Meet Sherpa
Enabling storytellers to create & share their dreams with anyone, everywhere.
We are media production…simplified
Imagine being able to create, collaborate & scale faster than ever before, globally – without a building lease, buying hardware or hiring a single tech.
Sherpa is a proven, secure, vendor agnostic cloud infrastructure environment for any VFX, animation, games or design visualization workflow. Annex Pro designs, deploys and fully supports Sherpa in North America (and coming soon in South America). Just add artists and your vision.
(Already have an existing pipeline and want to leverage the power of the cloud? Our team of cloud infrastructure & media workflow specialists can help you with hybrid or custom options to meet your unique needs)
Bid for previously out-of-reach projects; build teams anywhere; fully supported
Create artist machines on the fly, with global storage access that enables sharing of projects folders worldwide, ensuring that you have the right talent in place for the job.
Easily spec out and quickly use powerful top of the range studio workstations, which never get sluggish over time (or go obsolete!), for as long or short as your project requires.
Manage costs by shutting down machines automatically after render is complete, getting alerts when your spend approaches dollar thresholds you set, and with Annex Pro’s unique “idle mode” which retains your images & settings for a nominal cost, ready for your next project.
Unlike DIY cloud solutions, Sherpa & Annex Pro do all the heavy tech lifting for you. From design to on-boarding to deployment to maintenance to technical support to spinning down – every aspect of your media production tech is handled – without hiring a single IT employee!
BYOL or we can outfit you with everything you need: DCC software, displays, thin clients, laptops & tablets from Autodesk, Adobe, The Foundry, Toon Boom, ZBrush, Wacom, EIZO, Apple, Lenovo, Dell, HP & most other popular brands.
Ritzy Animation create Sky Kids TV series Obki using Sherpa
Sherpa’s custom tools* allowed Ritzy to plan ahead, manage costs, and plan out artists’ time. Additionally it gave the studio the freedom to quickly spin up multiple fully spec’d studio machines and turn off once used. Sherpa gave the studio the ability to punch above its weight, affording them to really put their London boutique studio on the map.
*tools & features of Sherpa may vary in different regions
Connect with the team at Annex Pro to learn more about Sherpa and cloud solutions for your media production workflow.
From freelancer to large studio: we’ve got you covered
Sherpa is ideal for teams regardless of size, and is simple to use
Freelancer
Whether you’re freelancing for a larger business or working on your own projects, the time will come where your needs outstrip what your technology can provide. Collaboration and accessibility are always the key challenges.
Large Studio
Scaling a large business often requires a significant outlay of resources. From physical space to workstations and software licences. Balancing your CapEx and OpEx costs is an ongoing challenge, and you’re often bound by local recruitment.
Small Business
Central storage, render farms, and on-site workstations are all integral to a small creative studio delivering CGI projects. From animated videos to full VFX sequences in feature films, there’s a huge burden on your technology.
Born in the Cloud Facilities
For new businesses, teams, or projects the cloud offers a simple, scalable solution to technology resourcing. By using a ‘Born in the Cloud’ approach to equipping a studio Sherpa is able to maximise cost effectiveness without compromising on capability.
Benefits of Sherpa
Teams of any size can benefit from using Sherpa & Annex Pro to manage and run their cloud based resources.
No Tech? No Problem!
Annex Pro designs, deploys, onboards and fully supports Sherpa in the Americas with a team of media production specialists and 24/7 customer service ticketing for technical support, custom requests & more.
Control Costs
Benefit from cost control features that help avoid unnecessary expenditure. Costs are monitored per hour with billing on a weekly basis.
Global
Work with people anywhere in the world to build your perfect team without worrying about time zones or office space.
Monitoring
Resources can be easily monitored to help spot bottle-necks or areas that have been over-resourced and can be right-sized to save costs.
Security
Access to remote workstations handled via a secure and tightly controlled invitation process managed by Annex Pro.
A Complete Solution
BYOL or Annex Pro can outfit you with everything you need from Autodesk, Adobe, The Foundry, Toon Boom, Wacom, EIZO, Apple, Lenovo, Dell, HP & most other popular brands.
Familiarity & Consistency
Sherpa doesn’t impose any particular workflow. Simply bring your existing process directly to the Sherpa environment.
Mobile Ready
Access your workstation, storage, and render nodes from anywhere in the world by logging in from a thin-client, laptop or tablet.
Scalability
Use the elasticity of the cloud to scale your pipeline, increasing your resources when there’s more work and reducing them as needed.
Simplicity
Sherpa & Annex Pro remove the complexity typically associated with using the cloud for media production, enabling you to build a fully functional facility faster than ever before
Get in touch
Connect with one of our specialists to learn more about Sherpa and cloud solutions for your media production workflow.
Annex Pro Announces Agreement to Represent Sherpa Exclusively in North America at SIGGRAPH 2022
