Hybrid workflows without the hassle: how LucidLink + Sherpa in action

Forget the future. Remote and hybrid workflows are the new normal.

But let’s be real.

Moving mountains of media files back and forth, syncing across time zones, wrestling with version control and dealing with complex cloud setups can be a headache.

That’s exactly why LucidLink and Escape Technology’s Sherpa platform have joined forces: to make remote collaboration effortless. 

During our recent LucidLink Unlocked virtual event, we showcased how this powerful combo transforms hybrid workflows into a smooth, scalable, real-time experience. Our pro panel included: 

• Lee Danskin, Escape Technology CTO & Sherpa Co-founder

• Alex Ferris, LucidLink VP of Solutions Engineering

• Dominic Brouard, LucidLink Solutions Engineer

Watch the full session here, or read on for the highlights.

The challenge: collaborating across continents without losing your mind

Picture this: you’re a creative in rural Norfolk, your teammate’s in Miami and your 3D artist is halfway across the globe. Yet you all need to work on the same files, in real time.

Simple in theory. A logistical nightmare in practice.

Old-school methods don’t cut it anymore:

• Shipping hard drives still takes days

• Traditional cloud storage means long uploads — and even longer downloads

• File acceleration tools still leave teams working on separate copies

This is the reality for many creative teams. You’re either stuck playing an expensive, slow game of “pass the hard drive,” or you’re spending hours uploading massive files, waiting for them to sync and download again on the other side.

And while file acceleration tools promise speed, they don’t solve the bigger problem: teams still working on isolated file copies, disconnected from each other. Real-time collaboration? It’s not happening.

The solution: two tools, one seamless remote workflow

LucidLink and Sherpa tackle different sides of the same problem, but when they work together, everything clicks. Creative teams get instant access to media, the computer power they need and a workflow that just flows. 

LucidLink: instant access, real-time teamwork

LucidLink transforms cloud storage into a real-time collaboration workspace. Files are streamed directly from the cloud as if they’re local — no downloads, no sync delays, no silos.

In the demo:

• Alex in the UK previewed video files in real-time while Dominic was still uploading them from Miami

• New collaborators were onboarded instantly, with folders and files appearing live on their desktops without IT tickets or waiting

LucidLink eliminates the file transfer bottleneck, giving creative teams immediate access to shared assets from anywhere.

Sherpa: virtual workstations & on-demand render farms

When it’s time for heavy-duty processing (think rendering, 3D workflows or complex effects), Sherpa provides the compute power, exactly when and where it’s needed.

Key highlights:

• Spin up high-performance virtual workstations in minutes, pre-loaded 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 get real-time cost estimates, no cloud expertise required

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

Why this combo matters

LucidLink and Sherpa together solve the two biggest blockers in remote media production. With LucidLink, your data stays in one place. With Sherpa, compute comes to you, on-demand and scalable.

Together, they eliminate:

• File transfers: stream, don’t sync

• Manual path mapping: files appear exactly where you need them

• Deadline panic: scale up workstations and render nodes in minutes

Let’s see how this works in practice. 

Fixes that don’t break the workflow: the “brown donut” story

The problem

Lee spotted a mistake in a 3D animation, a donut was the wrong color. A small fix, but in a traditional workflow, it could cause huge delays. Files would need to be re-uploaded, re-downloaded and passed between time zones, risking version mix-ups and late-night scrambles.

The new way with LucidLink + Sherpa:

Lee demonstrated how Sherpa streamlines compute-intensive tasks by spinning up a fully pre-configured cloud workstation in under two minutes.

Instant workstation spin-up

• Lee launched a cloud workstation with Sherpa in less than 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 & 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 color corrections on the spot

Real-time rendering & 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 with a click

Now picture this: it’s Friday afternoon, a deadline’s looming and a massive render isn’t done. Local workstations just won’t cut it. In a traditional setup, you’re facing a long night and a stressed-out weekend.

But with Sherpa and LucidLink, Lee scaled up a render farm in minutes.

Immediate render farm spin-up

• Lee spun up 10 Linux render nodes via Sherpa in just minutes

• No IT tickets, no manual configuration

• 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 orchestration 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 workflow

Why this workflow matters:

• No file copying or re-mapping paths

• Render nodes stream assets as needed from the cloud

• Distributed rendering slashes production time from hours to minutes

• Completed frames are accessible instantly for editors to begin working

Building workflows that scale

Sherpa and LucidLink aren’t just about rendering, they’re built to make every part of your hybrid workflows smoother and faster.

• Golden images: Sherpa lets teams create snapshots of fully-configured workstations (Blender, Maya, Houdini, Adobe CC, etc.) for quick and easy setup. 

• Cross-OS compatibility: whether it’s Windows, Mac or Linux, Sherpa and LucidLink smoothly tackle those pesky path issues and OS quirks without you having to lift a finger.

• Scalable automation: APIs for LucidLink and Sherpa allow automation of end-to-end workflows. Spinning up storage, deploying workstations, managing ingest pipelines and more.

• Live data workflows: LucidLink acts as a local disk for live write/read operations, making it ideal for live events or on-the-fly 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 that actually work

The days of upload, download and hope for the best are over.

LucidLink and Sherpa give creatives real tools to cut the hassle out of hybrid workflows, without making you say goodbye to your favorite apps or wrestle with complicated cloud setups.

Need to fix a last-minute animation from the beach? Spin up a 10-node render farm on a Friday? Or collaborate live across continents? This combo proves seamless remote teamwork isn’t some far-off dream, it’s just a smarter setup away.

Ready to ditch the hassle and make hybrid collaboration actually work? Watch the full event to see Sherpa and LucidLink in action or reach out to our team to learn more.