It's a bugs life- How many switches would it take to hook up Pixar to FC............More than 1 I hope
biz.yahoo.com
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 Nasda |
