLink

Streamlined hybrid cloud workflows: How Sherpa + LucidLink transform creative collaboration

Remote and hybrid working isn't a trend anymore; it's simply how creative teams operate today. But the reality of managing large media files, coordinating across time zones, and maintaining version control whilst dealing with complex cloud configurations remains challenging for many teams. That’s exactly why Escape Technology’s Sherpa platform and LucidLink have joined forces: to make remote collaboration effortless.

At a recent virtual event, we demonstrated how Sherpa's cloud workstations combined with LucidLink's real-time file streaming creates smooth, scalable workflows for distributed creative teams. Our expert panel featured:

• Lee Danskin, Escape Technology CTO & Sherpa Co-founder
• Alex Ferris, LucidLink VP of Solutions Engineering 
• Dominic Brouard, LucidLink Solutions Engineer

You can watch the full recording below, or continue reading for the key takeaways.

The challenge: seamless collaboration across continents

Consider a typical scenario: your creative team spans continents; perhaps a designer in rural Norfolk, a colleague in Miami, and a 3D artist in Sydney. Everyone needs access to the same files for real-time collaboration.

Traditional approaches fall short:

• Shipping hard drives still take days and risk loss or damage
• Traditional cloud storage creates bottlenecks with lengthy upload and download times
• File acceleration tools still leave teams working on separate copies, preventing true collaboration

These limitations force creative teams into expensive, time-consuming workflows that hinder productivity and creativity.

The solution: Sherpa + LucidLink

Sherpa and LucidLink address both critical aspects of the remote workflow challenge. LucidLink delivers instant file access and real-time collaboration capabilities, while Sherpa provides the precise computing power your teams need, exactly when they need it.

LucidLink: Instant access, real-time collaboration

LucidLink transforms cloud storage into a real-time collaborative workspace where files stream directly from the cloud as if they were stored locally; eliminating downloads, sync delays, and workflow silos.

In the demo:

• Alex in the UK could preview video files in real-time whilst Dominic was still uploading them from Miami
• New team members gained instant access to folders and files appearing live on their systems without IT intervention

LucidLink removes file transfer bottlenecks, giving creative teams immediate access to shared assets regardless of location.

Sherpa: virtual workstations and on-demand render farms

For compute-intensive tasks like rendering, 3D workflows, or complex effects processing, Sherpa delivers the necessary power precisely when and where it's needed.

Key highlights:

• Spin up high-performance virtual workstations that launch within minutes, pre-configured with creative applications and natively connected to LucidLink file spaces
• Sherpa abstracts cloud complexity (AWS, Azure, GCP) behind a simple API and intuitive interface
• Teams can choose a region, select a pre-configured workstation, and receive real-time cost estimates – no cloud expertise required

Sherpa ensures creative teams don’t lose momentum waiting on hardware or wrestling with multi-cloud complexities.

Why this combo matters

Together, Sherpa and LucidLink eliminate the primary obstacles in remote media production: file accessibility and computing limitations.

Together, they eliminate:

• File transfers: Stream rather than sync
• Manual path mapping: Files appear exactly where you need them
• Deadline panic: Scale up workstations and render nodes within minutes

Practical application: the "brown donut" scenario

The Problem

Lee spotted a mistake in a 3D animation; a donut rendered in the wrong colour. In traditional workflows, this small fix could cause significant delays: re-uploading files, coordinating downloads across time zones, and risking version conflicts.

The Sherpa + LucidLink solution

Instant workstation spin-up

• Lee launched a cloud workstation with Sherpa in under two minutes
• The machine came pre-loaded with Blender and natively connected to LucidLink's file space
• No setup, no IT and ready to go immediately

Direct file access and real-time editing

• Lee opened the project file directly from LucidLink without any downloads
• Textures streamed on-demand from AWS into the cloud workstation
• He made the necessary colour corrections on the spot

Real-time rendering and review

• As Lee rendered updated frames, they saved directly back into LucidLink’s file space
• Each frame appeared instantly on Dominic’s screen, ready for review, no exporting, no transfers

Lee sums it up: “I’m streaming textures straight from AWS into this cloud workstation, wherever it is in the world. Absolutely not a problem.”

Cloud rendering that scales instantly

Consider this scenario: it's Friday afternoon, a deadline’s looming, and a massive render remains incomplete. Local workstations won't suffice, and traditional setups would require extended hours and weekend work.

With Sherpa and LucidLink, Lee scaled up a render farm within minutes.

Immediate render farm spin-up

• Lee spun up 10 Linux render nodes via Sherpa in just minutes
• No IT tickets or manual configuration required 
• Each node had immediate access to the shared project data via LucidLink, no syncing or file copying

Pre-built environments, zero hassle

• Using Sherpa’s intuitive “pizza menu” UI, Lee selected pre-configured workstation profiles, ensuring consistency across all nodes
• Every node was ready-to-go with the right software and permissions, no manual setup

Automated render management with Deadline

• The team used Deadline, the industry-standard render manager, to automate render job distribution across Sherpa’s cloud nodes
• This turned a complex, manual process into a streamlined, push-button workflows

This approach eliminates file copying or re-mapping paths, enables asset streaming as needed, reduces rendering time from hours to minutes, and provides instant access to completed frames for editors to begin working.

Building scalable workflows

Sherpa and LucidLink support hybrid cloud workflow optimisation beyond rendering:

• Golden images: Sherpa enables teams to create snapshots of fully-configured workstations (Blender, Maya, Houdini, Adobe CC, etc.) for rapid deployment.
• Cross-platform compatibility: Whether Windows, Mac, or Linux, Sherpa and LucidLink seamlessly handle path issues and OS compatibility without manual intervention.
• Scalable automation: APIs for both platforms enable end-to-end workflow automation. Spinning up storage, deploying workstations, managing ingest pipelines and more.
• Live data workflows: LucidLink functions as a local disk for live read/write operations, making it ideal for live events or real-time content creation.

As Lee puts it, “it’s like having an on-prem machine, but it’s just not on-prem anymore. It’s in the cloud, wherever you want it to be.”

Hybrid workflows without the hassle

The combination of Sherpa and LucidLink represents a fundamental shift from traditional upload-download workflows to real-time, distributed collaboration.

Whether you're managing complex 3D productions, handling tight rendering deadlines, or coordinating global creative teams, this combined solution eliminates traditional barriers to remote collaboration.

Ready to transform your team's hybrid cloud workflow? Contact us to discover how Sherpa and LucidLink can revolutionise your creative workflows and unlock new possibilities for distributed collaboration.

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