mental cloud™ direct

mental images's software products on Amazon EC2

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mental cloud

mental cloud™ direct gives you direct access to mental images's products.

Installed "ready to run" on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) you can use mental images's software products without the need to install any dedicated hardware or software. The virtually unlimited cloud processing resources enable you to perform large rendering projects with mental ray or make use of the RealityServer application platform with no upfront investment and by only paying for what you use. The use of mental cloud direct is subject to the Terms and Conditions of mental images GmbH.


Subscription and Pricing

You must subscribe to Amazon Payments to get access to mental cloud direct. You will then be charged the following fees which include hardware and software use (taxes may be additional depending on your location). There are no upfront or fixed payments and you only start paying when you launch a mental cloud direct EC2 instance. The instance prices are per hour, charged at the beginning of each hour of instance uptime.

Region US-East (Northern Virginia) ami-f8ff0a91
Item Price in USD
Large Instance 0.68
Extra Large Instance1.36
High-Memory Extra Large Instance1.00
High-Memory Double Extra Large Instance2.00
High-Memory Quadruple Extra Large Instance4.00
High-CPU Extra Large Instance1.36
GB of data transfer in 0.01 per GB
GB of data transfer out 0.16 per GB
GB of regional data transfer in/out 0.02 per GB
 
Region EU-West (Ireland)ami-be90baca
Item Price in USD
Large Instance 0.76
Extra Large Instance1.52
High-Memory Extra Large Instance1.14
High-Memory Double Extra Large Instance2.28
High-Memory Quadruple Extra Large Instance4.56
High-CPU Extra Large Instance1.52
GB of data transfer in 0.01 per GB
GB of data transfer out 0.16 per GB
GB of regional data transfer in/out 0.02 per GB
 
Region US-West (Northern California)ami-f2e6b7b7
Item Price in USD
Large Instance 0.76
Extra Large Instance1.52
High-Memory Extra Large Instance1.14
High-Memory Double Extra Large Instance2.28
High-Memory Quadruple Extra Large Instance4.56
High-CPU Extra Large Instance1.52
GB of data transfer in 0.01 per GB
GB of data transfer out 0.16 per GB
GB of regional data transfer in/out 0.02 per GB
 
Region Asia-Pacific (Singapore)ami-9a2759c8
Item Price in USD
Large Instance 0.76
Extra Large Instance1.52
High-Memory Extra Large Instance1.14
High-Memory Double Extra Large Instance2.28
High-Memory Quadruple Extra Large Instance4.56
High-CPU Extra Large Instance1.52
GB of data transfer in 0.01 per GB
GB of data transfer out 0.20 per GB
GB of regional data transfer in/out 0.02 per GB
 

Usage

Please make yourself familiar with the usage of Amazon EC2. Starting and stopping of a mental cloud direct instance works just the same as for one of Amazon's public AMIs (Amazon Machine Image). Currently, mental cloud direct is available on Linux x86_64 from all Amazon Regions. It can be accessed from any country where Amazon EC2 service is accessible. For best performance (data transfer throughput and manipulation latency for RealityServer) choose the region closest to the intended location of access.

After successful subscription, you get access to the above noted AMIs, referring to the region-related manifests mental-paid-ami-<region>/mentalcloud-direct-1.0.5.manifest.xml. The AMI is based on Fedora 8 v.1.08. After launching the AMI you have full root access to the instance, no restrictions apply. However, rebundling the AMI is not supported.

Please create and set a network security group according to the image below before you launch any instances. The security group must allow for public incoming ICMP traffic (add other/icmp, port -1 to -1, with network access set to 0.0.0.0/0).

Security Groups settings for mental cloud direct

The ICMP entry, with port range -1 to -1 is required for the licensing of the software products to work properly. The SSH entry allows you the command line access to your instance. The TCP ports 1935 (video streaming), 9091 (user http), and 9092 (admin http) are used with RealityServer.

To customize the startup of a mental cloud direct instance, you can specify a custom startup script in the instance launch user-data. Simply put a URL pointing to a (bash-) shell script into the instance user-data (no newlines). The content is fetched and executed as root as the last action of instance startup. You may use this feature to customize your instance or populate it with job data, e.g. by copying scene data from Amazon S3 on the instance.


Contained Products

The following products are installed "ready to run" on the EC2 instance. More will be added when released and on request.

  • mental ray 3.6.51.0
  • mental ray 3.7.1.26
  • mental ray 3.7.53.5
  • mental ray 3.7.55.19
  • mental ray 3.8.1.28
  • RealityServer 3.0, including Documentation and AppLab

All product versions are installed on the AMI under /usr/local/mi. Full product documentation is provided in the doc subdirectory of the respective product version installation directory.

Running a specific version of mental ray requires the MI_ROOT environment variable to be set to the respective version installation directory. The installations only contain a basic set of shaders from mental images.

To start RealityServer with tutorials and AppLab, run
/etc/rc.d/init.d/realityserverd start
and open the start page (on port 9091) with your browser like
http://<public dns name of your instance>:9091/

Please note, that the iray® rendering engine, contained in mental ray 3.8 and RealityServer 3.0 only uses CPUs (not GPUs) on the current Amazon compute instances.


Contact

Please contact cloud-support@mental.com with all questions and requests regarding mental cloud direct or join the mental cloud forum.


Terms and Conditions


         MENTAL IMAGES SOFTWARE USAGE LICENSE AGREEMENT


IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ THIS FIRST. THIS IS A LICENSE AGREEMENT.

MENTAL IMAGES IS WILLING TO LICENSE THE SOFTWARE TO YOU ONLY UPON THE
CONDITION THAT YOU ACCEPT ALL OF THE TERMS CONTAINED IN THIS LICENSE
AGREEMENT AND ANY SUPPLEMENTARY OR UNIQUE LICENSE TERMS INCLUDED
HEREWITH ("AGREEMENT").

THIS AGREEMENT GRANTS YOU A LIMITED LICENSE TO USE THE SOFTWARE WITHIN
THE EVIRONMENT OF A CLOUD COMPUTING SERVICE PROVIDER ("CCSP"). THE
SOFTWARE PROVIDED BY MENTAL IMAGES IS SEPARATE FROM THE SERVICES
PROVIDED BY THE RESPECTIVE CCSP. THE CCSP IS SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY
SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE CCSP. THE USE OF THE SERVICES OF THE CCSP IS
GOVERNED BY SEPARATE CONDITIONS OF USE OF THE RESPECTIVE CCSP.

READ THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE
SELECTING 'YES' WHEN ASKED TO ACCEPT THEM. BY SO ACCEPTING THIS
AGREEMENT, YOU ARE CONSENTING TO BE BOUND BY ALL THE TERMS OF THE
AGREEMENT.

IF YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO BE BOUND BY THIS AGREEMENT AND YOU DO NOT
AGREE TO ALL OF ITS TERMS AND CONDITIONS, SELECT 'NO' WHEN ASKED TO
ACCEPT THEM.

YOUR USE OF THE SOFTWARE ALSO INDICATES YOUR ASSENT TO BE BOUND BY THE
TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT.

COPYING OR USE OF THIS SOFTWARE OR ITS DOCUMENTATION EXCEPT AS PERMITTED
BY THIS AGREEMENT IS UNAUTHORIZED AND IS COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT UNDER
THE LAWS OF YOUR COUNTRY. IF YOU COPY OR USE THIS SOFTWARE OR ITS
DOCUMENTATION WITHOUT PERMISSION OF MENTAL IMAGES, YOU ARE VIOLATING
THE LAW. YOU MAY BE LIABLE TO MENTAL IMAGES FOR DAMAGES, AND YOU MAY BE
SUBJECT TO CRIMINAL PENALTIES.

NOTE: UNLESS YOU HAVE A SEPARATE SUPPORT SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH MENTAL
IMAGES, MENTAL IMAGES IS UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO PROVIDE SUPPORT OR
UPDATES TO THE SOFTWARE.


1.DEFINITIONS.

"mental images" or "we" means mental images GmbH.

"You" means the company, entity or individual who is acquiring a license
to the Software under this Agreement.

"Software" means the product or products developed and owned by mental
images whose usage is granted under this Agreement.

"Cloud Computing Service Provider" or 'CCSP' means the provider of
the cloud computing environment in which this software is used. The
service of the CCSP includes, without limitation, hosting and granting
you access to the Software stored on a server within the respective
cloud computing environment and enable you to use the Software within
that environment.


2.GRANT OF LICENSE.

a. Conditional on payment of the appropriate fee (if so required and in
accordance with the payment conditions of the CCSP) for the license to
use the program to which you have acquired access, and your compliance
with any terms and conditions required by the CCSP, mental images grants
you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited license to access online
and use the Software to which these terms are made applicable and its
manual, if any, and other accompanying material ("Documentation"),
according to the terms and conditions of this Agreement during the
license term, solely within the cloud computing environment of the CCSP,
including the use restrictions specified below. This includes the right
to use the software for the purpose of providing services to third
parties.

b. Education Version: If access to the Software is granted on terms
applicable to education and training, you may use it only for the
purpose of education or training. You may not use it for competitive
analysis or commercial, professional or for-profit purpose.



3.RESTRICTIONS.

You may not:

a. copy or use the Software or Documentation except as permitted by
this Agreement;

b. use or attempt to use the Software on any other server, network,
computer other than designated by the CCSP;

c. use the Software beyond the period of time that you have purchased
or otherwise been provided by the CCSP with authorized access to
the respective computing server;

d. reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the Software or any
portion thereof;

e. distribute, rent, loan, lease, sell, sublicense, rebundle or
otherwise transfer all or part of the Software, Documentation or any
rights granted hereunder to any other person without the prior written
consent of mental images;

f. remove, alter, or obscure any proprietary notices, labels, or marks
from the Software or Documentation;

g. modify, translate, adapt, arrange, or create derivative works
based on the Software or Documentation or any portions thereof for any
purpose;

h. re-engineer, disable, remove, circumvent or otherwise manipulate any
form of copy protection or licensing components used by mental images or
the CCSP in connection with the Software, or use the Software together
with any authorization code, serial number, or other copy protection
device not supplied by mental images directly or through an Authorized
Reseller;

i. export the Software or Documentation in violation of any applicable
export control laws.

4.COPYRIGHT; OWNERSHIP.

Title and copyrights to the Software, Documentation and accompanying
materials, if any, remain with mental images and its licensors. The
structure, organization, and code of the Software are valuable trade
secrets of mental images and its licensors. This Agreement does not
grant you any intellectual property ownership rights. The terms
sale, sell, resell and other similar terms, when used
in connection with the Software shall mean the granting of the licenses
provided for herein, and shall not be deemed for any purpose to mean a
transfer of title or other rights of ownership to the Software.


5.LICENSE TERM; TERMINATION.

a. This Agreement will commence when you select the ACCEPT, I Agree
or similar button and will continue as long as the CCSP
continues on a contractual relationship to provide you with authorized
access to the Software and the respective computing server. The license
granted under this agreement will automatically expire upon termination
of your respective agreement with the Cloud Computing Service Provider.

b. mental images may terminate this Agreement immediately if you
materially breach any of the provisions of this Agreement. This
Agreement and the license granted hereby shall terminate without
further notice or action by mental images if you, the licensee,
become bankrupt, make an arrangement with your creditors or go into
liquidation. Upon any such termination or expiration, your right to
use the Software automatically expires and you must discontinue all
use of the Software. The provisions of this Agreement (other than
your license to use the Software) shall survive the termination of the
license, or the termination or expiration of this Agreement.

c. mental images may suspend or terminate services under this Agreement
or this Agreement for any reason, at any time, with five (5) calendar
days notice.


6.THIRD PARTY MATERIALS.

We may provide and sub-license to you certain software which is
specifically labeled as being provided by and/or owned by third parties
("Third Party Materials"). We make no claim of ownership of such
software.

Certain of the Third Party Materials supplied by us for use with the
Software are accompanied by license agreements containing terms which
are different that this Agreement ("Third Party Agreements") . Any
Third Party Agreements are supplied with such Third Party Materials,
either electronically in a "license.txt" file in the root directory of
the installation,or the subdirectory in the installation containing the
Third Party Materials. In any such situation, the Third Party Materials
are supplied solely in accordance with the Third Party Agreements.

In any event, however, our disclaimer of warranty and limitations of
liability below under "General Limited Warranty" and "Limitation of
Liability" apply to all Third Party Materials.


7.GENERAL LIMITED WARRANTY.

mental images warrants that the Software will provide the facilities and
functions generally described in the Documentation.

EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE EXPRESS LIMITED WARRANTY, MENTAL IMAGES MAKES AND
YOU RECEIVE NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR IN ANY
COMMUNICATION WITH YOU, AND MENTAL IMAGES SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY
OTHER WARRANTY INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. MENTAL IMAGES DOES NOT WARRANT THAT
THE OPERATION OF THE SOFTWARE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE.

The above exclusions may not apply to you as some jurisdictions do
not allow the exclusion of implied warranties. In addition to the
above warranty rights, you may also have other rights, which vary from
jurisdiction to jurisdiction.



8.LIMITATION OF LIABILITY.

a. mental images shall be liable without limitation: 

  - in the event that the respective damage was caused by mental images
  willfully or grossly negligently; 

  - in the event of a damage of
  life, body or health caused by mental images;
  
  - in the event of a
  violation according to the statutory provisions of the German Product
  Liability Act;
    
   -to the extent mental images has assumed an explicit
  guarantee vis-a-vis you.

b. In the event of a slightly negligent
violation of an obligation which is essential to attain the purpose of
this Agreement (cardinal obligation), the liability of mental images
shall be limited to the typical and foreseeable damage.

c. ANY FURTHER LIABILITY OF MENTAL IMAGES SHALL BE EXCLUDED. IN
PARTICULAR, UNLESS IN THE EVENT OF THE PRECEDING LIT. a OR LIT.
b., MENTAL IMAGES OR ANY OF ITS LICENSORS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY
STRICT LIABILITY (LIABILITY WITHOUT FAULT) FOR INITIAL DEFECTS OF THE
SOFTWARE EXISTING AT THE TIME OF THE CONCLUDING OF THIS AGREEMENT, FOR
ANY LOSS OR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING LOSS OF DATA, LOST PROFITS,
COST OF COVER, OR OTHER SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INDIRECT
DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE OR
DOCUMENTATION.  THIS LIMITATION WILL APPLY EVEN IF MENTAL IMAGES HAS
BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH LOSS OR DAMAGE. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE
THAT THE LICENSE FEE REFLECTS THIS ALLOCATION OF RISK.

d. The preceding limitations of liability of this clause 8 also apply
to any employees of mental images its representatives or bodies and any
of its auxiliary persons.


9.RESTRICTED RIGHTS FOR U.S. GOVERNMENT CUSTOMERS.

The Software is a "commercial item," as that term is defined in 48
C.F.R. 12.101 (Oct. 1995), consisting of "commercial computer software"
and "commercial computer software documentation," as such terms are used
in 48 C.F.R. 12.212 (Sept. 1995). Consistent with 48 C.F.R. 12.212 and
48 C.F.R. 227.7202-1 through 227.7202-4 (June 1995), all U.S. Government
End Users acquire the Software with only those rights set forth herein.



10.CANADIAN LICENSES AND EXPORT REGULATIONS.

a. If you purchased access to this Software in Canada, you agree
to the following: The parties hereto confirm that it is their wish
that this Agreement, as well as other documents relating hereto,
including Notices, have been and shall be written in the English
language only. Les parties ci-dessus confirment leur desir que cet
accord ainsi que tous les documents, y compris tous avis qui s'y
rattachent, soient rediges en langue anglaise.

b. You represent and warrant that all consents of United States
(U.S.),  European Union (E.U.) or other applicably governmental
officials necessary for this Agreement to become effective have
been obtained, or will be obtained, before you use or allow others
to use the Software. You will comply, at your own expense, with all
statutes, regulations, rules, ordinances, and orders of any U.S. or E.U.
governmental body, department or agency that apply to or result from
your obligations under this Agreement. You agree to not grant access to
the Software, directly or indirectly, separately or as part of a system,
without first obtaining proper authority to do so from the appropriate
U.S. or E.U., governmental agencies or entities, as may be required by
law. In particular, you assure mental images that none of the Software
or underlying information or technology will be made accessible to,
downloaded or otherwise exported or reexported (i) into (or to a
national or resident of) any country to which the U.S. has embargoed
goods; or (ii) to anyone on the U.S. Treasury Department's list of
Specially Designated Nationals or the U.S.  Commerce Department's Table
of Denial Orders. More generally, you will not grant access to, export
or reexport the Software in violations of United States export laws or
regulations.



11.GENERAL.

a. This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the Federal Republic
of Germany. It shall not be governed by the UN Convention on Contracts
for the Sale of Goods.

b. Exclusive place of jurisdiction is Berlin, Germany. 

c. This Agreement is the entire agreement between you and mental images
and supersedes any other communications or advertising with respect to
the Software and Documentation.

d. You may not assign any rights or obligations under this Agreement
without prior written approval of mental images.

e. Any changes to this Agreement must be in text form. This also
applies to any amendments to this text form requirement.

f. If any provision of this Agreement is found to be invalid or
otherwise unenforceable, the further conditions of this Agreement will
remain fully effective.

g. If any provision of this Agreement is found to be invalid or
otherwise unenforceable, the parties will be bound by obligations
which approximate, as closely as possible, the effect of the provision
found invalid or unenforceable, without being themselves invalid or
unenforceable.

h. Certain uses of MPEG-2, and related software products, may be
subject to third party license - contact MPEG LA (www.mpegla.com) for
details. This Agreement does not grant a license to use MPEG-2, or
related software products, in a manner inconsistent with the MPEG LA
Patent Portfolio License. Certain uses of MP3 audio coding technology
may be subject to additional license requirements. For example,
with respect to MP3 audio content, supply of this product does not
convey a license nor imply any right to use content created with
this product in any commercial (i.e., revenue-generating) real time
broadcast (terrestrial, satellite, cable and/or any other media),
broadcasting/streaming via Internet, intranets and/or other networks or
in any other electronic content distribution systems, such as pay-audio
or audio-on demand applications. An independent license for such use
is required. For details, please visit http://www.mp3licensing.com.

mental images Software Usage License Agreement (08-2009)-F
Download License Agreement as PDF.
Legal and Privacy Information
© mental images GmbH | Fasanenstr. 81 10623 Berlin Germany | phone +49.30.315.99.70 | fax +49.30.315.99.733 | office@mental.com