It’s March Break and the kids that are out of school will more than likely head to the movie theatre.
One of the more popular animated features released for March Break is Mr. Peabody & Sherman. The movie received a 77 per cent fresh rating on the Rotten Tomatoes aggregator Web site.
Mr. Peabody & Sherman was made by DreamWorks Animation and its that studio’s 28th animated movie and its 11th in stereoscopic 3D.
According to DreamWorks, the partnership with HP technologies is changing the future of animated movie making. HP has been a partner to DreamWorks Animation and provided a suite of technology solutions that ranged from high performance desktop workstations, printing, and HP Converged Infrastructure, spanning servers, networking, storage, and cloud.
To make Mr. Peabody & Sherman the film required:
- More than 800 million data files resulting in 200 Terabytes of storage;
- 118,000 individual computer-generated frames and 250 billion pixels to create the 82-minute film;
- 70 million render hours with the servers processing an average of 500,000 render jobs per day; and
- 15 per cent of the animation to be rendered using the cloud.
DreamWorks Animation consulted with HP to build a converged infrastructure that provides continuous availability and performance for the studio’s follow-the-sun production process. With locations in the U.S. and India, the studio relies on HP Z800 and Z820 high-performance workstationsin conjunction with HP DreamColor professional monitors that support one billion active colours, as well as HP ProLiant serversand scalable converged storage featuring HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage. DreamWorks Animation also relies exclusively on HP Networking to provide secure, 24/7 availability allowing creative teams to work from any location, on any movie, at any time.
Kate Swanborg, head of technology communications and strategic alliances for HP, DreamWorks Animation’s long-term relationship with HP has allowed us to spearhead the future of animated movie-making. HP’s Converged Infrastructure technologies enabled our artists and engineers to deliver a film with spectacular, cutting-edge visuals for audiences to enjoy.