ROUND
ROCK, Texas, April 4, 2000 -- Dell Computer Corporation (Nasdaq:DELL)
was not on stage when John Gaeta, Janek Sirrs, Steve Courtley and Jon
Thum accepted the Academy Award for best visual effects for the Warner
Bros. film "The Matrix."
But Dell Precision Workstations played an important supporting role
in developing the stunning special effects that won the prestigious
Oscar.
MVFX
(www.mvfx.com), a division
of Manex Entertainment, creates visual effects for the feature film
production industry, including highly original computer-generated animation
and design techniques developed by the MVFX R&D lab.
While
working on "The Matrix," MVFX had a challenging quantity of 3D computer
graphics that required rendering. The company needed to take the models
it had designed and animated and then create film resolution images
incorporating the color, lighting and texture information. At a critical
point in the production process, MVFX used a renderfarm of Dell Precision
Workstations to generate a great number of the computer graphics used
throughout the movie.
To provide
the unique visual characteristics for many of the shots, MVFX had to
render the frames in multiple passes, which they would later composite
to produce the final result. The complex nature of the frames required
large RAM capacities and extensive computing power. In order to complete
the task, Manex purchased 32 Dell Precision 410 workstations, each with
dual CPUs and 1 GB of RAM.
"The farm was
processing jobs as fast as we could submit them," said Martin
Weaver, vice president of systems for Manex Entertainment. "The
3D animators were complaining jokingly that the renderfarm was like
a hungry animal. We were delighted with the performance of the Dell
workstations in the renderfarm," affirms Weaver.
"Dell is committed to delivering powerful platforms to meet the specialized,
high-performance needs of the creative industry," said Carl Everett,
senior vice president, Dell Personal Systems Group. "We are proud
that our Dell Precision Workstations helped MVFX complete the innovative
visual imagery for "The Matrix" that won the team an Oscar for best
special effects."
Dell Precision Workstations are intended for professional users who
demand exceptional performance in the digital content creation (DCC),
computer-aided design (CAD), geographic information systems (GIS), computer
animation, software development, financial analysis and Internet content
creation (ICC) markets. Businesses interested in learning more about
Dell Precision Workstations can visit Dell's
Web site.
About Dell Computer Corporation
Dell Computer Corporation is the world's leading direct computer
systems company, based on revenues of $25.3 billion for the past four
quarters, and is a premier provider of products and services required
for customers to build their Internet infrastructures. The company ranks
No. 56 on the Fortune 500, No. 210 on the Fortune Global 500 and No.
3 on the Fortune "most admired" lists of companies. Dell designs, manufactures
and customizes products and services to customer requirements, and offers
an extensive selection of software and peripherals. Information on Dell
and its products can be obtained on the World Wide Web at www.dell.com.
