DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. used HP Converged Infrastructure technology in “Puss in Boots” as its backbone for complex animation. The film, which launches October 28th, is the most advanced digital animation film that DreamWorks has created, utilizing HP desktop workstations, network products, and digital rendering via cloud tech.

Ed Leonard, Chief Technology Officer for DreamWorks Animation SKG, explained the sheer power necessary for animation because, “as with all of our films, ‘Puss In Boots’ required powerful systems to support the digital demands of our creative teams. Knowing that we have the support of our partners at HP allows us to free our artists from technical limitations, letting them focus on creating the most powerful 3-D CG experiences.”

Over 200 high-performance HP Z800 Workstations allowed artists to execute detailed creative tasks, from the agile swashbuckling of the hero Puss to complex digital effects such as tornados and cloudscapes. The massive computing power required for “Puss in Boots” was geographically dispersed across the United States and India, utilizing HP ProLiant BL460 blade technology in five server render farms. These blade servers processed an unprecedented 117 terabytes of data and over 60 million render hours.

Doug Oathout, Vice President of Converged Infrastructure for HP says that the technological success of the films is due to, “our decade-long collaboration with DreamWorks” that “has challenged HP to develop technology that continually meets the intense, high-performance needs of the world’s best digital animators. HP effectively serves as an infrastructure extension of a premiere Hollywood animation studio providing cutting-edge technology to support some of the most creative minds in film and animation.”

DreamWorks made use of HP Networking solutions that included The HP 12508 and 5800 series switches, HP Networking Intelligent Management Center, and HP Intelligent Resilient Framework to manage the studio’s scalable 10G WAN/LAN. To address the demanding data needs of the studio and allow room for future growth, DreamWorks turned to the HP X9000 IBRIX Network Storage System and HP Cloud Services, cutting the cost of an estimated multimillion dollar physical data center expansion. Of the 63 million hours of rendering, 8 million were rendered with HP Cloud Services.

In order to provide high-end and accurate color proofs of reference imagery like character designs, environments, and key storytelling moments, DreamWorks used HP DreamColor technology. This product is the result of joint development between DreamWorks and HP, in addition to HP DreamColor Monitor which surpasses the performance of any other LCD display currently available in richness of color, consistency, and depth.