NEW
ORLEANS, SIGGRAPH, July 25 -- SGI's (NYSE: SGI) long-time customer,
Pixar Animation Studios (Nasdaq: PIXR), has made a significant purchase
of more than 250 powerful new Silicon Graphics Octane2 visual workstations
for production of its fourth animated feature film, Disney/Pixar's Monsters,
Inc., targeted for a Holiday 2001 release.
The
Silicon Graphics Octane2 visual workstation, introduced by SGI last
month, is a new desktop line with more visualization power than any
other UNIX workstation. Octane2 brings together the most robust implementation
of SGI VPro graphics; an optimized crossbar architecture; the latest
high-performance MIPS RISC processor; and multiple industry-first features
for power users in technical and creative professions.
Pixar is providing these workstations to its entire digital content
creation team, who will use the workstations for 3D modeling, painting
and animation.
"We've always looked to SGI to provide the most advanced visualization
technology," said Greg Brandeau, vice president of Computer
Operations for Pixar Animation Studios. "We chose Octane2 for its
unmatched speed, power and features that enable us to produce a more
visually-rich film. These important tools will help our animators manipulate
complex models and images, as well as complete the film on time and
within budget."
"Pixar Animation Studios' selection of Octane2 as its production
platform for Monsters, Inc. tells us that we're on target and consistently
delivering the kinds of visual graphics products that make a difference
in keeping our customers at the top of their industries," said Greg
Estes, vice president and general manager, Telecommunications and
Media Group, SGI.
Exceptional Accuracy with VPro Graphics for IRIX
VPro graphics for IRIX is available only with the new Octane2 visual
workstations and comes in two configurations -- Octane2 V6 with 32MB
of configurable graphics memory and Octane2 V8 with 128MB of configurable
graphics memory. VPro graphics for IRIX is particularly robust and full-featured,
with high geometry performance, fast pixel fill rate and excellent image
quality. The V6 graphics are well-suited to Pixar's 3D modeling and
animation applications. The V8 configuration offers even more advanced
imaging and exceptional color and shading accuracy. The V8 also supports
extremely large and precise images and offers the most advanced texturing
performance available from SGI on the desktop.
"SGI's Octane2 makes it possible for the digital painters and shading
and lighting technical directors to each have a workstation where they
can see every pixel of every frame on a 24-inch monitor," said Brandeau.
"Our artists can manipulate larger-size textures and images and push
to the next level of realism with the characters they create."
"We worked closely with our customers to deliver the technology innovation
found in the Octane2 product line," said Estes. "Octane2 delivers
for Pixar where it counts -- deep pixel resolution for highly accurate
imaging work and visual precision."
About SGI
SGI provides a broad range of high-performance computing and advanced
graphics solutions. SGI's entertainment, media and broadband Internet
solutions enable customers to expand their business in Media Commerce
-- transacting content over a vast range of networks. Headquartered
in Mountain View, Calif., with offices worldwide, the company is located
on the Web at http://www.sgi.com.
About Pixar Animation Studios
Pixar Animation Studios combines creative and technical artistry
to create original characters and stories in the medium of computer
animation. Pixar created and produced the first computer-animated feature
film, the Academy Award-winning Toy Story, released in 1995.
Pixar has since released two more animated features: A Bug's Life,
the highest grossing animated film released in 1998; and Toy Story
2, the highest grossing animated film released in 1999. The studio
is currently in production on its fourth animated feature, Monsters,
Inc., targeted for a Holiday 2001 release.
