TroubleMaker Studios is up to it again, using the AMD FirePro V8800 and 6-core Opterons for post-production on the the upcoming film “Machete” on a compressed schedule. A team of ten artists accomplished 500 final shots in just six months.
Shots from three different digital camera models, one film camera, camera tracking work using PFTrack, 3D special effects work using Softimage, and compositing work using Nuke, all came together through AMD hardware.
Such added effects include extensive set damage, a huge number of bullet holes, and wide-ranging set extensions. AMD hardware also played a part in sophisticated particle simulations helped more accurately render realistic blood spatters that interact with each other, the actors and objects in the environment.
Just saw this in my RSS feed from Vizworld. If you’re a designer, recent graduate, student or talented young gun in Italy, now is your chance to shine and bring your work to a wider audience. To enter the Autodesk-sponsored contest post a link to your 3D visualization or design visualization showreel in any format, along with a description under 140 characters as to why you think you’re the hottest design visualization talent around.
The grand prize winner receives a high-end ATI FirePro graphics card with the two runners up receiving mid-range FirePro cards. The contest will run from September 1st to October 1st.
I just received a StudioGPU newsletter announcing a very cool time-limited offer on MachStudio Pro. Pre-order MachStudio Pro 2 by August 31st, and get a discount of 25% on the price. You will immediately receive the current version of MachStudio Pro bundled with the ATI FirePro V8800. You will receive MachStudio Pro 2 later this quarter when it ships.
MachStudio Pro 2 will offer native integration with Pixar RenderMan, MetaSL and mental ray support, a unified pass renderer, volumetric and global illumination and it will also fully implement DirectX 11 support for even faster GPU acceleration, tessellation and multi-threading. This means significant performance boots on the ATI FirePro V8000.
MachStudio Pro has increasingly been migrating to an open hub for 3D workflows. The newly announced MachStudio Pro 2 (Q3 2010) will offer native integration with Pixar RenderMan and the ability to create and use MetaSL-based custom procedural shaders and render out with mental ray.
The new release (will be free to all current customers) will also fully implement DirectX 11 support for even faster GPU acceleration, tessellation and multi-threading. This means significant performance boots on the ATI FirePro V8000.
The announced list of features includes:
Pixar RenderMan Integration: Provides the flexibility to switch between or combine fast high-fidelity MachStudio Pro GPU-based rendering and industry-standard Academy Award-winning Pixar RenderMan CPU-based ray tracing rendering software on-the-fly to create beauty shots and/or specific render passes.
MetaSL and mental ray Support: Allows 3D artists to quickly and easily build MetaSL-based custom procedural shaders using an intuitive mental mill node graph user interface for rendering out to both the mental ray and MachStudio Pro renderer
Improved Pipeline Rendering Functionality: Offers a new Unified Pass Renderer (UPR), which breaks out all passes for the final render, and an EXR Sandwich Tool that combines all EXR files into one layered file for compositing.
DirectX 11-Based Workflow: Offers more efficient rendering, tessellation, and multi-threading capabilities for improved performance throughout the pipeline.
Volumetric and Screen Space Global Illumination (GI): Takes into account the bouncing of light from surfaces, allowing for more realistic renderings.
Spot and Directional Lights: Allows for greater freedom towards achieving perfect lighting conditions.
FBX Output: Exports models and baked textures in the FBX file format for compatibility with all leading 3D modeling and animation software programs.
Increased Python Support: Allows for the creation of custom properties, parenting objects, and spot and directional lights.
Workflow Improvements: Eases organization and viewing of everything in a scene, including groups, hierarchies, context menus, light sets, influencers and render pass isolation.
MachStudio Pro software is available in North America for $3,999 (USD) or bundled with the ATI FirePro V8800 3D workstation graphics accelerator card for $4,999 (USD).
Another SIGGRAPH press release, but this one from one of my favorites, StudioGPU, announcing the ability to do final renders from MachStudio Pro direct to Pixar Renderman. MachStudio Pro if you don’t recall, is real-time non-linear 3D shot finaling and compositing software that runs completely on the ATI FirePro V8880 GPU. From the press release:
With a direct path to RenderMan, MachStudio Pro artists can easily choose between the software’s fast high-quality built-in GPU renderer to produce previews or view final results, or utilize the unsurpassed quality of the CPU-driven RenderMan renderer to create beauty shots and/or specific render passes. Artists also have the flexibility to use the MachStudio Pro and the RenderMan render engines simultaneously, combining the different passes from the two robust render engines to create almost any desired look.
All shaders shipped with MachStudio Pro will have RenderMan Shader Language (RSL) equivalents. MachStudio Pro will also offer artists the ability to import, edit and create custom complied RSL shaders, parameters and attributes from directly within the application.
AMD’s Charlie Boswell was with Robert Rodriguez and Troublemaker Studios at the 7.7.2010 world premiere of the film “Predators” in Austin, Texas. Robert and Elizabeth explain how AMD technology played a role enabling ultra-fast and ultra-realistic previz using a six-person production team each using an AMD 6-core Istanbul CPU workstation powered by an ATI FirePro V8800 GPU.
Rob Rodriguez of Troublemaker Studios is behind the new movie Predators, coming tomorrow July 9. Predators was made by a six-person production team each using an AMD 6-core Istanbul CPU workstation powered by an ATI FirePro V8800 GPU. TroubleMaker Studios has a history of using ATI FirePro cards to develop their work including Spy Kids sequels, Planet Terror and Sin City.
In this latest film of the Predator franchise, a group of elite warriors are brought together on an alien planet… as prey, for a new breed of alien Predators. See the trailer below.
Fusion 6.1 is the next generation of eyeon’s compositing application. It adds support for OpenCL on ATI FirePro graphics cards (Nvidia as well) to enable improvements as much as 1000% on some of the most processor intensive tools in Fusion (e.g. Defocus, Noise generators), as well as re-lighting, depth of field, motion blur and HDRI rendering. The high-speed GPU render outputs multiple layer types for later compositing. I have not actually tested this new GPU-accelerated release, but it sounds interesting. Also see MachStudio Pro which I have tested. MSP is currently Windows only and uses DirectCompute rather than OpenCL.
The following video shows the production workflow integration between Maya, MachStudio Pro and PhotoShop running on a single ATI FirePro V8800. The three 2560x1600 displays are all being driven by the single FirePro graphics card using ATI Eyefinity technology.
There is a good whitepaper on Eyefinity for professional markets that explains the configurations, usage scenarios, etc.
Do multiple monitors really matter for productivity? IDC did a quick study and wrote up a whitepaper on the experience of three different companies (Cosworth, Kirkham Motorsports, and Slappy Studios) that recently made the move to multiple monitors using ATI Eyefinity. All saw notable improvements in productivity and creativity from those employees who received a multi-display upgrade.
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