Pixar Animation Studios Used Silicon
Graphics Technology in the Production
Of A Bug's Life
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Silicon Graphics, Inc. (NYSE: SGI
- news) today announced that its workstations played an important role in the production
of the Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios (Nasdaq: PIXR - news) new
computer-animated feature ''A Bug's Life.''
''We used Silicon Graphics desktop workstations to model, render and animate the
characters and sets that Pixar created in ''Toy Story'' and ''A Bug's Life,''' said Ed
Catmull, executive vice president and chief technical officer of Pixar. ''SGI workstations
provided the computing power our artists needed to bring these images to life.''
Pixar created and co-produced ''A Bug's Life'' with Walt Disney Pictures using more than
150 dual-processor OCTANE® workstations and an Onyx2™ visual system. The
powerful OCTANE desktop machines enabled multiple animators to create and
manipulate complex animated characters simultaneously, saving time and making the
artists more productive.
Pixar also relied on the Onyx2-system based Digital Film Preview, the only system to
instantly playback rendered footage during production which allowed the studio to
preview rendered frames at film resolution without having to convert them to film,
cutting expenses and reducing decision-making time.
''Silicon Graphics provided Pixar with leading-edge workstations that provided the
critical levels of compute power required to bring organic animated characters to life and
deliver an 'epic of miniature proportions,''' said Greg Estes, director of Entertainment and
Media Marketing at Silicon Graphics. ''Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation
Studios have raised the bar in computer generated films with the production of 'A Bug's
Life.'''
Pixar Animation Studios combines creative and technical artistry to create original
characters and stories in the new medium of three-dimensional computer animation. Pixar
created and produced the first computer-animated feature film, the Academy
Award-winning Toy Story, and has recently entered into a partnership with The Walt
Disney Company [NYSE:DIS - news] to finance, produce and distribute five computer
animated feature films and related products. Pixar employs approximately 400 people.
Pixar's stock is traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol PIXR.
SOURCE: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
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