Ritzy Animation Scales Creativity and Simplifies IT with Computle's Remote Workstations
Ritzy Animation, an independent UK-based animation studio, needed a scalable and modern IT solution to match the ambitious nature of its projects creating memorable characters. With a growing client base and a new high-profile short film underway, the studio turned to Computle to replace its aging hardware setup and ease the burden of IT management.
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Outdated Hardware and Time-Intensive IT Processes
Before adopting Cmanaged workstation service Computle, Ritzy relied on a mix of localPC setups, a server, and NAS with limited storage capacity. While the systemworked well for a small team, challenges emerged as the studio scaled.
"Some of ourPCs were getting pretty old, and we had to install software manually across machines,” said Charlie Batho, one of the co-founders of Ritzy. “That caused issues with consistency and wasted a lot of time troubleshooting, taking us away from focussing on the creative side of the business we are so passionate about.
”Scaling up for larger productions, such as television shows, meant turning to cloud services on an ad-hoc basis - often with added cost and complexity. The need for a moreflexible, reliable, and professional infrastructure became clear.
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Computle's Dedicated Workstations
Ritzy Animation chose Computle for its ability to simplify and centralise IT. The platform offers virtual workstations that can be deployed quickly with pre-configured software profiles, streamlining setup across the studio’s creative teams.
“The big appeal was having our IT managed off-site and the ability to scale dynamically based on the work we had,” Charlie continues. “Creating a software profile and deploying it across all machines saves us a huge amount of time.
”Computle’s flexibility also means Ritzy can scale storage instantly, manage users effortlessly, and maintain security and uptime with confidence.
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Flexibility, Peace of Mind, and Seamless Collaboration
Since switching to Computle, Ritzy Animation has seen several benefits:
• Reduced IT burden: “We don’t have to worry about IT anymore. The support is excellent, and they go above and beyond to ensure smooth running of our IT.”
• Improved performance: “We’ve chosen high-spec machines that meet the needs of specific artists and projects with others working on lower spec workstations as required – performance is superb all round.”
• Global scalability: “Our industry now operates globally. With virtual workstations, we can collaborate with artists worldwide on the same project without logistical headaches.”
• Cost vs. value: “The value of the machines is much better than other cloud based solutions and you get exactly what you pay for! The setup with Computle gives us the flexibility and reliability we need, with total peace of mind.”
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Short Film: Cardboard
Computle recently supported Ritzy Animation during the production of Cardboard, a short film directed by JP Vine (Ron’s Gone Wrong) in partnership with Locksmith Animation (That Christmas).
The studio scaled up its virtual infrastructure to meet creative and rendering demands for the film, which is set to premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival this June and has been shortlisted for the Young Audiences Short Film Award.
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"Working With Computle Has Been Great"
“Working with Computle has been great - they’re responsive, proactive, and fair. They’ve allowed us to grow and create without being bogged down in infrastructure.”
“The scaleability of the remote workstation model is vital to our industry. It's conceivable of needing hundreds of nodes of render power and a big team of artists that are working all over the world on the same project."
"Gone are the days of everyone working in-house, so with remote workstations connecting to shared storage, the management of this would be incredibly difficult without the cloud.”
For studios like Ritzy Animation, Computle is more than just a service provider, it’s a partner in delivering creative excellence on a global scale.
