The recently released animated movie "Barnyard" depicts life-like characters and landscapes, very complex computer graphics that require huge amounts of compute power and storage abilities. When Nickelodeon Movies evaluated technology systems to support their creative animation staff, they selected Sun FireTM servers and Sun StorageTekTM data management systems.

"With a state-of-the-art computer-animated movie like 'Barnyard,' a seamless interaction between the technology and artist is essential to make the characters come to life," said the film's executive producer Aaron Parry. "Sun raised the bar by providing the only solutions that met this challenge and exceeded business expectations."

Sun provided a 620-node server farm and storage solution based on Sun Fire x64 enterprise servers powered by AMD Opteron processors with Direct Connect Architecture. The solution also included 100-terabyte Sun StorageTekTM 3510 and 3511 FC arrays and a Sun StorageTek tape library for online storage and backup of shot files and other movie assets.

Sun Customer Ready Systems helped migrate the production from its previous 32-bit render farm and then configured, assembled and tested the new Sun render farm for the production. In addition, Sun provided continuous on-site consultation and support to the Barnyard production team, according to a Sun press release.

"Animated movies are evolving rapidly, demanding more and more lifelike characters and scenes that are challenging artists, directors and the technology industry to create better CGI in faster and easier ways," said Pradeep Parmar, Sun's x64 product line business driver. "Sun is excited to meet these challenges with our expanded product line and range of service offerings." [...read more...]

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Other articles in the News section of Volume 102, Issue 2: Animated Film "Barnyard" Gets Better CGI with Sun Fire Servers and Sun StorageTek Data Management Systems (this article) McNealy Continues Mission to Eliminate Digital Divide with New Educational Initiative Telecom Operators Reduce Capital Expenditures with Solutions from Sun DTrace to be Included in Next Mac OS X New Specification in the Works to Standardize Communication with Network See all archived articles in the News section.

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