Intel ® Visual

I N T E L® V I S U A L 

Adrenaline 

ISSUE 10, 2011 

Real-Time Simulation Energizes 

the Flow, Design, and Magic of 

Harry Potter Animators 

ELEVATING DIGITAL ARTISTRY: 

THE CREATORS PROJECT 

Sky-high processing 

power detonates a 

stunning 3D impact for 

DreamWorks Animation 

intel visual adrenaline no. 10, 2011 i

table of contents 

3 

7 

11 

VIDEO GAME ENGINE POWERS 

STAN LEE’S THE GUARDIAN 

PROJECT ACROSS MEDIAS 

Find out how game engine technology 

is helping Hollywood bring these 

awesome CGI characters to life. 

THE CREATORS PROJECT: 

CELEBRATING CREATIVITY, 

CULTURE, AND TECHNOLOGY 

Artistic innovation shattered all 

barriers when art and technology 

became fully merged through The 

Creators Project— you’ll be amazed. 

BRINGING ANIMATION TO 

LIFE THROUGH CLOUD 

COMPUTING 

Explore how DreamWorks Animation 

uses cloud computing to manage the 

demands of their 3D animation and 

filmmaking processes. 

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR 

I’M EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE A FUN NEW WAY TO EXPERIENCE THE 

INTEL® VISUAL ADRENALINE MAGAZINE. Our new Apple iPad*, iPhone*, 

and iPod touch* App is an at-your-fingertips resource, delivering rich 

graphical content about creators and early adopters who are using the 

latest advances in visual computing. 

We’ve spent the last few months putting together great stories for our print 

readers. Now, the Intel® Visual Adrenaline App brings stories to life by 

showing you digital art and entertainment the way its creators intended it to 

be experienced—onscreen. We’ll feature entertaining videos, engaging and 

inspiring stories, galleries of fantastic imagery, and recent commentary 

dedicated to the latest Intel innovations in digital content creation technology. 

Read more about our new addition on page 24, and download the App for 

your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch today. 

intel visual adrenaline no. 10, 2011 

15 

26 

29 

TAKING THE MYSTERY OUT 

OF MIDDLEWARE PERFORMANCE 

Unlock the mysteries of middleware 

“magic” and discover how the latest 

tools from Autodesk Scaleform* 

and Intel streamline UI production 

and optimize code, bringing smooth 

gameplay across all devices. 

BRINGING MAGIC TO LIFE 

18 Step into this in-depth discussion on 

the beauty and brilliance of liquidsimulation 

techniques that reveal 

today’s movie-magic secrets. 

24 

INTEL® VISUAL ADRENALINE 

GETS APP’TIZED 

Intel is further exploding the world of 

visual graphics— check out the new 

app that runs on your iPad*, iPhone*, 

and iPod touch*. 

PUTTING THE WOW IN THE 

CINEMATICS OF WORLD OF 

WARCRAFT*: CATACLYSM* 

When technology brings cinematic 

experiences into gameplay, players reap 

the awesome rewards of that visual 

fidelity— find out how it all happened. 

DIGITAL ARTISTS HARNESS 

PC POWER 

Advancements in processing power 

have unhinged the creativity of 

these digital artists— check out their 

breathtaking works and clever quirks. 

THE INTEL® DIGITAL MEDIA 

“CREATORS” PROGRAM 

Tune in to what Intel and three 

powerhouse integrators are creating 

for today’s digital media hobbyists 

and aspiring professionals. 

Dig into this compelling story of 

India’s rise in the animation industry, 

and find out what ignited its 

incredible technological growth. 

NEW INTEL CENTER DRIVING THE 

FUTURE OF VISUAL COMPUTING 

RIDING THE NEXT WAVE OF THE 

CONSUMER VIDEO REVOLUTION 

Get an insider’s review of the 

powerful new features that CyberLink 

and Roxio wrapped into their latest 

digital media processing apps. 

CAPTURE, EDIT, POST, & BOAST! 

In this issue of our magazine, we examine how cloud services and new 

visual computing models are evolving, enabling experts and serious 

enthusiasts alike, to produce incredible visual content. For example, the use 

of new collaborative workflows is enabling studios to crowd-source certain 

jobs, increasing productivity and saving valuable time when deadline 

pressures mount. 

33 

36 

39 

42 

46 

INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT: 

INDIA’S ANIMATION STUDIOS 

SHOWING RAPID GROWTH 

Explore virtual world enhancement, 

photorealism, and life-like immersive 

experiences with experts at the Intel 

Science and Technology Center (ISTC) 

program— bring your thinking cap. 

Recording gameplay highlights, adding 

personal commentary, and sharing 

the video has never been easier— this 

exclusive plug-and-play tool does it all. 

Advances in stereo 3D content are also impressive, and the gains being 

made in camera equipment and video editing, as well as with workflow, are 

incredible. As Moore’s law predicts, computing power keeps improving 

exponentially, making it possible for artists to work in real time and bring 

ideas to life in ways they never imagined. England’s United Visual Artists, 

which designed the incredible “living” stage at this year’s Coachella, is a 

perfect example. Enabled by 3D simulation software running on Intel® 

processors, its work is simply fantastic. 

I hope you enjoy this issue of Intel Visual Adrenaline—in print and on the 

iPad—and are as fascinated by the people and technologies shaping the 

future of digital expression as I am. • 

— Tonya Degance 

2

VIDEO GAME ENGINE POWERS 

STAN LEE’S THE GUARDIAN 

PROJECT ACROSS MEDIAS 

BY JOHN GAUDIOSI 

THE MAN WHO CONJURED SOME OF THE 

MOST BELOVED SUPERHEROES OF ALL TIME, 

including Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, 

and Thor, has a new legion of heroes primed 

for the twenty-first century. Stan Lee’s The 

Guardian Project offers 30 unique, animated 

characters, each based on an existing National 

Hockey League (NHL) franchise. To attract a new, 

younger generation of hockey fans, the NHL has 

partnered with Lee’s POW! Entertainment and 

SLG Entertainment to create Guardian Media 

Entertainment (GME). GME is deep into production 

of a cross-platform franchise set to launch in 

conjunction with the 2011–12 NHL season. And 

powering the new computer-generated TV series 

and online video game is Epic Games’ Unreal 

Engine* 3 technology, marking the first time 

game engine technology has been used for a 

mainstream Hollywood television project. 

Peter Krygowski, the director of The Guardian 

Project at Vicon House of Moves (HOM), where 

the performance capture for these digital 

characters was created, said that game engine 

resolution has reached a place where it can 

address the quality that other media demands. 

“A cross-pollination is now happening between 

games and other media,” explained Krygowski, 

who has been active in the video game space 

for 12 years. “Obviously, games have been in 

the public eye for a while, but only recently has 

the talent behind them begun to work in other 

media, applying their problem-solving ideas to 

traditional pipelines.” 

Building Across Mediums 

The pipeline that HOM used for this digital 

undertaking relied on Intel® Xeon® processor 

quad-core technology to bring high-resolution, 

fully detailed computer-generated (CG) characters 

to life. Each character is a superhero version of 

a hockey team, possessing unique super powers 

and representing a specific city and environment. 

The San Jose Shark, for example, uses his 

Silicon Valley roots to hack into computers with 

technopathy. Krygowski said the overall goal 

was to tell a story that connects each character’s 

super powers with its city. 

“The artist who designed these characters with 

Lee has a background in character animation and 

design for both television and gaming, and he 

warned us that many designs would have to be 

simplified to work for both outlets,” recalled Tony 

Chargin, executive vice president of GME Creative 

Affairs. “However, when we began working with 

Vicon, their process allowed us to realize in our 

final products all of the detail we imagined in the 

original designs, without sacrificing anything.” 

intel visual adrenaline no. 10, 2011 3

the guardian project 

“We focused on creating the characters and deciding how they’d use their 

super powers so we could build out their environments,” said Krygowski. “We 

choreographed moves, powers, and all the ‘super-ness’ that comes with being 

a superhero. We had a huge stunt rig on set where stuntmen flew almost 120 

feet across the volume. We also used wires to give these characters abilities 

similar to Hong Kong movie effects, like amazing flips and spins.” 

A team at HOM choreographed the actions for each character and then 

motion-captured the actors and stuntmen to capture the data digitally on the 

26,000 square-foot stage. More than 200 VICON T160 cameras were used 

over the nine-day shoot in Los Angeles. CG assets were built using Autodesk 

Maya* and Pixologic ZBrush*; and Autodesk MotionBuilder* was used to re- 

target animation and navigate environments during motion-capture sessions. 

Because no two Guardians are alike, it took another level of work to build 

these virtual superheroes. The Maple Leaf, for example, has arms that can 

grow exponentially, while the Hurricane can control weather patterns. Each 

character is a different shape and size; some can fly using wings, while 

others have robotic effects. The team originally wanted to build three or four 

different discrete rigs for everyone, but because of the necessities of each 

of the characters, they ended up building more. Ultimately, the characters 

were built out to include wings, special effects, and blended shapes to fit the 

special moves and capabilities of each Guardian. 

An Unreal Journey 

Krygowski said the team didn’t know that when they suggested using Unreal 

they would have in their back pocket Alberto Menache, a Hollywood visual 

effects veteran who has worked on blockbusters such as Spider-Man, The Polar 

Express, and Superman Returns. Working as HOM’s visual effects supervisor and 

pipeline developer, Menache took to Unreal’s capabilities instantly. Menache’s 

input, insight, and sheer diligence coaxed the best out of the engine. 

“We wrote code to help generate custom shaders and bring virtual cameras 

into and out of the Unreal Engine for this project,” explained Menache. “As a 

result we had incredible creative flexibility and could render out 8K frames in 

a matter of seconds—not to mention the savings in gear costs—without the 

need for a multi-CPU render farm.” 

Menache said the team has been using Unreal tools such as Matinee, Kismet, 

and the Speed Tree options available in the basic Unreal Developers Kit. 

They used Matinee to blend animations and camera cuts, as well as for effects. 

They also used the Unreal Material Editor to build shaders and Cascade to build 

effects. Kismet was employed to make sure cinematics would play at the start 

of the game and for some camera effects and post-processes. 

“The main advantage of using Unreal is that all the assets are built 

specifically for game engine use and there’s enough quality to be used in 

a linear medium,” said Menache. “Otherwise, you end up building assets 

multiple times. The other advantage is the speed at which content can be 

created using minimal hardware.” 

“We choreographed moves, 

powers, and all the ‘superness’ 

that comes with 

being a superhero. We 

had a huge stunt rig on 

set where stuntmen flew 

almost 120 feet across the 

volume. We also used wires 

to give these characters 

abilities similar to Hong 

Kong movie effects, like 

amazing flips and spins.” 

— PETER KRYGOWSKI, 

DIRECTOR OF THE GUARDIAN 

PROJECT AT VICON HOUSE OF MOVES 


Chargin said working with a video game engine 

saved time in editing and allowed the team, 

which started with a core group of 10 and went 

as high as 200, to avoid storyboarding and 

instead focus their efforts on creating dynamic 

content during production. Game developers such 

as Epic Games, which is using Unreal for Gears 

of War* 3, and BioWare, which is employing the 

game engine for Mass Effect* 3, already know 

this. Hollywood is now catching on. 

“In terms of its value over traditional CG, the 

render times are cut down exponentially which 

allows for softer deadlines,” said Chargin. “We 

can turn out a better product in a fraction of the 

time. Because this has never been done we did 

not have a template, but with those challenges 

comes even greater excitement and reward.” 

Chargin explained that TV production is a fast- 

paced avalanche of work where turnaround times 

for visual effects run anywhere from seven to 

11 days. For the most part, he said, a bunch of 

talented people are pouring their collective hearts 

and souls into making compelling visuals under 

crazy deadlines. 

“Game engines are not the silver bullet in beating 

the curve for traditional TV work, but used 

judiciously with skill and foresight, the game 

engine can cut out a ton of pre-viz, pre-, pro-, 

and post-production time,” Chargin said. “At the 

heart of beating this curve is the engine’s ability 

to render exponentially faster than off-the-shelf 

software solutions and banks of processors.” 

An All-Star Debut 

On January 30, viewers of the NHL All-Star Game, 

watching live or on TV, got an early taste of what 

Unreal can achieve. The team went to Raleigh, 

which is the home of Epic Games, to capture 

live footage at the RBC Center and surrounding 

area. They created a video short, combining CG 

characters with live action footage, to introduce 

the cast of superheroes to the hockey audience. 

The Guardians were individually introduced 

throughout January using an elaborate social 

media campaign promoted with broadcast and 

in-arena marketing support. The culmination of 

this campaign came during the NHL All-Star Game 

when HOM’s animated short was presented 

during intermission and shown on both the 

Versus and CBC networks. The film spotlights the 

new superheroes as they battle villain Deven 

Dark when he attempts to take over the RBC 

Center stadium. A battle of good versus evil 

ensued as the 30 superheroes leapt into action, 

with the Carolina Hurricane saving the fans, the 

Guardians, and ultimately the RBC Center from 

utter ruin. 

The team is currently focused on creating digital 

assets for a Hollywood CG television series 

featuring the Guardians. These assets can also be 

used for the new online game that lets players 

choose a Guardian and engage in fighting amidst 

the environments of each superhero. This is a 

variation of the fighting allowed in the NHL, but 

with a superhero twist. Fans of a team such as 

the Montreal Canadiens can log in and duke it out 

with their archrival, the Boston Bruins, using the 

Guardians for each of those cities. 

“The game will allow users to immerse themselves 

in the Guardian world,” said Chargin. “More 

specifically, they’ll put themselves in Mike Mason’s 

shoes, the human who controls the Guardians, as 

they fight against Deven Dark. They’ll be forced 

to develop their own bond with each of the 

Guardians. Additionally they’ll need a detailed 


the guardian project 

knowledge of each Guardian’s powers to 

know which Guardians to use in each battle. 

Just like Mike, they’ll have to engender 

the undying support from the Guardians 

and make quick knowledgeable decisions 

as to how they are best used in battle.” 

Krygowski said the main challenge in this 

cross-platform launch has been on the 

game side. The pipeline is thinner on the 

game engine side, so assets and models 

need to respect texture resolutions, rig 

requirements, mapping, and megabyte 

sizes. He said this is completely “doable,” 

however forethought and pre-production 

must be strong to address potential issues 

regarding these details. 

The Intel Connection 

As Epic continues to expand its Unreal Engine 3 

technology, it’s opening up more doors into 

Hollywood. Collaboration between Intel and 

Epic goes back more than 10 years to when 

the two companies pioneered landmark-setting 

uses of MMX technology. Today, performance 

improvements through multi-threading are a 

key focus. “Intel® Threading Building Blocks 2.1 

allowed us to easily remove allocation-related 

multi-threading bottlenecks on 64-bit operating 

systems,” said Michael Capps, president of Epic 

Games. “We are pleased to share the benefits 

of Intel’s memory allocator with Unreal Engine 

3 licensees, as well.” Through Intel® Software 

Development Products recently available via the 

Epic Integrated Partner Program, Unreal Engine 

licensees have access to additional resources for 

multi-threading and performance optimization of 

their games. 

Mark McNabb, Intel application engineer, said 

that Epic Games’ recent high-end “Samaritan” 

GDC 2011 demonstration running on a high-end 

PC looks significantly better than anything 

currently available on gaming consoles. “That 

demo uses newer DX11 features that aren’t 

available on the current consoles, but the newer 

PCs support DX11,” said McNabb. “The demo 

is intended to showcase the high-end GPU. 

But, systems with high-end GPUs tend to also 

contain high-end CPUs.” 

Epic has capitalized on Intel engineering support 

during the design of Unreal Engine 3, focusing 

in particular on multi-core optimization and the 

threading of 3D operations to take full advantage 

of parallelization. The key optimization work 

divided the main game thread into two individual 

threads: one devoted to rendering and the 

other to all remaining high-level operations. The 

technique, called a “render split,” removes the 

processing burden of rendering from the main 

game loop. Regardless of what is going on in the 

game loop, rendering calls run in parallel, resulting 

in a substantial overall performance boost. 

It’s this type of advanced power that has allowed 

real-time feedback for Hollywood companies 

such as HOM to implement this game engine 

technology into all of its production work. Video 

games, film, and television will benefit from these 

advances as the lines continue to blur between 

interactive and traditional entertainment. 

The Future of 

Entertainment 

HOM has already integrated Unreal Engine 3 

technology into its system, intending to employ 

the game project on both video game and 

Hollywood projects. Krygowski said that while 

traditional TV entertainment still exists, it is fast 

becoming the exception and not the rule. He said 

the game engine has the ability to help push 

the envelope of media by allowing creators to 

build a single set of assets for a variety of media, 

allowing for real-world environments, assets, and 

characters to traverse multiple uses, resolutions, 

and intentions. 

“With the evolution of DirectX* technology and 

rendering, hardware game-engine technology is 

becoming more viable,” said Menache. “The trend 

is that people like us will be building the tools, 

and soon enough software like the UDK (Unreal 

Development Kit) will be aimed more toward 

creating linear content, as well.” 

In Hollywood it all comes down to dollars and cents. 

And Chargin believes that video game technology 

will become a mainstay in Hollywood because of 

economics. He said the Unreal Engine allows his 

team to produce a higher quality product in a 

fraction of the time of traditional CG animation. 

Creatives can bank on this, moving forward. And 

the implications for the game industry are also 

huge, given that the sharing of assets built in the 

same engine will allow for more immersive 

experiences. But perhaps more importantly, it will 

blur the lines between interactive and linear 

entertainment—just as The Guardian Project and 

its cast of 30 superheroes is doing. • 

About the Author 

John Gaudiosi has spent nearly 20 years covering 

the video game industry. He also co-founded the 

world’s first syndicated video game and 

technology network, www.Gamerlive.tv. 


The Creators Project: 

Celebrating Creativity, 

Culture, and Technology 

As Coachella’s first-ever 

creative partner, 

The Creators Project 

re-invented the 

festival by creating 

groundbreaking visual 

experiences advanced 

by Intel® technology. 

Technology has revolutionized social interaction, 

giving individuals unprecedented access to 

global distribution channels. Thanks to incredible 

advances in content creation technologies 

powered by Intel® multi-core, multi-threaded 

processors, today’s artists, musicians, filmmakers, 

and designers are reshaping the boundaries of 

creative expression. 

Intel in collaboration with Vice Media founded 

The Creators Project to showcase innovative 

artists and enable them to realize new artwork. 

“The Creators Project celebrates the connection 

between art and technology,” said David 

Haroldsen, Intel creative director for The Creators 

Project. “We set out to give people who use 

computers every day a look at artistic experiences 

that are only possible because of technology.” 

“The Creators Project is about cultivating 

artists from around the world and exploring 

the boundaries of creativity as well as the role 

technology plays in the process,” added Hosi 

Simon, general manager at Vice Media. With 

offices in more than 30 countries, Vice was 

uniquely positioned to draw from its relationship 

among the global art community and identify 

cutting-edge interdisciplinary artists. 

When The Creators Project launched in 2010, 

Intel and Vice used a variety of media, including 

television, print, online, and mobile outlets to 

document the work of more than 100 Creators to 

date, hailing mostly from seven countries (Brazil, 

China, France, Germany, South Korea, United 

Kingdom, and United States). “In 2011, we pushed 

that concept forward by showcasing their work 


the creators project 

at events around the world,” said Simon, “and by getting involved with the 

Creators, their future, and their creative process. But we wanted to go beyond 

telling their stories. We wanted to help them take their work to the next level.” 

The Studio, an ongoing arts initiative supported by The Creators Project, was 

created to do just that. “Think of The Studio as an art foundation,” said Simon. 

“It offers Creators the means to realize their artistic visions. We foster 

interdisciplinary collaborations and give them access to the latest Intel® 

technology. Then we disseminate the work using a number of media channels 

and an event series.” 

The event series kicked off at Milk Studios in New York City and then moved to 

London, Sao Paulo, and Seoul, culminating in a three-day exposition in Beijing. 

“We learned a lot in those first events,” said Simon. “They were all-day, all-night 

affairs with everything from a film festival to panel discussions where Creators 

explained how they do what they do. We had some of the best bands—amazing 

bands—playing. In New York we had MIA, Interpol, Mark Ronson . . . And we 

had incredible art installations—all in one building. Frankly, it was too much to 

experience in a single day. That led us to planning multi-day events.” 

In 2011, The Creators Project was the first-ever creative partner for 

Coachella—one of the world’s premier music and arts festivals—and reimagined 

the event by creating groundbreaking visual experiences advanced 

by Intel technology. The project collaborated with acts such as Arcade Fire and 

Interpol to enhance their performances. It also unveiled a series of original, 

large-scale artworks, including United Visual Artists’ re-invention of Coachella’s 

Main Stage and Muti Randolph’s Sahara Tent installation. For the first time, The 

Creators Project billed international bands from China, Korea, and Brazil and 

also showcased interactive 

works by Mark Essen, Lumpens, 

It’s not enough that Feng Mengbo, and Hojun Song 

in The Creators Project tent. 

someone be a great 

The original artworks created 

electronic musician. for Coachella were unveiled 

as the first series of projects 

There also has to be from The Studio. For example, 

J. Spaceman (from Spiritualized, 

a visual element. 

a U.K.-based space rock band) 

and Jonathan Glazer (director 

— HOSI SIMON, GENERAL MANAGER 

of Radiohead’s OK Computer 

AT VICE MEDIA 

video and the film Sexy Beast) 

created a light and sound 

installation. The installation was a physical manifestation of Spiritualized’s 

iconic track “Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space,” and was 

presented in a cathedral-like space designed by Creators Graft Architects. 

“I had an interesting conversation with Jonathan Glazer,” Simon said. “He 

was amazed that, despite the technical difficulties, the finished project was 

exactly what he had envisioned. So often, projects end up being only a third 

as good as the original idea. Intel, Vice, and The Creators Project stood behind 

Glazer’s and Spaceman’s idea 100 percent.” 

When asked how artists can become part of The Creators Project and The 

Studio, Intel’s Haroldsen described the application process on The Creators 

United Visual Artists (UVA) 

Coachella Stage Vital Statistics: 

LIGHTING: 80 Martin MAC 401 movinghead 

LED luminators with mirror panels; 

300 Barco MiStrip linear LED strips; 

10 CityColor/C LED searchlights. 

I-MAG SCREENS: 2 Barco Stealth* screen 

transparent LED video screens. 

CONTROL: Lighting and video screens 

controlled via DMX using UVA Media 

Server d3 powered by Intel® processors. 



Project Web site (thecreatorsproject.com), and noted, “We are enabling 

artists all over the world to build new things with the caveat that they need 

to push technology.” 

“Visual experience is our top-level brief,” said Simon. “It’s not enough that 

someone be a great electronic musician. There also has to be a visual element. 

And it’s essential that the Creators want to be involved because this only works 

if the Creators are enthusiastic. We’re not paying them to be part of the project.” 

“We have a mix of emerging artists and leading artists,” Simon continued. “There 

has to be some aspirational aspect to The Creators Project for emerging artists 

to get included in the program and feel ‘wow, I’m hitting the big leagues.’” 

Globally, that approach helps artists who are well-established in their home 

countries gain exposure abroad. “We can help a Chinese artist get recognized 

in the U.K., for example,” said Simon. “The same goes for someone like Diplo, 

who’s arguably quite famous in the States, but by being featured on The 

Creators Project Web site, his profile gets a couple million hits in China.” 

The Creators Project is a collaboration between two partners sharing a 

passion for the arts and its intimate connection with technology, as well as 

the culture surrounding the two. By supporting and showcasing emerging and 

established Creators and their work, Intel and Vice hope to demonstrate that 

the status quo is simply not good enough. 

Selected artwork from Coachella, along with additional work from The Studio, 

will now travel as part of The Creators Project global event series, touring 

even more cities across the world. • 



United Visual Artists in Collaboration with The Creators Project 

Take Stage Craft to a New Level at Coachella 

OVER THE COURSE OF THE THREE-DAY 

FESTIVAL IN APRIL, hundreds of thousands 

flocked to the desert outside Palm Springs to 

mind-meld with a cross-cultural bricolage of 

music, art, and technology from around the 

world. A high point of this year’s Coachella—the 

opening act—brought the audience face to 

face with a gargantuan audiovisual structure 

that came alive with other-worldly energy. As 

a deep, droning rumble engulfed the audience, 

pillars of light flashed and danced across a 

massive grid towering 12 stories above the 

crowd. This performance was the stage itself: 

a Borg ship had come to extinguish the last 

semblance of the expected. 

Designed by Creators United Visual Artists 

(UVA) with experimental music by Mira Calix, 

the Coachella stage-cum-art installation was 

the result of a collaboration fostered by The 

Creators Project. In the wake of Coachella, 

Visual Adrenaline caught up with one of UVA’s 

founding partners and director of software, Ash 

Nehru, who discussed the inspiration behind the 

stage’s design and how it worked. 

TELL US ABOUT THE COACHELLA MAIN 

STAGE. WHAT WERE YOUR DESIGN GOALS? 

Part of our design DNA was to use grids and 

vector structures that provided a shell around 

the bands yet allowed the audience to see a key 

part of the festival—the vista behind the stage. 

Our design consisted of cross-braced aluminum 

sheets that used little visual space, but when 

the lights were lit, the sheets appeared more 

solid and modular. 

YOU WERE ABLE TO GET GREAT EFFECTS 

WITH THE LIGHTS. COULD YOU DESCRIBE 

THE SYSTEM IN A BIT MORE DETAIL? 

We had three separate groups of fixtures. Thin 

LED strips were arranged in a grid. LED illuminator 

wash and profile lights (in a grid) pointed up at 

the aluminum cross-braces. Moving headlights 

provided traditional beams of light. And a few 

strobes were scattered around the stage. 

WAS SOMEONE PERFORMING THE LIGHTING 

MOVES IN REAL TIME OR WERE THEY PRE- 

SYNCHRONIZED TO THE SOUNDTRACK? 

They were synchronized in advance. Our system 

allowed us to sequence the lights and LEDs very 


precisely to the music. We commissioned a fiveand-a-half-minute 

piece of music from Mira Calix. 

We sequenced the lights to it, picking up various 

elements in the music to create the impression 

that the sounds being heard were being created 

by the stage itself. 

WHAT DID YOU USE AS YOUR 

LIGHT-SEQUENCING SOFTWARE? 

We wrote it ourselves; it’s based on [UVA 

Media Server] d3. We’ve been using our own 

sequencing and playback software since our 

first job because what we do isn’t possible with 

other software. 

WHAT KIND OF COMPUTING HARDWARE 

DOES IT RUN ON? 

We build those systems ourselves, too. The 

environment can be harsh in live shows, and our 

touring systems are used by bands like U2 and 

in Broadway shows so they must be robust. 

We built industrial Intel® Core i7 processorbased 

systems. It’s a single computer with a 

daughter card on the back end of the chassis, 

which allows for easy replacement. The system 

is robust, with 250-GB solid-state drives, pro 

sound cards, and a heavy GPU. 

ARE YOU USING 2ND GENERATION 

INTEL® CORE I7 PROCESSORS YET? 

The system we used at Coachella didn’t, but 

the new generation of systems we’re now 

assembling use the 2nd generation Intel Core i7 

processors. These are in the testing phase. 

WHAT KIND OF PERFORMANCE GAINS 

ARE YOU SEEING? 

We’ve been using the new CPUs to handle our 

software builds, along with [Xoreax Software] 

IncrediBuild* to parallelize our MSCC builds. 

Our sequencing tool is a big piece of software, 

and rebuilding it takes some time. IncrediBuild 

distributes the code across all 40 Intel® 

processor cores. The benefits are fantastic. We 

can rebuild our software in a few seconds as 

opposed to waiting 10 or 30 minutes. It has 

revolutionized our development process. 

LET’S GO BACK TO THE COACHELLA MAIN 

STAGE. PARTS OF IT ACTUALLY MOVED. 

Yes, there were doors that opened so the crowd 

could see inside the stage. In between bands, 

the doors shut and we ran short sequences. 

WHAT WAS YOUR WORKFLOW FOR 

SYNCING TO MIRA CALIX’S MUSIC? 

DID SHE HAND OFF AN AUDIO FILE OR 

WERE YOU WORKING WITH SEQUENCED 

MUSIC TRACKS? 

We developed the music in tandem with her, 

so it went through several iterations. We’d 

do subtle things with the stage, and she’d 

look at elements related to the structure and 

references. A big one was Close Encounters 

of the Third Kind—the sequence where the 

massive spaceship comes down. Another was 

the Monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. 

The final audio that the audience heard was 

bounced down from a multi-channel surround 

mix. We also ran 16-bit audio, although Mira 

would’ve preferred that we run it in 24-bit, 

which our software doesn’t yet support. 

If you watch the video you’ll hear static sounds. 

Those were intentional—we turned off all the 

lights (except for the strobes) to create the 

impression that the sound and lighting were 

intimately connected. At the end of the video, 

Mira built a sound that consists of a bunch of 

filters running out of control. The end result 

sounds like a turbine engine. She’s quite a 

mad scientist. 

NOW THAT COACHELLA IS BEHIND YOU, 

WHAT DESIGN LESSONS DID YOU LEARN? 

Within the structure all of the fixtures were 

in different places, and the challenge was 

to make them all work together. It took us a 

while to figure out that the overall design 

needed to create anticipation. You know the 

old adage: Make them laugh, make them cry, 

make them wait. 

We had to slow things down and let it breathe— 

almost let the audience get bored and lose 

attention. Then go for it near the end, which 

has a much stronger impact than starting out 

with all guns blazing. • 

10

AS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY WATCH PO THE 

PANDA RESCUE THE KUNG FU TRADITION 

FROM A SUPER-VILLAIN PEACOCK IN Kung Fu 

Panda 2, cutting-edge cloud computing might be 

the furthest thing from your mind. Yet for the 

DreamWorks Animation team, cloud computing 

played a vital role in bringing to life this exciting 

animated feature film and a host of others. 

Cloud computing enables development teams to 

access a large, flexible pool of compute resources 

as needed. This helps DreamWorks Animation 

gain the extra compute performance required 

for rendering during intense production periods. 

“Dealing with spikes in processing demand has 

always been a challenge,” said Derek Chan, head 

of digital operations at DreamWorks Animation. 

ANIMATION 

BRINGING 

TO LIFE THROUGH 

CLOUD COMPUTING 

DreamWorks Animation relies on cloud computing 

environments based on Intel® Xeon® processors to 

handle peak rendering loads for its blockbuster films. 

“When working on feature films, we often need 

tremendous processing power for short durations. 

It doesn’t make sense to maintain more servers 

in-house to accommodate that short-term need.” 

With up to 12 films in production at any 

given time, each with its own ebb and flow 

of processing demands, precisely anticipating 

rendering requirements is all but impossible. 

“Production schedules are totally driven by the 

creative process,” said Ryan Granard, director 

of digital operations at DreamWorks Animation. 

“There will always be needs that we haven’t 

forecasted. The goal of the technology group is to 

provide the capabilities and capacities needed— 

when they are needed—without adding millions of 

dollars in capital costs.” 

By adopting a cloud computing model, the 

DreamWorks Animation team can better 

accommodate those dynamic workload levels. 

“Cloud computing provides the flexibility to 

marshal resources on demand,” said Chan. “We 

can quickly scale up to meet peaks in rendering 

demand and then scale back as we complete 

projects to avoid excess costs.” 

Enriching the 3D Impact 

Escalates Compute Demands 

The journey into the cloud began back in 

2003, when the studio was working on Shrek 

2. “Hewlett-Packard had just begun offering 

rendering services through one of its data centers 

so we tapped into those resources for just a few 

months to meet our burst demand,” said Chan. “In 

the end, HP processed approximately 1 million 

of the 10 million CPU hours required for Shrek 2. 

That service helped us complete the work quickly 

and economically.” 

The need for supplemental compute resources 

has grown appreciably over the years as 

DreamWorks Animation filmmakers create richer, 

more exciting visuals. “With each film, the creative 

aspiration grows,” said Granard. “Artists want 

to add more characters to scenes, improve the 

detail in background atmospherics, increase the 

translucency of a character’s skin, and enhance the 

fluidity of character motion. That drives our overall 

compute resource demand higher and higher.” 

The move to 3D filmmaking has also had a 

significant impact on rendering demands. 


dreamworks uses cloud computing 

Beginning with Monsters vs. Aliens in 2009, every DreamWorks Animation 

film has been presented in stereoscopic 3D to enhance the realism of lush 

landscapes and action sequences for moviegoers. In the past, movie studios 

typically produced 3D films only after completing a traditional 2D version. 

By contrast, DreamWorks Animation integrates 3D filmmaking into each 

stage of the production process to maximize the impact of 3D visuals in the 

storytelling. 

Filmmakers are now creating two slightly different versions of the film—one 

for each eye. “3D filmmaking can boost our overall rendering demand by 30 

percent for each film,” said Chan. “Cloud computing provides a way to support 

that demand economically.” 


Supporting Rendering Demands 

through the Cloud 

Cloud computing has become a vital means of accommodating those 

escalating rendering demands. In preparation for Kung Fu Panda 2, 

DreamWorks Animation used a hybrid cloud that incorporated both internal 

and external resources to provide the creative team with the compute power 

they needed. External data centers in Nevada and New Mexico supplemented 

internal resources in two California locations. 

For Kung Fu Panda 2, the DreamWorks Animation team used more of the 

external cloud than ever before. “While working on How to Train Your Dragon 

and Shrek Forever After, we used offsite resources for approximately 

“Cloud computing provides the flexibility 

to marshal resources on demand. We 

can quickly scale up to meet peaks 

in rendering demand and then scale 

back as we complete projects to avoid 

excess costs.” 

— DEREK CHAN, HEAD OF DIGITAL OPERATIONS, 

DREAMWORKS ANIMATION 

12

5 percent of the 50 million render hours needed,” 

said Chan. “To create Kung Fu Panda 2, we used 

the external cloud more extensively, sending 

more than 11 million hours offsite—20 percent 

of the film’s 55 million render hours. With Kung 

Fu Panda 2, cloud computing was no longer a 

science project. It became a critical component of 

how we make movies.” 

DreamWorks Animation intends to expand 

the use of cloud rendering even further in 

the future. “Our ultimate goal is to have the 

capability of processing 50 percent of our 

rendering in the external cloud,” said Granard. 

“Now that we’ve proven the model, we can 

maximize the value for filmmaking.” 

Building the Cloud on 

Intel® Xeon® Processors 

For both internal and external environments, the 

DreamWorks Animation team selected servers 

based on Intel® Xeon® processors. With Kung Fu 

Panda 2, DreamWorks Animation standardized on 

processors from the Intel® Xeon® processor 5600 

and 5500 series families. The Intel® processors 

maximize performance while controlling costs. 

“We don’t want to incur the costs of expanding 

our internal infrastructure footprint, so we need 

the best possible performance per watt and per 

square foot,” said Chan. “There’s no question that 

we get the best bang for the buck when we use 

the latest Intel Xeon processors.” 

The density and energy efficiency of the Intel 

processors help both the cloud provider and the 

DreamWorks Animation team. “Whether you’re 

paying a cloud provider or a co-location vendor, 

you’re paying someone for power and cooling,” 

said Chan. “The Intel processors keep those costs 

under control.” 

Optimizing Applications 

for the Intel® Processorbased 

Cloud 

DreamWorks Animation uses a variety of Intel® 

Software Development Tools—and has worked 

extensively with the Intel® Software and 

Services Group—to optimize applications for the 

latest Intel processors. “With their support, we 

are fine-tuning our animation tools to take full 

advantage of the Intel processors and the cloud 

environment,” said Chan. 

Faster Rendering Simplifies 

Creative Exploration 

Migrating to the Intel Xeon processor 5600 and 

5500 series families from previous-generation 

processors has made a noticeable difference 

for animators. “Our artists definitely notice 

when their rendering jobs are run on the latest 

Intel processors. They can achieve a very fast 

turnaround,” said Chan. “For certain workloads, 

we have seen more than a 50-percent increase 


“Our artists definitely notice when their rendering jobs are run on the latest 

Intel® processors . . . For certain workloads, we have seen more than a 50-percent 

increase in performance when compared to previous-generation Intel processors.” 

in performance when compared to previous- 

generation Intel processors.” 

For the creative team, faster processing means 

more opportunities to experiment. “Artists can 

complete more iterations, faster than before,” 

said Chan. “They can test new ideas and make 

changes more rapidly.” 

The ability to make subtle adjustments quickly 

is particularly important in the final weeks of 

production. “Part of the moviemaking process 

involves routinely watching and refining the 

work-in-progress film. A cloud infrastructure 

with the latest Intel processors gives us the 

performance and flexibility to make changes in 

the last few weeks before the official release. 

We can get more of what producers, directors, 

artists, and audience members want to see on 

the screen.” 

— DEREK CHAN, HEAD OF DIGITAL OPERATIONS, DREAMWORKS ANIMATION 

Tapping Directly into the 

Cloud from the Desktop 

Looking ahead, the DreamWorks Animation team 

intends to deepen the integration of external 

cloud services with the daily workstationbased 

tasks of artists. “One of our ambitions 

is to enable artists to tap directly into the 

cloud-based render farm from the workstation 

environment,” said Chan. “Traditionally, those 

environments were separate: Artists created 

at their workstations and completed as many 

iterations of work as possible during the day. 

At night, they sent work to the render farm for 

processing across all the frames. 

“Today we’re working on a more interactive model 

where the workstation can leverage part of the 

render farm to accelerate iterations,” continued 

Chan. “If we can carve up those workstation 

tasks into multiple, distinct buckets, and then 

process those buckets using multiple servers 

within the cloud-based render farm, artists can 

complete more iterations during the day. They’ll 

get immediate feedback on how their work will 

look. It’s another way the cloud can accelerate 

processes and enhance creativity.” 

Supporting Tomorrow’s 

Complex Creative Vision 

For DreamWorks Animation, the cloud is here to 

stay. By supplementing internal resources with 

large-scale external environments for short 

periods of time, the studio can foster creativity 

and sustain breakneck production schedules 

while controlling costs. “Our needs are a perfect 

match for cloud computing, and we are proud to 

have helped pioneer the use of cloud computing 

for animated film production,” said Chan. “With 

help from Intel and other technology partners, 

we have built a scalable model that will support 

the growing processing demands that enable the 

creative visions of our filmmakers. • 


Taking the Mystery 

Out of Middleware 

Performance 

AUTODESK SCALEFORM* 4.0 LETS YOU VISUALIZE 

PERFORMANCE STRAIGHT OUT OF THE BOX 

BY GARRET ROMAINE 

Autodesk Scaleform* tools helped create the user interface in James Cameron’s Avatar*: The Game. 

INTEL’S COMMITMENT TO THE GAME 

DEVELOPMENT WORLD CONTINUES TO 

PAY BIG DIVIDENDS FOR STUDIOS AND 

PLAYERS ALIKE. Recently, Maryland-based 

Autodesk Scaleform* worked with Intel engineers 

to tightly integrate its Scaleform* 4.0 middleware 

with the Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers 

(Intel® GPA) 4.0. The result is another example of 

how Intel is helping to build a better ecosystem by 

fostering cooperation and helping game developers 

access the deepest parts of their code. 

Sleuthing out code bottlenecks and unnecessary 

frame activity is possible only with sophisticated 

tools. PC game developers rely on the Intel 

GPA Platform Analyzer to visualize over time 

the execution profile of the tasks in their code 

on the heterogeneous (CPU+GPU) PC platform. 

But coverage for middleware code has been 

limited for the game development community, 

and the collaboration between Intel and 

Autodesk Scaleform could pay off big for many 

development teams. 

Introducing Autodesk 

Scaleform 

With about 30 employees in its home office, 

Autodesk Scaleform was founded in 2005 by 

Brendan Iribe and Michael Antonov, who met 

at the University of Maryland. After creating a 

user interface (UI) middleware company, they got 

busy making an engine and library. Their first big 

success was the UI for the huge blockbuster title 

Civilization* IV. 


Clockwise from top left: user interface (UI) from player selection screen in Batman*: Arkham Asylum; managing saved games in Batman: Arkham Asylum using 

Autodesk Scaleform’s middleware; Autodesk Scaleform contributed to the UI in Transformers*: Revenge of the Fallen; player setup screen in Crysis* 2. 

Autodesk Scaleform is a leading provider of Flash*-based middleware and UI 

solutions for the video game and consumer electronic industries. Perfecting 

the UI is a key ingredient for software success, but it also requires a different 

mindset from designing fiendish levels and compelling characters. Autodesk 

Scaleform 4.0 gives game-development artists and user-centered design 

experts the ability to build out interfaces with drop-down menus, radio 

buttons, of course, even a heads-up display. These background tools that 

work between other games subsystems are referred to as “middleware,” and 

they link separate software applications. 

Thanks to the assist from Intel, when game developers use Autodesk 

Scaleform and Intel GPA together, it’s easy to see how the middleware and 

their game code perform within the Intel GPA Platform Analyzer. Intel’s Omar 

Rodriguez recalled that this project was intriguing from the start. “We added 

some instrumentation code—when your game uses Scaleform 4.0, you can 

capture a trace from the Intel GPA Platform Analyzer and see what it’s doing. 

If there are time issues on the Scaleform 4.0 side, you’ll know exactly where 

that time is being spent.” 

According to Rodriguez, middleware tends to be a “black box” and difficult to 

understand when performance-tuning. Generally, the code takes some CPU 

time and adds draw calls, but beyond that, middleware code is opaque. “When 

developers integrate middleware they rarely know exactly what is happening 

in the middleware,” Rodriquez explained. “[We’ve provided a way for] game 

developers to see what Scaleform 4.0 is doing when it’s integrating into the 

game. They’ll learn exactly where the bottleneck is, and then they can figure 

out what might be producing it.” 

Getting the System-Wide Picture 

The Intel GPA Platform Analyzer visualizes the execution profile of tasks over 

time. The tool collects trace data during the application run, so it provides a 

detailed analysis of how the code executes across all threads and correlates 

the CPU work with tasks performed on the GPU. It also aligns clocks across 

all cores in the entire system so that developers can analyze CPU-based 

workloads together with GPU-based workloads on the timeline. 

The visualization of the execution profile gives developers a system-wide 

picture of the way code executes on the CPU and GPU cores. The Intel GPA 

Platform Analyzer is built upon a docking interface around a Task Timeline. 

Panels in the interface present the trace data and task selection set in a 

format that assists in performing a detailed analysis. Different analyses are 

available through the range of panels, such as a bar chart containing the sums 

of task durations that correspond to common workloads. 


middleware performance 

Flash * content can load faster, run smoother, and even take advantage of 

advanced rendering capabilities, such as 3D, when running on low-end devices. 

Developers get details on parsing errors, see the task that executed within 

a thread, and are able to identify the period of time the application spends 

preparing each frame, and thus can visualize where in the application 

that work is occurring relative to trace instrumentation. The Intel GPA 

automatically provides the DX CPU and DX GPU tracks, as well as Microsoft 

DirectX* call instrumentation, in DirectX applications, without additional work. 

While most tracks show the activity of traced code within a particular thread, 

the DX CPU and DX GPU tracks highlight the work performed by the graphics 

driver (DX CPU) and the graphics hardware (DX GPU). 

One problem that large studios typically face is that while they can instrument 

their own code for interacting with the Intel GPA, very few computer games 

are produced with 100-percent proprietary code. Instead, competitive titles 

on hyper-schedules require developers to combine various technologies. 

Studios typically use off-the-shelf code such as Unreal Engine* for key 

foundation work, but they might also incorporate Havok Physics* for collisions 

and explosions, use Geomerics Enlighten* for lighting, and so forth. Scaleform 

4.0 enters the picture during the production of the UI. 

Streamlining UI Builds on the Optimized 

Scaleform 4.0 

Scaleform 4.0 includes an all-new, high-performance, multi-threaded rendering 

engine; Flash 10/AS3 support; and iOS* and Android* mobile compatibility. 

The multi-threading code was rewritten from the ground up, designed to make 

the new version future-proof in anticipation of powerful new Intel® processors. 

The Intel GPA 4.0 helped Autodesk Scaleform confirm that its new renderer is 

faster than previous versions and that its ActionScript* 3 virtual machine is very 

efficient. Autodesk Scaleform engineers reported a huge performance gain. 

Alexis Mantzaris, principal engineer at Autodesk M&E Games Technology, is 

enthusiastic about the interaction with Scaleform 4.0 and the Intel GPA. 

“Scaleform 4.0 customers who are familiar with [Intel] GPA can now 

immediately evaluate the performance of their UI without learning to use a 

new tool like AMP. Once confident that Scaleform 4.0 is highly optimized, they 

can focus on optimizing their Flash UI content and game code.” 

Mantzaris said that the optimizations Autodesk Scaleform made on their 

core product include faster rendering and data loading. Those improvements 

make a big difference on mobile and low-end devices, which don’t have 

PC computing power. Flash content can load faster, run smoother, and 

even take advantage of advanced rendering capabilities, such as 3D, when 

running on low-end devices. 

The Autodesk Scaleform team gave Intel high marks for making the Intel 

GPA Platform Analyzer easy to integrate. “Since our code had already been 

instrumented for AMP, the Autodesk Scaleform memory and performance 

analysis tool, we only had to change macro definitions in one file,” Mantzaris said. 

Mantzaris and his team were immediately productive with the new Intel GPA 

4.0 version. “The first time we used the [Intel] GPA Platform Analyzer, we saw 

that our AMP instrumentation was lacking in some code parts and was giving 

too much information in others. The ability to visualize the events within 

each game frame is surprisingly effective in pointing you in the right codeoptimizing 

direction.” 

While AMP and the Intel GPA share their task instrumentations, they’re not 

the same tool. Their workflows complement each other, giving developers 

a complete picture of their game’s performance. For example, AMP is 

currently Scaleform 4.0-specific and provides specialized information such 

as ActionScript profiling. The nature of Intel GPA shows developers how 

Scaleform 4.0 interacts with their code and other middleware at each frame. 

AMP is cross-platform, which is essential for console developers, whereas Intel 

GPA is Microsoft Windows*-based, which allows it to track Windows-specific 

statistics, such as DirectX calls, with no additional instrumentation. 

Said Mantzaris: “AMP provides some high-level, Scaleform 4.0-specific 

rendering statistics, whereas [Intel] GPA can track tasks on the GPU and 

analyze them together with the CPU on the timeline. AMP and GPA are both 

essential tools for Scaleform 4.0 customers.” 

In addition to Intel GPA Platform Analyzer, Autodesk Scaleform also used Intel 

GPA Frame Analyzer, obtaining equally important results. “We thought it was 

especially cool to perform ‘what if’ optimization experiments,” Mantzaris said. “We 

also plan to use [Intel] GPA as part of our automated testing. The fact that [Intel] 

GPA gives us the ability to test for performance regression is quite important.” 

A Mutually Beneficial Relationship 

The collaboration between Intel and Autodesk Scaleform was mutually 

productive. Mantzaris credited Intel engineers for customer awareness and 

fast response times. “The team was very helpful in making sure we hit the 

ground running with [Intel] GPA. They gave us a full tutorial and supplied us 

with an instrumented version of our code, and they were always available to 

answer questions and receive our suggestions for enhancements and feature 

requests. Our relationship with Intel is mutually beneficial because both 

Scaleform 4.0 and Intel’s profiling tools are popular favorites. By providing 

Scaleform 4.0 with out-of-the-box support for [Intel] GPA, we increase the 

value of both products in the eyes of our customers.” 

That cooperation is another example of how Intel is making a positive impact 

in the gaming world by working with the important players and vendors. 

And as key industry ISVs continue to work closely with Intel to stay in the 

technology sweet spot, everybody wins. • 


Garret Romaine is a senior writer, working for Rose & Her Minions from Beaverton, 

Oregon. Garret started in gaming as a beta tester for Epic Megagames and has been 

a columnist, editor, and reviewer ever since. Garret is a Fellow in the Society for 

Technical Communication, and he teaches technical communication at Portland 

State University. 


Bringing 

Magic to Life 

EXOCORTEX AND INTEL® TECHNOLOGIES 

WORK WITH VFX STUDIOS GRADIENT 

EFFECTS AND WILL GARRETT TO 

ACHIEVE MOVIE MAGIC 

Creating Stunning Ink-in-Water 

Special Effects 

Long-time fans of the Harry Potter film franchise are familiar with the series’ 

ample visual effects (VFX), and this summer’s box office hit Harry Potter and 

the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, the final adventure in the film series, ranks as 

one of the biggest VFX-driven Hollywood productions of 2011. 

Among the many emotive sequences in the Harry Potter film franchise is the 

“memory pool” sequence created by Gradient Effects. Here is a behind-the- 

scenes look at how Gradient Effects, Exocortex Technology, and Intel worked 

together to pull off this visually stunning special effect. 

Exocortex Slipstream simulation within Autodesk Softimage*. 

A Large-Scale, High-Fidelity Sequence 

The memory pool sequences required an ink-in-water look where the ink 

would behave realistically in a large volume, then quickly assume dynamic 

shapes that seamlessly transition to live action footage. This complexity 

presented Gradient Effects with a significant challenge. Not only did it require 

fluid simulations of unprecedented detail and scope, but it also needed a 

specific “inky” look that most traditional simulators have difficulty producing, 

even in restricted domains. And because the sequence’s timing and transitions 

had already been decided, there was no artistic leeway if the technology ran 

into limitations. 

On the technical side, artists had to be able to see in real time the results 

of increasing the simulation resolution to more than half a billion points for 

final output. It was clear to Olcun Tan, co-founder and head of research and 

development at Gradient Effects, that traditional fluid simulators were not up 

to the task. 

While searching for new simulation solutions, Tan discovered Exocortex’s 

Slipstream technology. “Before committing to any technology, we did 

extensive research by testing all well-known technologies for the type of 

work required on Harry Potter,” said Tan. “Unfortunately none were suited for 

the task. After seeing the first tests from Exocortex, I was instantly convinced 

that we had found our solution in Exocortex’s technology—it was boundingbox 

free. The next thing I remember, I was on the phone with Ben Houston 

discussing how to integrate the Exocortex technology as the new engine for 

our proven in-house tools.” 


inging magic to life 

Slipstream is stable 

and predictable so 

an artist’s real-time 

preview of a fluid 

simulation element 

is the same as the 

final beauty pass. 

Exocortex’s Slipstream Technology 

Ben Houston, Exocortex’s founder, has long known about the limitations of 

traditional simulation methods, having led the Flood fluid simulator project 

at Frantic Films. Exocortex was founded with the belief that the traditional 

limitations could be overcome, giving artists more creative freedom while 

controlling costs. 

In the pursuit of these goals, Exocortex’s team had been researching and 

developing its proprietary simulation technology since 2008. The result is 

Slipstream, a novel approach to fluid simulation that radically expands artist 

freedom and allows rapid accurate previews, and realistic and unbounded 

simulations, while cutting costs for VFX studios. 

A key element of Slipstream technology is the elimination of a simulation 

bounding box. There is no simulation box at all, not even a dynamic moving 

box behind the scenes. The technology simulates freely in any environment in 

which one needs results at an arbitrary level of detail. 

Slipstream is stable and predictable so an artist’s real-time preview of a fluid 

simulation element is the same as the final beauty pass. Studios can handle 

tremendous amounts of simulation without excessive investment in hardware 

and personnel because Slipstream is memory and computationally efficient. 

Early tests of the Harry Potter memory pool effect using 

the Softimage* version of Exocortex Slipstream. 

Gradient Effects Taps Exocortex 

for Slipstream 

Gradient Effects engaged with Exocortex after hearing about its technology. 

Immediately, Tan requested simulation and render tests to see if Exocortex’s 

Slipstream technology lived up to its reputation. Exocortex’s Houston quickly 

delivered results to Tan by modifying their pre-existing technology in 

combination with Autodesk’s Softimage* and hardware from Intel. 

Satisfied with the initial results, Gradient Effects requested further tests 

that demonstrated the ability to do the shape matching required in the more 

advanced shots of the Harry Potter memory pool sequences. Employing 

Softimage once again, Exocortex quickly designed and prototyped a set of 

novel extensions to its simulator to achieve the delivery results, which met 

with Tan’s approval. Only a few days passed between Tan’s initial contact with 

Exocortex and his decision to move forward with Exocortex’s technology. 

By using Exocortex’s large and robust simulation-focused code base, 

Exocortex’s Jamie Madill and Houston were able to both design and deliver an 

initial API that met Gradient Effects’ specifications—just two weeks after the 

initiation of the project. 

Continuing with this intense pace, three weeks later Madill and Houston 

delivered the final, fully multi-threaded version with advanced shape 

matching. The frameworks that Intel helped Exocortex develop and polish 

aided the rapid delivery schedule. 



From Promising Research to Production Ready: 

Intel® Technology Makes It Happen 

EARLY ON, EXOCORTEX REALIZED 

THAT ITS INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY had 

to be paired with a solid and performing 

implementation. In 2009, Exocortex began 

working with Intel technologist Chris Seitz. 

Initially, Chris introduced Exocortex to the 

Intel® Threading Building Blocks library. After 

some fruitful initial tests that quickly produced 

a 2.5x speedup on consumer grade quad- 

core machines, Exocortex fully embraced its 

features. “After a couple days of integrating 

Intel Threading Building Blocks, the team here 

at Exocortex got a 2.5x performance boost,” 

said Houston. “Our fluid simulation code is now 

on track to scale in a future-proof manner. The 

huge return we got was fantastic, and our only 

regret is we didn’t investigate it sooner.” 

Under the leadership of Exocortex’s Stefan 

Xenos, a cache-optimized C++ framework was 

created that eased the creation of optimal 

threading structures in a mostly transparent 

fashion. The entire code base now relies on 

this framework. Once the code base was 

multi-threaded, the team used the Microsoft 

Visual Studio*-integrated Intel® Parallel Studio, 

which exceeded Exocortex’s expectations of a 

profiler tool. Intel Parallel Studio allowed them 

to rapidly identify bottlenecks in the code to 

ensure the optimization development time was 

spent wisely, achieving the greatest results. For 

further speed in critical sections, Exocortex also 

employed Intel® SIMD instructions to ensure 

maximum computational throughput. 

The memory analysis tool-set feature in 

Intel Parallel Studio proved incredibly valuable 

in identifying unexpectedly dangerous memory 

accesses in the code base that otherwise would 

have gone unnoticed. The existence of these 

difficult-to-diagnose errors prompted Exocortex 

to design a fully checked debug memory model, 

ensuring that they were caught early on. 

To ensure that optimizations were targeted 

for the needs of a high-end production 

environment, Intel provided Exocortex with 

professional grade hardware. “Exocortex 

Technologies is defining the state-of-the-art 

in VFX fluid simulation,” said Seitz. “Intel has 

been pleased to work with Exocortex to ensure 

its simulators take full advantage of multithreading 

and the Intel® Xeon® processor.” 

Designing a Modern Agile Pipeline 

The project’s compressed timeline—together with the scope of R&D and 

production involved—required the development of an agile pipeline capable of 

tying together software, creative talent, and Intel’s hardware. 

Tan started by combining Exocortex’s simulator technology with Gradient 

Effects’ proprietary technology running in Autodesk Maya*. In designing the 

process, Gradient Effects used Maya with massive data sets in excess of 40 GB, 

while retaining Maya’s inherent flexibility. The team also designed a dynamic 

and high-quality emission system to achieve the all-important “inky” look. 

Under Tan’s direction, Exocortex modified its simulator technology to be fully 

deterministic: Feeding in the same inputs to the simulator would produce 

exactly the same results—every time. This addressed two very important 

elements of the production pipeline: 

• It allowed artists to design the simulations in real time while assuring all 

their details would be realized as previewed when the simulators were 

re-run for the final beauty pass. 

• A single simulation could be split across multiple machines with the 

results automatically synchronized. 

To minimize the amount of data, camera-based culling and level-of-detail were 

employed. “The speed at which Tan adopted the Slipstream technology into 

his custom pipeline tools was impressive,” said Houston. “It is a tremendous 

asset to Gradient Effects to have a VFX studio leader with such deep 

technical knowledge.” 



Many-Core Distributed 

Simulations 

Using one machine per simulation proved 

inadequate because of the unprecedented detail 

and scope required for each shot, combined with 

the need to provide a workable turnaround time 

and the desire to minimize compositing tricks. 

Because the simulations could be distributed 

across multiple machines, between 10 and 20 

machines could be assigned to each simulation. 

This enabled an astounding 480 cores and 960 

GB of memory to be simultaneously dedicated to 

a single fluid simulation. The approach proved an 

effective time saver with respect to simulation 

times, but the raw intensity of the computational 

power presented its own challenges. 

A Storage System for High 

Compute Intensity 

Gradient Effects’ simulation and rendering farm 

consisted exclusively of Intel® Xeon® processor- 

based machines, each with 24 cores and 48 GB 

of RAM. Intel’s processors churned through the 

simulation much faster than the simulation data 

could be transferred across the network to the 

storage servers. The team determined that the 

network was acting as a bottleneck on their ability 

to rapidly produce the necessary sequences. 

At the same time, initially writing 1 GB per frame 

per computation node also created a bottleneck. 

To solve the problem, an innovative distributed 

storage system was created using the simulation 

nodes themselves. 

Kelly Bergougnoux, IT manager and system 

engineer at Gradient Effects, recognized that the 

speed advantages of local storage greatly 

outweighed the minimal CPU cost per simulation 

node of managing a distributed storage system 

across the simulation nodes themselves. Intel’s 

many-core processors already offered significant 

CPU power, a small portion of which could be 

assigned to managing the distribution store. Even 

assigning one core to this task would reduce the 

overall machine’s simulation performance by only 

less than 5 percent, significantly less than waiting 

for the completion of large data transfers to a 

storage server. 

To make the distributed store more robust, the 

team deployed a background data-mirroring 

process. This simulation slicing allowed for the 

use of 300–500 million elements per frame of 

the simulation and a turnaround time of a mere 

few hours. 

The artists at Gradient Effects were impressed 

with the results. “Distributing the simulation, 

combined with the speed of the simulation engine, 

allowed us to simulate hundreds of millions of 

particles whereas in that same time other tools 

could simulate only thousands,” said Dave Rindner, 

senior effects artist. “The biggest scenes required 

at most a few minutes per frame for simulation 

with particle counts of half a billion. Smaller scenes 

were only seconds per frame.” 

Manny Wong, lead effects artist, echoed Rindner’s 

thoughts: “The system developed by Gradient 

Effects and Exocortex is pretty amazing. The 

amount of particles that can be manipulated is 

in the millions, and playblasting in Maya is in real 

time or close to it. And when you get a beautiful 

simulation of ink motion, all that’s required is 

cranking up the amount of particles to give it that 

inky look.” 

In the future, solid-state drives (SSDs), such as 

the Intel® SSD 550, are likely a good investment 

for render farm machines and could further 

enhance the performance of farms under load. 

Exocortex is already adding Intel SSDs to its 

artists’ machines. 

Because these 

sequences, particularly 

those featuring the 

whale, would be critical 

for maintaining the 

movie’s emotional hold 

on the audience, it was 

important to choose 

the right technology. 

Remaking of a Classic: 

Moby Dick 

In summer 2009, Canadian VFX supervisor 

Will Garrett was involved in pre-production on 

Germany’s Tele Muenchen Group TV remake of 

Moby Dick. Filming was scheduled to start in early 

fall on location in Canada and Malta with William 

Hurt, Gillian Anderson, and Ethan Hawke in the 

lead roles. 

The CG star of Moby Dick. 


Adaptive tetrahedral cutaway. 

Simulating Open Oceans 

The large production presented Garrett with a number of VFX challenges, including finding a cost-effective 

way to replace William Hurt’s left leg with a peg for specific shots (which was achieved, by the way, by 

using a color-neutral gray sock with reflective markers and a lot of skilled compositing). He also needed to 

incorporate both live action footage and a computer-generated whale in many of the ocean sequences. 

Because these sequences, particularly those featuring the whale, would be critical for maintaining the 

movie’s emotional hold on the audience, it was important to choose the right technology while staying within 

the made-for-TV budget. Garrett selected Exocortex for its innovative technology, experience with liquid 

simulation, and ability to quickly adapt its software to the specific needs of the Moby Dick production. 

Exocortex’s Maelstrom Technology 

While Gradient Effects used Exocortex’s Slipstream technology for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: 

Part 2, Garrett chose Exocortex’s Maelstrom technology for his project. Exocortex’s Maelstrom is similar 

to Slipstream in that both were designed to overcome the speed and scalability limitations of existing 

simulation approaches. 

Exocortex Maelstrom* was used for all 

underwater shots of Moby Dick (left) as well as 

the live-action integrated chase shots on 

the ocean surface (below). 

However Maelstrom uses a multi-patent-pending adaptive tetrahedra simulator core, a first in the VFX 

industry. The development of this unique adaptive tetrahedra simulator is the result of a three-year 

collaboration between Exocortex and Christopher Batty, a renowned University of British Columbia and 

Columbia University researcher. 

Moby Dick Productions was the first production company to experience the benefits of this new 

approach to liquid simulation. 

“Garrett was fun to work with,” said Exocortex’s Houston. “He has that rare and very effective 

combination of great interpersonal skills, an eye for detail, and the ability to leverage new technology in 

demanding situations.” 



William Hurt’s leg had to be skillfully replaced with a peg to achieve the right 

look for Captain Ahab. 

Building a Custom Solution for Moby Dick 

The first stage of the 10-month project involved integrating the core simulator 

technology into Autodesk Softimage to allow rapid iteration and the ability to 

rerun simulations to add further detail. 

Next, the team applied Batty’s research innovations to achieve high-quality 

interaction between the liquid simulator and the intricate meshes that 

represented the whale and the boats. A spray, foam, and bubble system was 

also created to handle breaking-water situations. 

Finally, Exocortex pushed the scalability of the simulator by automating and 

optimizing its adaptive nature. For this last task, using Intel® Parallel Studio 

was essential to Exocortex’s development effort. 

The project was a joint learning experience: Both Exocortex and the Moby 

Dick team learned how best to use the simulator and improve the software to 

meet the needs of the production. 

The end result was a uniquely scalable, adaptive tetrahedral-based liquid 

simulation system tightly integrated into an Autodesk Softimage workflow. 

Because Exocortex relied on the Intel® Threading Building Blocks library, the 

software was able to take full advantage of Garrett’s investment in an Intel 

Xeon processor-based render farm. 

The extensive feature set of the simulator allowed its use on a wide variety 

of water shots, including whale chases and underwater sequences. In the end, 

over 150 shots used the Exocortex liquid simulator. 

“Exocortex’s custom software, combined with the Intel Xeon processor-based 

hardware, significantly enhanced what we were able to achieve on a madefor-TV 

production budget,” said Garrett. 

Conclusion 

With the help of Intel® tools and technology, Gradient Effects and Will Garrett 

were able to incorporate Exocortex’s technology into their tool sets, enabling 

their artists to create awesome VFX in a fraction of the time previously 

possible. Their efforts helped bring the magic to life in both Harry Potter and 

the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and Moby Dick. • 


Intel ® Visual 

Adrenaline Gets 

App’tized 

YOU’VE HELD US IN YOUR HANDS, and you’ve downloaded our content 

from the Web. Now, Intel® Visual Adrenaline takes the next step in 

delivering news you can use in the way you choose by creating the Intel® 

Visual Adrenaline app for smart devices, starting with the Apple iOS* 

platform (iPad*, iPhone* and iPod touch*). 

Like the magazine itself, the new app concentrates on delivering eye- 

popping content, key tips and tricks, updates on software tools, and other 

advances in the graphics world. Only now we can keep you informed 

wherever you are and however you acquire the insights that make your 

career sizzle. Our goal is still the same: to serve up vital content to early 

adopters in the community, wherever they may be. 

The new Intel® Visual Adrenaline app provides extensive access to videos that 

give you even more in-depth coverage of news and commentary. 


DOWNLOAD THE INTEL® VISUAL 

ADRENALINE APP TODAY! 

STREAM GREAT CONTENT TO YOUR 

iPHONE*, iPAD*, OR iPOD TOUCH* 

We Control the Vertical AND the Horizontal 

According to Hitendra “Hits” Naik, Intel visual computing marketing manager, 

the new app takes advantage of iPad features several ways. “Intel was 

very explicit in designing this app to play to our strengths,” Naik said. “We 

wanted to incorporate multiple usage models when it came to designing 

the look and feel. When held in vertical, or ‘portrait’ mode, the article you’re 

viewing appears in a standard view, with the ability to scroll through text 

and minimized graphics. The effect is much like reading a magazine or 

newspaper in column format, as you concentrate on the text.” 

Conversely, when flipped to horizontal or “landscape” mode, there is more of 

a “Wow!” factor as the visual beauty of the graphics shines forth. Images are 

larger and pack more pixels, so you get more of your Visual Adrenaline fix. 

Accompanying text still flows the way you’d expect, but you don’t sacrifice 

the graphics view. 

The app uses all the familiar navigation methods for iPad, iPhone, and iPod 

touch users: You can swipe and tap, and set up favorites at will. You’ll find 

links to the Intel® Visual Adrenaline Software Developer Program, and the 

all-important Feedback button lets you communicate your suggestions for 

improvements. 

“The articles look great on the iPad,” Naik said. “When we were designing 

this, we were pretty excited. The content is completely digital, and visually 

rich and vibrant, so we wanted to keep true to that. We didn’t want to 

clutter the interface with competing colors, so we actually kept it utilitarian, 

with simple icons and low contrast.” 

24

va app for ipad*, iphone*, and ipod touch* 

Intel® Visual Adrenaline articles get all the 

punch they deserve thanks to the new app’s 

attention to visual appeal. 

All the familiar content 

produced by Intel® Visual 

Adrenaline magazine’s awardwinning 

writers will be available 

on the Apple iPhone*. 

Additional Content Comes Alive 

We’re all familiar with the advantages of DVDs and Blu-ray* discs over the old VHS tapes— 

more content arrives at our fingertips, for a full 360-degree view. The Intel Visual Adrenaline 

app is similar in that regard, while using better navigation than a remote control can ever 

deliver. When you find an article that invites a deeper dive, you can easily spend more time on 

that topic. For example, many of the graphics that could accompany an article end up on the 

editorial room floor, metaphorically speaking, due to space constraints. Thanks to the Intel 

Visual Adrenaline app, readers can browse through picture galleries that didn’t make the print 

edition and view more photos, graphics, screenshots, and cut scenes. 

Expanding the Marketing Reach 

Tonya Degance, Intel visual computing marketing program manager and managing editor for 

Intel Visual Adrenaline magazine, said the new app demonstrates Intel’s solid commitment 

to helping the industry deliver Visibly Smart experiences on Intel® products and platforms. 

“We’ve worked hard to create an app that fits into our entire strategy for marketing to the 

development community and visual computing professionals. In just ten issues, we have 

compiled an amazing amount of content—too much for just the 

magazine, in fact. By streaming content through the new app, we can 

bring our readers even more information and let them pick and choose 

the content that most appeals to them.” 

The new app has 

a simple, one-page 

“user’s guide.” 

So head over to the app store and tell us what you think. Download 

the app, provide a review, and make your voice heard. We’re listening! • 

GET THE APP NOW! 

Extensive use of galleries makes 

the new Intel® Visual Adrenaline app 

easy to navigate. 


25

By John Gaudiosi 

WITH OVER 11 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS 

WORLDWIDE, Blizzard Entertainment keeps 

online gamers coming back for more World of 

WarCraft* (WoW) by consistently adding to the 

virtual world of Azeroth. Cataclysm* is the most 

ambitious expansion to date of the massively 

multiplayer online (MMO) fantasy role-playing 

game. While most of the attention has been 

focused on the new 3D facelift that the game 

has undergone, Cataclysm is pushing the linear 

aspect of interactive entertainment forward with 

its Hollywood-inspired, in-game cinematics. 

Much has changed at Blizzard Entertainment in 

a short period of time. “In the early days we 

were a much smaller group that came through 

school studying film,” said Jeff Chamberlain, 

project director at Blizzard Entertainment. “As 

we’ve grown, we’ve brought in a lot of the 

Hollywood talent, and they’ve been able to 

bring their experiences from those studios. It’s 

created a melting pot of Hollywood studios and 

video game developers, which has been very 

beneficial for us.” 

PUTTING THE WOW IN THE CINEMATICS OF 

WORLD OF 

WARCRAFT : 

* 

One such person who migrated from Hollywood 

to the game world is Terran Gregory, associate 

director for Cataclysm. Gregory said that films’ 

CATACLYSM * 

100-year history—including its more recent 

venture into computer animation—has given 

the craft a large head-start over video game 

storytelling. But the team at Blizzard has learned 

a lot from those years of filmmaking. “I would say 

gaming has probably learned about storytelling 

from Hollywood and maybe Hollywood has 

learned a little bit about technology from gaming,” 

said Gregory. 

Bringing Deathwing to Life 

Blizzard’s biggest endeavor yet on the cinematic 

front was introducing Deathwing to the WoW 

faithful and establishing what has become a 

very important character in the game universe. 

Marc Messenger, director for cinematics at 

Blizzard, said the role of pre-rendered cinematics 

goes beyond just watching the mini-movies. The 

team wants players to also see the cataclysmic 

events that are happening and then remember 

them later on. 

“We want the player to remember the cinematics 

and how they inform the in-game destruction 

to give a truly epic sense of what it would be 

like to stand in the presence of a thousandfoot 

wave or see fire streak across the sky,” 

explained Messenger. 

The process for bringing cinematics to life starts 

with brainstorming a vision and idea. In a nutshell, 

Messenger said it’s about finding a way to 

succinctly convey the character of the current 

expansion and make it as cool as possible. 

“We just sit down and roll through a bunch of 

ideas,” said Messenger. “On Cataclysm, in the 

first meeting, the game team had a strong idea 

of what the expansion was going to be, and we 

were able to get in sync pretty quickly.” 

“Once Marc and the crew had their idea down, 

we functioned as a normal Hollywood animation 

studio,” said Chamberlain. “We storyboard 

everything, have a fast iteration process, 

and then go through a series of reviews and 

approval processes. Once we are locked down on 

something we like, we start working like a normal 

animation studio with animation, modeling, and 

the typical artistic departments.” 

“One technology that we developed for Cataclysm 

was a new camera approach where we could 

actually get our 3D world using a motionrecorded 

camera so the director could film his 

subject in real time,” explained Chamberlain. “That 

added a little bit of flavor to the experience and 

made it more like a Hollywood project.” 


world of warcraft*: cataclysm* 

Gregory said that for the in-game cinematics, 

at some point during the production of Cataclysm, 

the development team saw an opportunity 

to have a couple of movies play within the 

gameplay experience. The team’s goal was to 

introduce Worgen and Goblin, the game’s new 

playable character races. 

“We were tasked with making sure these were an 

appropriate introduction to the characters,” said 

Gregory. “We wanted it to draw upon their entire 

kit, their mood, and their environment. The game 

introduces new places in the world never before 

seen, and we wanted to establish very succinctly 

in a cinematic art form what these races were 

like in those worlds and how they feel, so people 

would know what they had gotten into.” 

To bring those goals to life, Blizzard relied on 

an in-game pipeline that has evolved over the 

past six years. The technology was originally 

developed to produce game trailers and gameplay 

footage, but in recent years the team has 

received additional support and tools from 

the gameplay team. 

“New tools have helped us make things more 

cinematic in the game through the use of 

cameras, as well as the control and manipulation 

in real time of actors that we can work through,” 

said Gregory. “It’s a different world working with 

the game itself, instead of just 3D. Being able to 

walk around the environment as if you’re on a 

set with the actors, and really have a feel of the 

space as you move them around was important. 

We even had people piloting the characters 

around so it was like working with talent, instead 

of just working with objects.” 

These new advances have allowed the team 

to improve the visual fidelity of the characters 

in cinematics. Improved facial animation was 

just one element that brought more believable 

characters to life in the game. And Gregory said 

technology is constantly evolving, which means 

the next round of cinematics will push the bar 

even higher. 

The Future of Cinematics 

The ultimate goal of Blizzard’s cinematic teams is 

to get the player emotionally involved with the 

characters that they’re interacting with as the 


story unfolds. Technology plays a crucial 

role in helping the programmers, artists, and 

effects wizards conjure more believable and 

higher fidelity characters to which gamers can 

connect and identify. 

“Hopefully, if we get better at doing that along 

the way, someone playing the game may end 

up getting so emotionally involved that they 

end up crying or cheering,” said Chamberlain. 

“We received a really nice e-mail from a fan 

recently who said that after he watched one of 

our cinematics he had to run around the block 

pumping his fists and cheering, so that’s just 

awesome to know.” 

“It’s fascinating that we are at this place in time 

where we can move people emotionally through 

a video game,” added Chamberlain. “I don’t know 

The World Ends Better with the 

2nd Generation Intel® Core Processor Family 

World of WarCraft* players who experience the new Cataclysm* expansion on a 2nd gen 

Intel Core processor-based PC or laptop will be able to enjoy the full vision of the teams behind the 

massively multiplayer online (MMO) games’ cinematics and gameplay. Intel worked closely with the 

engineers at Blizzard Entertainment to ensure that the new expansion takes full advantage of the 

advanced processing power of the 2nd gen Intel Core processor. 

Throughout the development process, Intel provided Blizzard with access to architects, 

engineers, graphics specialists, and experts across different product groups to enable collaboration. 

Together, the technicians went through the online world frame by frame to make the most of the 

interactive experience. 

“We captured key frames using Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers and evaluated the most 

expensive components of that frame to find the bottlenecks,” explained Josh Doss, senior graphics 

software engineer at Intel. “We then worked with Blizzard to find ways to mitigate those bottlenecks. 

In doing so, it often increases the performance not only on our hardware, but also across the board on 

discrete hardware and for a general increase in performance.” 

The end result benefits everything from the game engine to the final gameplay experience and 

the visual fidelity of the game. Even the game’s cinematic performance receives a boost through this 

enhanced speed. 

Intel continues to work with Blizzard to ensure that its game developers are well informed about 

current and future technologies to help make the MMO world essentially future proof. For gamers, that 

means Azeroth will continue to grow in size and scope. And for 2nd gen Intel Core processor-based PC 

or laptop owners, this world has never looked better. 

if that could have been said twenty years ago at 

the dawn of video games. Now it seems like that 

line between simple gameplay and embracing 

a story is getting increasingly blurred. They’re 

becoming one and the same thing.” 

The other line that is becoming more blurred in 

video games is the one between cinematics and 

the gameplay experience. While there was once 

a huge downgrade in fidelity when the game 

transitioned to its playable form, PC gamers are 

able to more seamlessly wade into interactive 

experiences such as WoW today. 

“For in-game cinematics, there’s always the 

challenge of making the cinematic presentation 

not exclude the player,” said Gregory. “Technology 

plays a lot into that as we try and look for 

more ways to make the transition a seamless 

experience. With StarCraft* II and Cataclysm, 

we’ve started to include the player’s character 

in the cut scenes. We’re just getting into that 

now, and the future looks really bright with new 

technologies allowing us to achieve that.” 

Gregory said storytelling challenges remain, 

including how to tell a story that keeps the player 

involved around every corner. He said it takes 

a lot of creative solutions from a lot of creative 

people to make it a fun and engaging experience. 

Blizzard has been doing that well, to the tune 

of over 11 million devoted subscribers over the 

years. Looking ahead, advances in technology 

will allow for more cinematic experiences both 

in-game and outside of the gameplay to push 

players further in the fantasy world of Azeroth. • 


DIGITAL 

ARTISTS 

Justin Lassen and his friends reveal three ways 

that Intel® technology keeps them busy 

If there’s one breed of super-user that has truly 

benefited from Intel’s role in the computer 

revolution, it’s the digital artist. Improvements in 

multi-core CPU technology haven’t just spurred 

artistic creativity among digital content 

creators—they’ve unleashed their very souls. 

Digital art files routinely reach over a gigabyte in 

size, putting tremendous pressure on CPUs and 

RAM. Today, netbooks powered by the Intel® 

Atom processor serve as a readily available 

conduit to creativity, from capturing reverb in 

European cathedrals to recording crashing waves 

on California beaches. Ideas that might have 

been scribbled on a bar napkin can now be 

captured safely. 

Intel® Visual Adrenaline magazine has tracked the 

career of digital musician Justin Lassen since our 

earliest editions. For this issue, we checked back 

with Justin and talked to his artistic friends to 

learn what technology has done for them lately. 

Justin introduced three of his digital heroes: Kirsi 

Salonen, Alex Ruiz, and Erlend Mørk. 

Lassen credits Intel with bringing him in contact 

with this trio of creative souls. “As a result of my 

collaboration with Intel, I was able to meet and 

develop relationships with them. We did 

Synaesthesia together, and we’re like a family. 

We’re all so different and spread across the world. 

We would never have met if it weren’t for art 

and technology and that creative drive.” 

The impact of technology boils down to three 

key assists for digital artists: power, speed, 

and creativity. 

Harness the Power 

Better technology will always benefit powerhungry 

customers. But what, exactly, is the 

significance of that connection? 

Lassen believes part of the magic is how 

software vendors continue to upgrade tools to 

take advantage of the newest processors. “Studio 

One Pro* is optimized for Intel® multi-core CPUs. 

For a while, SONAR* was the only software truly 

optimized for multi-core, but Studio One Pro now 

does it. And more products are starting to come 

around. They’re getting ready for the future.” 

Kirsi Salonen, a dark fantasy author and digital 

artist from Finland, recently upgraded to 24 GB of 

RAM and a new Intel® Core i7 processor on an 

Asus P6T* motherboard. “The more layers you 

add to the picture, the more you need some 

serious power. Sometimes I have over 30 layers 

within one work. It’s easier to play with layers, 

and it helps to construct the image better than 

traditional painting.” 

HARNESS 

PC POWER 

Justin Lassen, 

digital composer. 

Like most digital artists, Salonen does her own 

technical support. “I earn my living through the 

computer, and it’s been my best friend (along 

with my dog, Wario) for over eight years. I’ve 

spent most of my adult years learning to paint 

digitally, so in a way I’m married to technology.” 

Digital artist and animator Alex Ruiz works in the 

heart of the digital art scene in Los Angeles. He’s 

worked on the television series The Simpsons, 

and he teaches digital art to aspiring students. 

“Since I use Photoshop* mostly, the faster and 

stronger the machine, the faster one can be in 

creating. Photoshop uses a lot of RAM, and since 

file sizes can get huge, it’s extremely important 

to have a good setup.” 


Ruiz depends primarily on Adobe Photoshop and 

Corel Painter*. “Those two programs are my 

main arsenal, but I’ll use other programs to 

create elements that have a look I can’t get in 

Photoshop or Painter. I’ll use 3D programs such 

as ZBrush*, SketchUp*, Bonzai3d*, and GroBoto* 

and bring those elements back in and paint over 

them. Sometimes you can find interesting 

programs online and create stuff in the 

actual browser.” 

Norwegian digital artist Erlend Mørk has been 

hailed as a great, dark surrealist, who starts with 

photographs and then brings in the drawing 

tablet and Adobe Photoshop to create moody, 

texturized landscapes and scenes. He has found 

himself on an upgrade treadmill, but rather than 

reject the premise of continual improvements, 

he’s embraced the paradigm. “I love the fact that 

the possibilities are increasing and a given 

challenge becomes easier with each new version 

of hardware and software. I use a laptop that was 

impressive a few years ago, but not today. I had 

to look up the specs: 2.53 GHz Intel® Core2 Duo 

[processor] P9500 and 4 GB RAM. I know 

painfully well that my computer is way 

under-powered. Four gigs of RAM is a cruel joke!” 

The Speed to Keep Up 

For Mørk, the computer has been both a boon 

and a curse. “Faster computers make it possible 

to work at higher bit depths and with increasingly 

complex layer and smart object configurations in 

Photoshop. But, I’m not sure it has made me more 

productive because I compensate for the time 

saved by attempting more advanced things. And I 

am spending more time on the average image 

than in the past. Hopefully for the better.” 

“I use only Adobe Photoshop. I’ve been using a lot 

of “focus stacking” software lately, such as 

Zerene Stacker* or Helicon Focus*.” So far, Mørk 

isn’t involved with beta programs or providing 

input to development teams. “Adobe is usually 

way ahead of me . . . I’ll think of a feature that 

would be handy, and find it’s often there already.” 

Lassen points to a subtle way that speed can 

help a digital artist. “Here’s the way I described it 

to the solid-state drive [SSD] team. Currently, 

even with a fast mechanical drive, when I load a 

project, I want to load up the 70-piece orchestra. 

Normally, that would take four to six minutes 

before I can start composing. That’s plenty of 

time to lose the idea completely. Or, say I wake up 

from a deep sleep and I want to get an idea down. 

So I go over to the computer and I’m like, ‘oh, man, 

Trado ut Admiratio 

(Surrender to Astonishment) 

(2010) by Alex Ruiz. Shown 

at the Hive Gallery Featured 

Artist show in LA. Ruiz uses 

Adobe Photoshop* and Corel 

Painter as his primary tools. 

I’ve got to wait ‘til this thing loads.’ By that time 

my inspiration has dulled or been tainted. But 

with SSDs, they’ve cut the load time down to 

45 seconds, max. It gives my idea a fighting 

chance to get recorded. 

“The best stuff that I make is usually created on 

the spot. It’s about being able to instantly create 

without waiting. SSDs are taking us closer to that 

dream. Normally we have to wait for the samples 

to load before we can get going.” 

Ruiz pointed out that speed is crucial to realizing 

some of his best ideas. “Digital creation is having 

the ability to create at the speed of thought, 

assuming one has a good control over the 

program tools. I can instantly bring in texture 

from photographs to influence the painting. I 

have easy access to color, canvas resizing, 

custom brushes, and a myriad of other things in 

one location. When you’re in that zone, you want 

a system that can keep up.” 

Capturing the Creative Spark 

The third empowering aspect of computational 

muscle is the idea that artists can capture 

creative moments without losing the spark. 

Sometimes, creativity is like a fire hose, and ideas 

just pour out. You don’t want to be tethered to 


digital artists 

your monster machine back in the office. Lassen 

points to the ability to use netbooks when 

traveling. “Inspiration happens anywhere, and 

now I can chronicle that and then take it back and 

do post-work on it. You want to be ready for that 

idea. Otherwise, when you drive back to the 

house, you won’t have the same idea.” 

Salonen recently completed her fantasy novel 

Ordera, supplying not only the text but artwork 

as well. On top of that, she’s finished commissions 

Desert Sand (2009) by Kirsi Salonen, is the 

portrait of a wild, proud, and free-spirited elfish 

girl. It has a painterly touch, mixed with realism. 

She considers it her “fantasy portrait.” 

and other projects, so being busy is just part of 

her DNA. A key for her is being able to work 

when the inspiration hits. “I’m extremely 

Whether composing soundtracks for feature films or video games, 

remixing pop songs, or assembling new hip-hop tunes, many musicians today 

rely on extensive audio sample libraries to bring their ideas to life. Sample 

libraries can comprise thousands of short recordings of anything from 

orchestral strings to rare world instruments, captured with varied volumes, 

playing techniques, and acoustic settings so musicians can have a full 

spectrum of sound at their fingertips. 

For musicians such as Justin Lassen who rely on digital audio workstations 

for composing and recording, traditional hard disk drives can produce 

significant bottlenecks in the creative workflow. Loading the massive libraries 

into software-based samplers and “virtual instruments” can be a timeconsuming 

process. Add to that the mechanical limitations and high failure 

rates of traditional hard disk drives, and musicians can face compositions 

and sample libraries that are vulnerable to loss. After years of experiencing 

dropped notes and audio glitches, including a devastating loss of years of 

work because of a hard drive crash, Lassen knew he needed a reliable, durable 

drive that would let him take his work on the road. 

spontaneous when it comes to working. I tend to 

work in dashes and do as much as possible 

without wearing myself out. I’m a sort of 

workaholic; I paint ‘til I drop on my keyboard. 

Sometimes I take one job at a time and focus on 

it, but sometimes it’s all multitasking. Doing art 

isn’t always a day job. Inspiration might strike in 

the middle of the night, and then I grab it.” 

Golden Weaver (2010) 

by Kirsi Salonen. 

Intel® Solid-State Drives Enhance Music Production 

Ruiz agrees, saying he has no real set pattern to 

his creativity. “Sometimes I’ll be incredibly 

disciplined for hours at a time, and other times I 

can’t stand more than five minutes of it! Music 

really helps, or putting a movie on in the 

background. I really never can tell what mood I’ll 

be in, but that’s when I have to ‘override’ myself 

and create whether I feel like it or not. The 

computer is a double-edged sword. I have all the 

tools and speed the machine has to offer, and at 

the same time I have the mother of all 

(continued on page 30) 

Self-Centered by Alex Ruiz. Ruiz has worked as an 

illustrator, concept artist, art instructor, and prolific 

digital artist. 

Lassen installed 300-GB Intel® Solid State Drives (Intel® SSDs) in his 

primary mobile workstation—an Apple MacBook* Pro with an Intel® Core i7 

processor. “In my environment, the Intel SSDs cut loading time for each multilayered 

instrument from five minutes to just 30 seconds,” he said. 

The Intel SSDs also helped eliminate dropped notes and audio problems 

experienced with hard disk drives. “With hard disk drives, I couldn’t play or 

perform many compositions in real time without glitches or dropped notes,” 

said Lassen. “And with Intel SSDs, I experienced zero dropped notes. These 

drives are performance ready, even for compositions with layered instrument 

patches or passages with repetitive, fast notes. These drives allow me to 

realize compositions that I envision, without limitations.” 

“When I wake up in the middle of the night with a great idea, the last 

thing I want to do is wait for instruments to load—I lose that inspiration,” said 

Lassen. “With Intel SSDs, I can start working almost instantly so I can capture 

the inspiration the moment I have it.” 


digital artists 

Experiment V (2009) 

by Erlend Mørk. 

Motten-Dämmerung (2010) by 

Erlend Mørk. The artist uses 

photography as a base for a 

dark, surrealistic feel. 


(continued from page 29) 

distractions at my fingertips . . . the Internet!” 

For Mørk, creativity is like a beast he’s tamed. “I 

work in measured periods. I’ll decide when I’m 

going to work, and I’ll try to do it whether the 

‘spirit’ is there or not. The inspiration is usually only 

there when I’m inventing the idea in my head, and 

from there to realizing it is simply work. These 

past weeks, I’ve been trying to shoot some chains 

correctly, and it is only later I’ll know for sure if it’ll 

contribute to the final work. There’s often a long 

delay between working and seeing the results.” 

The downside of computing power and speed at 

an artist’s fingertips is a dependence on the 

“undo” feature and continually reworking 

something. “You can always go back and undo 

mistakes,” said Ruiz. “This is great when you feel 

you’ve screwed something up. But it’s also a 

hindrance because it becomes a crutch . . . when 

you don’t necessarily need one. A lot of artists 

use this too much, and it keeps them from 

learning from their mistakes and progressing. As 

far as when the image is finished, it’s when the 

client says so! When it’s your own work, you can 

spend as long as you’d like, but sometimes that’s 

too long. Many times I post my work to my Web 

sites even though I might not feel it’s completely 

‘done.’ I remind my students (and myself) of the 

old saying in the movie business: ‘A film is never 

finished, it’s only released.’” 

Salonen agrees that computer-generated images 

are both a blessing and a curse. “I quote the 

French poet Paul Valéry here: ‘An artist never 

really finishes his work; he merely abandons it.’ 

This is how I see many of my works. When I’m 

nearly done with all the details, I take a break 

from the work for a couple of days before I 

declare it is complete.” 

Lassen has his own example. “I have a famous 

remix called Faint. I did it for Linkin Park, and it 

got millions of listens on YouTube*. But, I did two 

remixes. One, I spent two-and-a-half weeks 

slaving away to make it awesome, and it was 

popular. But the one that actually got famous 

was the one that I spent five hours on. I was in 

that mode of creating, and I didn’t feel like I did a 

great job on it, but I was going with the flow, 

feeling that spark of inspiration. So it’s funny how 

that works out.” 

Next Steps 

Like any good technology fans, Justin and his 

friends are happy to think about where the ride is 

headed. According to Mørk, it will be awhile 

before a digital print can compare with an oil 

painter’s original, with its infinite resolution, 

three-dimensional quality of the strokes, and 

potential to use just about any color pigment. 

“But those properties are only interesting to a 

certain point, and digital printing is already close 

enough for me.” 

Mørk says that, whatever comes next, he’ll sign 

up. “There are a lot of advantages and shortcuts 

in digital creation. I’m expecting great 

improvements in the future, and I’m envying 

those born today. It’s a shame people are 

frowning upon the ability to dispense with the 

technical difficulties of the past and take every 

shortcut that offers itself. Personally, I’m only 

interested in the final work, and my philosophy is 

to do it the easiest, cheapest, and most efficient 

way. I look forward to the time when I can simply 

hook my brain up to a computer and create the 

image by thinking it.” • 

32

RECOGNIZING THAT ENTHUSIASTS WHO 

CREATE MOVIES, music, and photos could benefit 

tremendously from the expertise of Intel value- 

added resellers that typically serve professional 

digital media creators, Intel recently launched the 

Intel® Digital Media “Creators” program. It takes 

a special breed of channel partner to cater to 

the needs of audio, video, and photography pros, 

who rely on PCs to deliver exceptionally high 

performance with 24/7 reliability. 

“Some of our top channel partners are experts 

in digital media,” said Brent McCray, enthusiast 

marketing manager at Intel. “We’re now working 

closely with them to launch hardware and 

software bundled solutions powered by some of 

Intel’s best technologies and tailor-made for the 

digital media enthusiast.” 

What constitutes a digital media enthusiast? 

“We’re focusing on two kinds of people,” McCray 

said. “The aspiring professional who, for example 

in music, perhaps has a band and plays gigs 

but hasn’t yet achieved ultimate fame, and the 

hobbyist who has a day job, but spends nights 

and weekends creating music, editing photos, and 

making videos.” 

The Intel ® Digital 

Media “Creators” 

Program 

PROFESSIONAL, HIGH-PERFORMANCE SOLUTIONS 

POWERED BY INTEL® TECHNOLOGIES BENEFIT 

DIGITAL MEDIA ENTHUSIASTS 

Intel tapped three powerhouse channel partners— 

PCAudioLabs, The3DShop.com, and BOXX 

Technologies—each experienced with the needs 

of creative professionals working in music and 

sound, photography, and video, respectively. “Our 

goals are three-fold: Provide targeted solutions 

for the enthusiast, listen and learn from our 

customers in each of these creative markets, 

and enable more customers around the world to 

deliver solutions to market in 2012 and beyond.” 

The 2nd generation Intel® Core i5 and Core i7 

processors are ideally suited for digital media 

creation at all levels. Thanks to new technologies 

that boost performance on demand and maximize 

data throughput, these new processors speed 

video editing and other multimedia tasks, such as 

image rendering and photo retouching, as well as 

audio recording, editing, and mastering. 

“We’re specifically using Intel Core i5-2500K and 

Core i7-2600K desktop processors that can take 

full advantage of Intel® Turbo Boost Technology, 

Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (on the 

Core i7), Intel® HD Graphics 3000, as well as 

overclockability, 1 allowing total creative freedom 

by maximizing performance to match your 

workload,” McCray said. “Of course, [Intel®] Xeon® 

processor-based workstations for professionals 

and mobile solutions are also available.” 

“The solutions we’re launching also feature Intel® 

desktop motherboards with Intel® Z68 chipset 

technology and Intel® Solid-State Drives—both 

311 and 320 series. Intel motherboards deliver 

exceptional performance, quality, and reliability. 

Among many other benefits, the Z68 chipset 

technology allows enthusiasts to affordably 

cache their favorite programs on their Intel 

SSD through Intel® Smart Response Technology, 

further accelerating the creative workflow.” 

Compared to traditional spinning hard disk 

“Powerhouse integrators 

and software vendors 

now make their 

expertise in out-of-thebox 

hardware/software 

solutions available to 

digital enthusiasts who 

create movies, music, 

and photos.” 

— BRENT MCCRAY, ENTHUSIAST 

MARKETING MANAGER AT INTEL 

1 Unlocked feature allowing for full CPU core overclocking is currently available exclusively on Intel® Core i7-990X, Intel® Core i7-2600K and Intel® Core i5-2500K processors. WARNING: Altering 

clock frequency and/or voltage may (i) reduce system stability and useful life of the system and processor, (ii) cause the processor and other system components to fail, (iii) cause reductions in system 

performance, (iv) cause additional heat or other damage, and (v) affect system data integrity. Intel has not tested, and does not warrant, the operation of the processor beyond its specifications. 

Intel assumes no responsibility that the processor, including if used with altered clock frequencies and/or voltages, will be fit for any particular purpose. 


digital media program 

drives, Intel SSDs help deliver breakneck speed and, with no moving parts, 

greater reliability. The Intel SSD 311 series has been optimized for Intel® 

Smart Response Technology, providing blazing SSD performance, at value 

SSD pricing, to boost use of high capacity hard drives. 

Access to Excellence 

Addressing the computing needs of digital content creators requires a deep 

understanding of the complex interdependencies between the hardware 

components and software applications. “We chose to work with PCAudioLabs, 

The3DShop.com, and BOXX Technologies,” McCray said, “because these 

channel partners are extremely successful at delivering a great computing 

experience to the crème de la crème of the industry—top film producers, 

music artists, recording studios, and photographers.” 

“Our approach is to make their expertise available to enthusiasts in out-ofthe-box 

hardware/software solutions that fit their needs as well as their 

pocketbooks. Each company will design three configurations to deliver “good, 

better, and best” performance, addressing differentiation, customization, and 

specialized services requirements.” 

Sound Experience: PCAudioLabs and 

Cakewalk SONAR* X1 Essentials 

ABOUT PCAUDIOLABS 

PCAudioLabs has been addressing the needs of professional musicians and 

producers for 10 years, with clientele including the U.S. Air Force, the Grand 

Ole Opry, Stevie Wonder, DJ Shorty, Hollywood Undead, and many other 

notable musicians, producers, and enterprises. This diverse group places high 

demands and even higher expectations on their digital audio and music tools. 

“We call our systems MCs—Music Computers—not PCs,” said Greg Butler, 

managing director of PCAudioLabs. “A general-purpose PC can handle a lot of 

tasks very well, such as running spreadsheets, using e-mail, or browsing the 

Internet. However, they’re not built from the ground up to handle the special 

needs of musicians and producers.” 

The PCAudioLabs Custom Shop specializes in building MCs tailored and 

optimized for the needs of its more discerning clients. The Rok Box* line 

of MCs are prebuilt turnkey solutions that have been tuned to specific 

music and audio applications. For the Intel Digital Media “Creators” program, 

PCAudioLabs is building Rok Boxes based on 2nd gen Intel Core i5-2500K 

and Core i7-2600K processors and running Cakewalk SONAR* X1 Essentials 

music software. As Butler said, “We think the 2nd generation Intel® Core 

processors are the best that have ever been made. They’ve opened up a 

whole new world for everyone who does audio—professionals, aspiring pros, 

and hobbyists alike.” 

ABOUT CAKEWALK SONAR* X1 

ESSENTIALS SOFTWARE 

Cakewalk is one of the leading providers of awardwinning 

digital audio recording software. The company’s 

flagship product, SONAR Producer, is one of the most 

advanced 64-bit digital audio workstations (DAWs) 

available. SONAR Essentials builds on Producer’s professional feature set, 

making creating music faster and easier than ever. Cakewalk has worked 

closely with Intel engineers for years, maintaining cutting-edge performance 

on Intel® platforms, so Cakewalk X1 Essentials was a natural choice for 

inclusion in the Intel Digital Media “Creators” program. 

“SONAR Essentials features the same redesigned user interface as SONAR 

Producer and gives users access to more audio tracks than DAWs costing 

twice as much,” said Michael Hoover, Cakewalk’s executive VP of products. 

“With its powerful collection of effects and instruments SONAR Essentials has 

everything an enthusiast needs to start creating music with ease.” 

Thanks to the enhancements and optimizations built into 2nd gen 

Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors, including the new 256-bit AVX 

instruction set that delivers twice the data throughput of the previous 

generation of Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions instructions, the software 

is highly responsive and musical. 

Picture-Perfect Performance: 

The3dShop.com and 

Cyberlink PhotoDirector* 2011 

ABOUT THE3DSHOP.COM 

The3DShop.com has been serving the needs of high-end professional 

designers and 3D artists since 1997. According to CEO, C. K. Tan, the Intel 

Digital Media “Creators” program is an exciting opportunity to reach a much 

wider audience. “We’ve never focused on building machines for hobbyists 

or aspiring professional photographers before,” Tan said. “We get calls 

to custom build machines that are optimized for Adobe Photoshop*, but 

they’re usually from high-end customers whose primary concerns are 

performance and durability, as well as our ability to provide support.” 

For the Intel Digital Media “Creators” program, systems designers at 

The3DShop.com applied their knowledge of building high-end workstations 

for photographers and other digital media professionals to create offthe-shelf 

solutions that take advantage of the latest Intel® technologies. 

“Hobbyists don’t need a dedicated graphics card,” Tan said, “because 2nd 

generation Intel Core processors feature Intel HD Graphics, increasing 

performance for all levels of photographers.” 

“These processors substantially reduce the amount of time it takes to apply 

filters to high-resolution photos with user-friendly photo-editing software 

such as CyberLink’s new PhotoDirector* 2011,” Tan continued. “And 

because PhotoDirector is optimized for Intel® Quick Sync Video hardwareaccelerated 

encoding technology, creating a web photo gallery to share 

with family and friends is fast and easy.” 

Like the other program partners, The3DShop.com is offering three versions 

of its GraVT* (pronounced “gravity”) Luminous series computers designed 

to deliver good, better, and best levels of performance. The systems include 

2nd gen Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processors, Intel motherboards, Intel SSDs, 

DDR3-1333 RAM, memory card readers, and the option to add a Samsung 

calibrated monitor. 


digital media program 

ABOUT CYBERLINK PHOTODIRECTOR* 2011 

CyberLink is no stranger to offering professional features 

in easy-to-use media creation software for enthusiasts. 

CyberLink’s top-selling applications for consumers were among 

the first to take full advantage of 2nd gen Intel Core i5 and 

Core i7 processors and Intel Quick Sync Video hardware- 

accelerated encoding. When The3DShop.com and Intel set out to choose a 

powerful, user-friendly photo management and editing tool to bundle, they 

turned to CyberLink PhotoDirector 2011. 

“We’re thrilled to be 

part of the Intel Media 

‘Creators’ program,” said 

Louis Chen, CyberLink 

director of product 

marketing. “We’ve 

worked closely with 

Intel, optimizing our 

software to deliver 

maximum performance. And thanks to Intel Quick Sync Video technology, 

PhotoDirector delivers blazing performance for tasks such as photo 

rendering and retouching.” 

At press time, CyberLink PhotoDirector 2011 was in the final stages of 

pre-release testing. Designed for passionate photographers, the software 

delivers exceptional performance, allowing users to import, manage, edit, 

and share photos easily. Supporting a wide range of image formats— 

including RAW—PhotoDirector includes a lightbox mode for previewing and 

browsing pictures, the ability to display important camera metadata, and 

powerful, non-destructive editing tools optimized for the 2nd gen Intel Core 

processor family. 

Dream Systems: BOXX Technologies and 

Cyberlink PowerDirector* 9 

ABOUT BOXX TECHNOLOGIES 

For over 10 years, BOXX Technologies has been designing high-performance 

workstations and rendering systems for creative professionals working in 

video, special effects, animation, and design visualization industries. Customers 

such as Disney and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers turn to BOXX when they 

need purpose-built systems designed around their workflow. 

“Our customers place high demands on their hardware and software,” said 

Shoaib Mohammed, VP of marketing and business development for BOXX 

Technologies. “And because we understand all aspects of creative workflows, 

including hardware and software, we’re able to deliver fast, innovative, and 

reliable customized solutions that meet our customers’ needs.” 

For the Intel® Digital Media “Creators” program, BOXX is offering three turnkey 

systems based on 2nd generation Intel® Core i5-2500K and Core i7-2600K 

processors. These systems feature Intel® motherboards with the Z68 chipset, 

Intel® HD Graphics, Intel® Solid-State Drives (Intel® SSDs), and up to 16-GB 

DDR3-1333 RAM. 

“For the first time, we’re using Intel HD 

Graphics, which integrates high-performance 

graphics and media processing right on the 

processor,” Mohammad said. “Along with 

other Intel technologies such as Intel Quick 

Sync Video, we are confident that we’re 

providing an optimal bundled software 

and hardware solution for hobbyists and 

aspiring professionals.” 

For optimal performance, BOXX paired 2nd gen Intel Core i7 and Core 

i5 processors with Intel SSDs, which significantly out-perform standard 

HDDs. “BOXX is in a constant state of innovation—always incorporating and 

advancing the latest and greatest technology,” Mohammed said. “SSDs have 

made tremendous strides, providing increased capacity at attractive prices. 

We’re extremely pleased with Intel SSDs.” 

Mohammed considers the Intel Digital Media “Creators” program an incredible 

opportunity for enthusiasts. “We’ve been serving the needs of professional 

studios for well over a decade, but until now, our high performance 

systems were often out of reach for aspiring pros and hobbyists. We’re very 

excited to be able to offer these customers turnkey solutions that include 

maximum-performance components from Intel.” 

ABOUT CYBERLINK POWERDIRECTOR 9 

BOXX worked closely with the Intel Software and 

Services Group to choose the appropriate video software 

solution and then design its hardware to support it. The 

teams chose CyberLink PowerDirector 9. As the first 

64-bit consumer video editor, CyberLink PowerDirector 

9 offers enthusiasts a powerful, intuitive tool set for polishing and enhancing 

HD video shot with consumer electronics devices, including smartphones, video 

and DSLR cameras, webcams, and more. Because CyberLink engineers worked 

closely with Intel application engineers to tune and optimize PowerDirector for 

the 2nd gen Intel Core processor family and Intel Quick Sync Video integrated 

media processing, users can handle complex HD footage fluidly. And once their 

projects are complete, converting the footage to a variety of popular devicefriendly 

formats is quick and easy. 

“We’re seeing up to 10x 

faster video encoding, 

playback, and conversion 

with 2nd generation 

Intel Core i5 and [Core] 

i7 processors, thanks 

to deep parallelism, 

increased throughput, 

and hardwareaccelerated 

encoding 

offered by Intel Quick Sync Video technology,” said Louis Chen, CyberLink 

director of marketing. “We’re very happy to be a part of the Intel Digital Media 

‘Creators’ program, and think enthusiasts will benefit greatly from these new 

purpose-built hardware and software solutions.” • 


India’s Animators Set Blazing 

Growth Pace with Intel Computing 

Can you name the country that leads the world 

in movie ticket sales and the number of films 

produced? It’s not the United States. According 

to online sources, that country is India. Thanks 

to the huge demand for entertainment, India 

has become a hotbed for computer graphics and 

animation. Studios and producers from all over 

the world are turning to India for help with 

animation projects. India offers talented 

technicians, competitive pricing, and finished 

work of the highest quality, on blockbuster 

titles you’re sure to recognize. 

India’s first animated film, Agent Vinod, 

featured, amid the traditional singing and 

dancing common to movies from “Bollywood”, 1 

an animated scene with actor Jagdeep flying 

around Bombay holding balloons. From that 

humble start, animation and visual effects have 

grown considerably. Just last year, seven films 

wrapped production in a 12-month period, 

including Toonpur Ka Superhero, Luv Kush—The 

Warrior Twins, and Ramayana the Epic. Vikram 

Bhatt’s upcoming movie, Haunted, is apparently 

India’s first stereoscopic 3D film. According to 

INDUSTRY 

SNAPSHOT 



the 2011 FICCI-KPMG Indian Media and 

Entertainment Industry Report (Frames Report) 

the Indian animation industry is predicted to 

grow from the present USD 1.8 billion to USD 

2.9 billion by 2015. 

Powered by growth in cable access, digital 

content, and the services industry, India’s 

economy grew by more than 8 percent per 

year from 2004 to 2010, according to 

tradingeconomics.com. While China leads the 

world’s population with 1.3 billion people, 

India is right behind at 1.2 billion, and with an 

economy larger than USD 4 trillion, the country 

places fourth in gross domestic product. From 

any angle, India is a captivating story, but one of 

its most fascinating sectors is its animation and 

visual effects (VFX) industry, as highlighted in 

the Frames Report. 

Published annually, the Frames Report is a joint 

venture between KPMG International and FICCI. 

It covers television, print, radio, music, and other 

entertainment activity, and in sector after 

sector, India presents a compelling growth story. 

Animated scene from The Mummy: Tomb 

of the Dragon Emperor (2008, Universal 

Pictures), created in part by the Indian 

animation studio subsidiary of 

Los Angeles-based Rhythm & Hues. 

1 “Bollywood,” a combination of “Bombay” (Mumbai’s former name) and “Hollywood,” is the name given to the Mumbai-based Hindi language film industry. 


36

india’s animation industry 

To explore the importance of technology at a pair 

of leading animation studios, Visual Adrenaline 

reached out to executives at Crest Studios, a local 

production house, and Rhythm & Hues, an 

international producer with developers in India. 

They discussed their technology infrastructure 

and the importance of Intel-based systems, and 

demonstrated their enthusiasm for future 

product development. 

Cutting Down 

Compute-Years 

Starting in 1987, Rhythm & Hues transitioned 

from creating simple flying logos to more 

challenging animation. Today it creates Academy 

Award-winning VFX. Gautham Krishnamurti, CTO 

at Rhythm & Hues, described how his company 

grew into a powerhouse in the global animation 

industry. “In 1999, we acquired VIFX from 20th 

Century Fox, and in 2001 we opened our first 

international studio in Mumbai, India. In 2007, 

we expanded to Hyderabad, India, followed by 

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2009. We are currently 

opening a facility in Vancouver, British Columbia.” 

The company currently employs over 1,400 

workers in three countries. Recent and upcoming 

projects include Mr. Popper’s Penguins (Fox), 

X-Men: First Class (Fox), Life of Pi (Fox), Everybody 

Loves Whales (Universal), Alvin and the 

Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked (Fox), Moneyball (Sony), 

and Snow White and the Huntsman (Universal). 

Gauth explained that significant changes have 

recently occurred in his industry. The VFX 

requirements have become significantly more 

challenging, while the production schedules have 

grown tighter. “It took us 2,000 compute-years 

to render the imagery seen in HOP,” an Easterthemed 

movie released in early 2011 that was 

produced by Universal Studios and Illumination 

Entertainment. “Prior to that, our most intensive 

job only took 400 compute-years. We had to 

scale our infrastructure eight-fold to handle that 

show’s demands,” he said. 

E.B., the star of the movie HOP. 

machines with four to eight gigabytes of RAM. 

Today, they range from quad-core to dual six-core 

machines, with 24 to 64 GB of RAM.” 

Gauth reserves the most powerful workstations 

to handle the most compute intensive tasks. 

“Some VFX artists have access to 24-core Intel 

processors with 64 GB of RAM,” he said. “Some 

simulations take up to five days to compute.” 

Rendering imagery is his most expensive compute 

operation, but with shrewd investments, their 

latest batch of rendering servers, which rely on 

Intel® Core i7 processors, has met the challenge. 

While technology issues have been solved with 

hardware investments, hiring artists to run those 

machines has been difficult. “Finding suitable 

talent is a global problem,” according to Gauth. 

“All of our facilities have the same issue—having 

to train a lot of the artists—so we created 

apprentice programs for the various disciplines.” 

Hooray for Bollywood! 

While speaking with AK Madhavan, CEO of Crest 

Animation Studios Ltd., his passion and enthusiasm 

for the Indian animation industry was contagious. 

In 1999, Crest delved into long format animation 

in the computer-graphics animation space. “I think 

we have established credibility and a comfort level 

among several ‘big boys,’ like Universal, Sony, and 

Lions Gate, and we are doing some great work 

for Disney and DreamWorks. So the industry has 

grown fairly well in the outsourcing model,” he said. 

“I believe that in the television space, India delivers 

much higher quality than other Asian outsourcing 

facilities. We’ve moved from work for hire to 

co-owning intellectual properties and building our 

own ideas.” 

The key behind Crest’s growth has been continual 

investment in technology, according to Madhavan. 

“Over the years we made many mistakes; we 

The growing power of multi-core CPUs with 

hyper-threading have made Rhythm & Hues 

rethink its programming paradigm. “Our compute 

infrastructure includes workstations 

and render nodes, and our latest hardware uses 

Intel® processors. A few years ago, most of our 

compute infrastructure comprised dual-core 

Source: FICCI-KPMG Indian Media and 

Entertainment Industry Report 2011. 


india’s animation industry 

Clockwise from top left: Scene from The Incredible Hulk 

(2008, Marvel) was created in part by Rhythm & Hues 

Studio; HOP; The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian; 

and The Golden Compass. 

learned by falling down and getting back up. In those days, we didn’t know 

how to build a storage system, so we used the workstation hard disks to do our 

renders. We soon realized that wasn’t enough. When faced with a bottleneck in 

terms of a networking issue or storage, we solved the problem and moved on. 

It gives me great pride to say that we didn’t miss a single air date.” 

Today, Crest boasts state-of-the-art systems that rival any global studio, another 

source of pride for Madhavan. “On the floor today we have about 400 graphic 

seats, using Hewlett-Packard and IBM workstations. About a year ago we added 

30 or 40 Dell workstations. Our storage servers and render farms are largely HP. 

We use Intel processors—multi-core, quad-core—and all kinds of configurations.” 

Setting the Stage for a Bright Future 

Madhavan is enthusiastic about the future of India’s animation industry. 

“When it comes to technology and the creative competence, we’re far ahead of 

China, Philippines, Korea, Malaysia, and even Singapore. A lot of Indian 

production facilities are delivering great animation quality for the television 

and the DVD market space. We are a long way from doing feature films, but 

we’re far ahead of many Asian countries in the long format space.” 

After nearly a decade of growth, Madhavan believes India has an edge in 

terms of developed talent. “It’s not only because we are an English-speaking 

country, but we’ve also adapted to the cartoons and humor. If you see Alpha 

and Omega, you will find in the credit list 260 names—all Indian talent—who 

worked on the movie.” 

Summary 

Thanks to big investments in technology and infrastructure, India’s animators 

and VFX artists are taking on more complex projects and pushing their skills 

to the limit. It’s only a matter of time before full-length animated feature films 

are the norm. Until then, expect many more glowing reports from industry 

boosters, and hang on for the ride. • 


New Intel Center Driving the 

Future of Visual Computing 

Imagine exploring Paris through a digital window in your living room, using a camera to capture a 3D blueprint of your house to 

plan your next remodel, or trying on clothing in a virtual dressing room that shows how fabrics flow with your every move. These 

are a few potential applications of visual computing, a fast-growing field of technology that combines photorealism, HD video, 

and audio, interactivity, and computational modeling to enable real-time, life-like immersive experiences. 

The demand for visual computing is accelerating in parallel with increasing computational power that enables the processing of 

complex visual data, the proliferation of mobile devices, and the demand for improved user experiences. In the future, people will 

use their computing platforms to interact with the world in richer ways, letting them enjoy realistic simulated experiences that 

blur the line between the physical and virtual worlds. 

Investing in the Future 

In January 2011, Intel announced the Intel Science and Technology Center 

(ISTC) program, which will invest approximately USD 100M over the next five 

years on collaborative academic research centers. The first of these centers is 

the Intel Science and Technology Center for Visual Computing (ISTC-VC), which 

is focused on the development of innovations in life-like computer graphics, 

natural user interfaces, and realistic virtual humans that will in the future 

make people’s technology experiences more immersive. The goal is to drive 

visual computing applications that not only look, act, and feel real, but also 

accelerate the pace at which these innovations reach consumers. 

The ISTC-VC, launched in Q1 of 2011, is a collaboration between Intel and 

experts from eight top U.S. universities: Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, UC 

Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, and the University of Washington. Stanford is the 

hub of the virtual center, driving projects that will explore fundamental research 

problems and potential applications in this emerging space. 

The center is co-led by Stanford professor, Pat Hanrahan, and Intel Senior 

Principal Engineer, Jim Hurley. To date, the center has engaged 30 academic 

researchers and 45 graduate students. The ISTC-VC also expands the work of 

the Intel Visual Computing Institute in Germany, at Saarland University, launched 

in 2009 as Intel’s hub for visual computing research in Europe. The two centers 

will coordinate their work and team up on complementary projects. 

While much of the research of the ISTC-VC will focus on the development of 

systems and application software to enable visual computing, Intel will use 

the results to guide the development of future hardware platforms. Intel has 

been at the forefront of developing hardware to enable visual computing, most 

recently with the January launch of the 2nd generation Intel® Core processor 

family microarchitecture (formerly code-named Sandy Bridge). The new 

processor is delivered on Intel’s cutting-edge 32nm process technology and 

combines the GPU and CPU to deliver powerful graphics and computational 

capabilities to a broad range of devices. 

Overview of the Research 

The work of the ISTC-VC is divided into four overlapping research themes: 

scalable real-time simulation, perceiving people and places, content creation, 

and graphics and systems. Intel is funding the research, but the findings and 

software prototypes developed by the center will be made widely available 

to the research community, encouraging the development of new visual 

computing applications and supporting technology. 

Real-Time Simulation 

The simulation of physical phenomena is central to visual computing—from 

light transport and appearance to the dynamics of fluids and solids, the 

movement of virtual characters, and increasingly the sounds these systems 

make. Such multi-sensory simulations are notoriously expensive to compute 

making it difficult to realize real-time simulations and develop simulation 

applications for mobile computing. 

This theme will address physics-based simulation and multi-sensory rendering 

in an integrated and connected manner: light, motion, and sound. Research 

will focus on the unique challenges that simulated virtual characters 

pose. In addition, this theme will explore the computational challenges of 

scalable simulation as it relates to multi-physics and multi-sensory software 

integration, parallel and distributed computing, interactive and hard real-time 

computation, model complexity (for example, planetary-scale simulation), the 

spectrum of computing platforms (from mobile to the cloud), and ever-present 

memory and bandwidth concerns. 

Perceiving People and Places 

The proliferation of digital cameras, coupled with explosive progress in 

computer vision, has led to major breakthroughs in sensing technologies. 

These technologies will impact our everyday lives—in cameras, maps, and 

search capabilities—with many more uses on the way (cars, personal 

robotics, smart homes, and so on). These advances are due mainly to the 


intel science and technology center 

(Clockwise from top left) 3D models of a woven wool scarf (created at Cornell 

University), faucet dripping water (Cornell University), and facial muscles 

(Stanford University). One goal of the researchers is to produce simulations 

with integrated light, sound, and motion, driven by physics-based algorithms. 

recent development of extremely accurate and robust low-level computer 

vision algorithms for feature detection, matching, and 3D measurement. The 

next wave of breakthroughs will be defined by the ability to infer high-level 

functional and semantic information about people and environments from 

images and video. Beyond determining if a person is present, next-generation 

systems will reliably perceive who it is and what that person is doing, down to 

the level of actions and activities. 

Such capabilities are already beginning to transform gaming experiences 

through 3D camera-based motion detection and control, but this is just the 

beginning. Similarly, next-generation 3D vision systems will go beyond raw 

depth measurement to also being able to perceive the functional and semantic 

content of the scene. While current 3D-modeling methods represent the 

scene as an unorganized mass of points or triangles, next-generation systems 

will recognize what is in the scene—doors, chairs, stairs, sidewalks, windows, 

tables, and other components. Beyond scene visualization, these new 

capabilities will enable applications—such as home remodeling previsualization 

and building searchable, functional 3D city models from online 

imagery, and light detection and ranging (LIDAR) data—that will enhance 

online virtual worlds. 

Content Creation 

Creating visual content is difficult. Consider any visual medium: photographs, 

video, 3D models, diagrams and illustrations, realistic 3D renderings, animation, 

slide presentations, Web page design, games, and so on. The software tools 

for creating such visual media usually include sophisticated interfaces that 

provide precise and flexible control over the content. Yet, they are dauntingly 

difficult to learn to use effectively. Although cameras now allow anyone 

to easily capture photos and video, tools for manipulating such media and 

creating other forms of visual content remain accessible only to experts. 

We believe that two recent trends offer the promise of enabling a significantly 

wider set of everyday users (of all skill levels) to produce visual content: 

• Collaboration via the Internet. The World Wide Web allows people to work 

together and take advantage of complementary skills to collaboratively 

create content. Already content-sharing sites such as Flickr* and 

YouTube* allow people to add photos and video to their visual projects. 

Crowd sourcing frameworks (for example, Amazon Mechanical Turk* or 

CrowdFlower*) allow requesters to post content creation tasks that other 

workers can fulfill for small payments. Multi-player games provide other 

types of incentives to create content. We believe that such collaboration 

will fundamentally change the way people create visual content. 

• New sensing hardware for input. Mobile devices have recently made 

video cameras, microphones, and multi-touch screens commonplace. 

Similarly, gaming systems are poised to make 3D cameras and 

accelerometers inexpensive and ubiquitous. Such sensors enable 

simple, direct gestural interaction and can provide greater recognition of 

context. We expect that developing content creation interfaces that take 

advantage of such hardware will increase accessibility of these tools to 

a much wider set of users. 


intel science and technology center 

Semantically labeled 3D model, suitable for urban planning (University of Washington). 

Graphics and Systems 

Research 

To create the future architectures needed to 

support advances such as those outlined in 

the above three themes, ISTC-VC researchers 

will explore next-generation architectures and 

tools that address the following four crucial 

technology trends: 

• Personal computing is increasingly moving 

away from traditional desktop computers 

toward mobile devices, ranging from laptops 

to tablets to pocket-sized computers, phones, 

and other battery-powered devices. This is 

creating a need to design systems that focus 

on mobility with an emphasis on poweraware 

design, miniaturization, and efficient 

computing given a minimal cost, power, and 

volume budget. 

• Just as computing is moving away from 

traditional PCs onto mobile devices, 

computing is also moving in a new direction— 

into the cloud—which can deliver superior 

reliability, cost savings, and scalability 

compared to the desktop. 

• GPU design is evolving from an emphasis 

on pure fixed function designs to a much 

more programmable design philosophy that 

promises to provide algorithm flexibility 

and programmer productivity, and improve 

overall system efficiency. This trend is 

likely to result in heterogeneous graphics 

systems with heterogeneity at many levels: 

fine-grained (such as integer versus floatingpoint 

arithmetic logic units (ALUs)), medium- 

grained (such as rasterization or texture 

filtering units), and coarse-grained (CPU cores 

versus GPU cores). Determining the right 

mix of units and programming the resulting 

heterogeneous systems is one of the grand 

systems design challenges in computing. 

• Finally, at all levels of computing, from 

mobile to desktop to the cloud, the gap is 

growing between the capabilities of the 

hardware—what the system can do—and the 

delivered performance of the software—what 

the system actually does. As the hardware 

becomes more complex, more parallel, and 

more heterogeneous, there is a real and 

growing need to solve the programmability 

problem by building software that allows 

programmers and users to make the most 

of the hardware. These trends will affect 

designs, implementations, and software 

support for future graphics systems of all 

sizes, from small, inexpensive mobile systems 

to traditional single-node. 

Creating the Future 

It is difficult to imagine all the potential visual 

computing experiences that will be possible in 10 

years, but with the launch of ISTC-VC, Intel hopes 

to drive the development of the technologies 

required to realize them. By bringing together the 

top minds in the field, in Europe and now across 

the United States, Intel has made a substantial 

commitment to advancing the future of visual 

computing, for the benefit of researchers and 

consumers alike. • 

Researchers at the University of Washington are 

exploring ways to segment photos of people into 

components that can be tagged, tracked, and 

manipulated to create new 3D content. 

While current 

3D-modeling 

methods represent 

the scene as 

an unorganized 

mass of points or 

triangles, nextgeneration 

systems 

will recognize what 

is in the scene— 

doors, chairs, stairs, 

sidewalks, windows, 

tables, and other 

components. 


NEXT WAVE 

OF THE CONSUMER 

VIDEO REVOLUTION 

RIDING THE 

The latest video-processing apps from 

CyberLink and Roxio tap into the power of the 

2nd generation Intel® Core processor family 

THE CONSUMER VIDEO RENAISSANCE IS IN 

FULL SWING, thanks to technological innovations 

that make it possible for anyone to create 

professional-looking HD videos, complete with 

Hollywood-style transitions, effects, graphics, 

sound, and animation. Modern video and still 

cameras, smartphones, and webcams are all 

capable of shooting and storing high-quality HD— 

even stereoscopic 3D (S3D)—video digitally. And 

a new generation of software from companies 

such as CyberLink and Roxio offers hobbyists and 

serious enthusiasts powerful yet uncomplicated 

tools for ease in editing, converting, and sharing 

their movies, photos, and music creations. 

CyberLink Media Creation, 

Playback, and Sharing 

Applications 

CyberLink specializes in designing software 

solutions that showcase the latest advances in 

processing power. It also markets its own line of 

video software. So when PCs equipped with 2nd 

gen Intel® Core processors hit the market earlier 

this year, CyberLink was ready with versions 

of its top-selling applications for consumers— 

CyberLink PowerDirector*, MediaEspresso*, 

PowerDVD* 3D, and YouCam*—all tuned and 

optimized to tap into hardware-accelerated Intel® 

Quick Sync Video media processing and the multithreading 

capabilities built into the 2nd gen Intel® 

Core i5 and Core i7 processors. 

BY DOMINIC MILANO 

For CyberLink customers, those performance 

optimizations translate to usability. “We surveyed 

our users and discovered they all wanted one 

thing—to be able to edit faster,” said Louis Chen, 

director of product marketing at CyberLink. “We’re 

seeing a significant performance boost using 

the latest generation of the Intel Core processor 

family thanks to deep parallelism, greatly 

increased throughput, and integrated media 

processing. In some cases, video encoding, 

playback, and conversion is up to 10x faster.” 

PowerDirector 9 Ultra64, billed as the 

world’s first native 64-bit consumer video 

editor, utilizes all the RAM on the system 

and reduces the time it takes for HD footage 

to load. Together with new TrueVelocity* 

Technology, including TrueVelocity Parallel and 

TrueVelocity Accelerator, users can handle 

multiple layers of HD video and graphics 

overlays, and perform picture-in-picture 

effects with multiple streams of HD video, all 

in real time. That sort of power previously was 

the exclusive domain of professional video 

software and high-end workstations. 

“Our goal was to deliver the best aspects of 

high-end functionality without making the 

software overly complicated,” said Chen. That 


consumer video revolution 

Video Format Jargon Decoder 

• 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound—Describes the number of speakers plus subwoofers in home and 

theatrical sound systems. 

• Codec—A combination of two words that describe its function: COmpression, DECompression. 

• FLV—FLash Video, a container format for H.264-format video and audio files used by Adobe 

Flash* Player technology. PowerDVD* doesn’t support legacy codecs supported by Flash. 

• MKV—MatrosKa Video file, a container format capable of housing many different codecs, including 

H.264 (also known as MPEG-4 part 10). It is popular in different geographic regions thanks to its 

support for a wide range of subtitle formats. 

• Transcoding—Converts file formats, a necessary process because there’s no universal video 

format for viewing content across consumer electronics devices. 

focus on ease of use is evident at every 

stage of the video workflow. For example, 

PowerDirector supports a “file-based” workflow 

that lets users handle video clips stored in the 

latest digital formats, for use in devices such 

as smartphones, camcorders, point-and-shoot 

cameras, Canon and Nikon DSLRs, and webcams. 

Bringing video clips into PowerDirector is as 

simple as connecting your device’s storage 

media to your computer, browsing to the files, 

and choosing to import them as individual 

clips or a batch of clips. Most of the complexity is 

hidden from newbies, but easily discoverable by 

more advanced users. 

In another nod to more advanced users, 

the timeline—a ubiquitous feature in both 

professional and consumer video-editing apps— 

supports up to 100 video tracks and key-frame 

animation, as well as numerous advanced editing 

and enhancement tools that provide added 

control and flexibility. PowerDirector 9 Ultra64 

even includes Audio WaveEditor, a stand-alone 

sound editor. 

The “Magic Movie” templates let anyone get 

expert results with minimum effort. For example, 

the Slideshow Designer lets users choose from 

eight styles, add their photographs to the 

timeline, pick a soundtrack, and in the blink of 

an eye get a slideshow timed to the music and 

appearing as if a professional motion graphics 

artist labored over it for days. 

When it’s time to share your creations, it’s easy 

to output projects to YouTube* and Facebook* 

in full 1920x1080 resolution HD, send them to 

all sorts of handheld devices, game platforms, 

smartphones, and tablets, or save them in a 

number of popular file formats. Simply choose 

a device and a quality setting, and press 

start. PowerDirector’s batch conversion is 

another feature typically reserved for high-end 

applications. And because PowerDirector is 

optimized to take advantage of Intel® Quick Sync 

Video hardware-accelerated encoding that’s 

built into 2nd gen Intel Core processors, format 

conversions are completed in minutes, not hours. 

CyberLink MediaEspresso is a universal media 

converter that lets users transcode their video, 

photos, and music files into 90 various devicefriendly 

formats. Like PowerDirector 9 Ultra64, 

CyberLink MediaEspresso 6.5 supports Intel Quick 

Sync Video hardware transcoding. In addition, 

optimizations for deep parallelism in 2nd gen Intel 

Core i5 and Core i7 processors along with Intel® 

Media SDK-enabled CPU/graphics load balancing 

help support multi-session background batch 

encoding, for a lightning-fast video conversion 

experience. 

Fast Format Conversion 

Comes to Home Theater 

With PowerDVD 11, a universal media player, 

CyberLink’s video expertise reaches the home 

theater enthusiasts. PowerDVD lets users extend 

their viewing experience beyond their PCs, so 

they can watch video in virtually any format on 

their home theater system or on smartphones, 

tablets, CE devices, and more. 

HD Video Conferencing for Fun and Pleasure 

Many of the same automated processes that PowerDVD* 11 Ultra 

supports are available in CyberLink YouCam*, which uses Intel® Quick Sync 

Video technology to let users record HD video with a webcam. They can 

also add and interact with various special effects, augment reality with 

virtual objects, and add effects to indicate emotions while chatting with 

friends. And posting YouCam recordings on YouTube* and Facebook* is an 

easy, straightforward process. 

S3D Lingo 

• Stereoscopic 3D (S3D)—Not to be confused with 3D animation and 

graphics, S3D projects two images, separated by a short distance to fool 

the brain into perceiving depth in much the same way that the distance 

between our left and right eyes gives us depth perception. 

• Side-by-side—A technique that places left and right stereo images next 

to each other. In years past, S3D films were projected by placing two 

projectors side by side. 

• Over-under—A technique that places left and right stereo images one 

atop the other. 


“Many of our more technically savvy users like 

PowerDVD because our extensive format support 

includes MKV and FLV—two formats that are 

quite popular,” said Chen. “These users tend 

to have large collections of DVDs and Blu-ray* 

Discs and want to be able to access their media 

collection wherever they are. They also want 

maximum image quality and sonic fidelity in 5.1 

or 7.1 surround sound at very high bit rates.” 

PowerDVD 11 Ultra was the first Blu-ray 

3D-certified player for PCs. Users can experience 

S3D movies at home by using Intel hardwareaccelerated 

decoding of Blu-ray 3D Multiview 

Video Coding (MVC). This process outputs bit 

streams through an industry-standard HDMI 

1.4 connection to the latest generation of S3D 

televisions and projectors. 

In addition, PowerDVD features unique 

TrueTheater* Technology that boosts SD video to 

S3D at HD resolution. Utilizing the 2nd gen Intel 

Core processor family, this automated conversion 

technology lets consumers experience 

their existing DVD collections in S3D. It can also 

automatically convert 2D photos to stereo 3D 

slideshows, stabilize “shaky cam” video footage, 

and clean up noisy audio tracks. 

Roxio Media Creation, 

Burning, and Sharing 

Applications 

With roots in CD-ROM and DVD burning software, 

the Roxio division of Rovi Corporation specializes 

in consumer digital media software. Roxio Creator® 

2011, its flagship product, is a suite of software 

applications that lets users easily edit and polish 

videos and store them on DVD or Blu-ray Disc and 

share them on portable devices, YouTube, and 

Facebook. Like many of its counterparts, Creator 

offers advanced features wrapped in a userfriendly 

interface. 

Recognizing that S3D was coming to televisions, 

PCs, and other consumer electronics devices, 

including camcorders, Roxio designed Creator 

2011 to be the first media suite to implement 

S3D conversion of both 2D still photos and 

video. That conversion process places incredible 

demands on the processor, particularly when 

working with video footage. 

“That posed some technical challenges for us,” 

Michel Yavercovski, senior director of product 

management in the Roxio Consumer Product 

Group, said. “We had to accommodate all of the 

current S3D formats available to people using 

stereo 3D camcorders, allow them to edit the 

footage, and support most of the major formats 

that TVs will accept.” 

Roxio created an intermediate format—one that 

is easier to process and allows users to simplify 

the S3D workflow. “Our users don’t want to have 

to wrestle with formats, they just want to be able 

to work with their video,” Yavercovski said. “We 

also felt that using the 2D workflow that people 

are used to for S3D was important. We chose 

an AVC side-by-side, full-frame format (see the 

S3D Lingo sidebar) that still creates rather large, 

computationally intensive files.” 


consumer video revolution 

Roxio’s users, however, don’t want to wait while 

their video projects take hours to render. “People 

want results right away, so speed is essential,” 

Yavercovski said. 

Today, Roxio Creator is optimized for a range of 

Intel® multi-core processors, from Intel® Core2 

Duo processors to Intel® Core i7 processors. 

According to Yavercovski, the next version 

of Creator will support 2nd gen Intel Core 

processors, boosting performance to meet 

customer expectations. 

Earlier this year, the media transcoding 

component in Creator—Video Copy & Convert 

(VCC)—became available to top-tier OEM PC 

partners to preload on 2nd gen Intel Core 

processor platforms. Roxio engineers collaborated 

with Intel to implement a range of optimizations 

to ensure that VCC took advantage of the deep 

parallelism and hardware-accelerated encoding 

that Intel Quick Sync Video technology offers. 

According to Roxio’s VP of Product Marketing, 

Mike Demeyer, “The resulting performance 

was orders of magnitude faster than previousgeneration 

processors.” 

Roxio’s Video Lab* 3D also comes pre-bundled 

on OEM partner PCs. The stand-alone application 

combines the video-editing capabilities with 

the DVD authoring and stereo 3D capabilities 

in Creator 2011, with one notable difference: 

Video Lab 3D has been tuned and optimized to 

take advantage of Intel Quick Sync Video, as well 

as Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology and Intel® 

Turbo Boost Technology built into the 2nd gen 

Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors. 

Yavercovski concluded, “Thanks to deep 

parallelism and increased throughput along with 

the integrated media processing functionality in 

2nd gen Intel Core processors, we’re seeing very 

significant performance improvements.” • 


Before signing on as one of the writing muses 

for Rose & Her Minions, Dominic Milano spent 

over 30 years in print, online, and event media 

production, working on DV magazine, Game 

Developer magazine and the Game Developer 

Conference, Keyboard magazine, Guitar Player 

magazine, and more. 

Optimized for Maximum Performance 

CyberLink and Intel engineers worked together to tune and optimize PowerDirector*, MediaEspresso*, 

PowerDVD*, and YouCam* for maximum performance on Intel® processors. For example, the teams 

ensured that the TrueVelocity* Parallel Engine for high-speed video production fully exploited all available 

CPU threads. The teams used Intel® Parallel Studio to take advantage of Intel® Hyper-Threading 

Technology, which supports two threads per core, enhancing processor performance, and efficiency. And 

to tap into Intel® Quick Sync Video hardware-accelerated media processing, CyberLink engineers turned to 

the Intel® Media SDK, which provided them with a single, unified API for accessing optimized videoprocessing 

routines, including encoding, decoding, and video preprocessing. Each of those routines plays an 

essential role in high-quality transcoding. 

Roxio engineers worked directly with Intel engineers to fine-tune and optimize Video Lab* 3D so it 

could take advantage of the deep parallelism and hardware-accelerated encoding offered by Intel Quick 

Sync Video technology in the 2nd generation Intel® Core i5 and Core i7 processors. The Intel Media SDK 

2.0 was an essential tool in accessing this groundbreaking technology. 

Roxio streamlined and enhanced additional optimizations and application threading efforts using a 

combination of tools from Intel® Software Development Products, including Intel Parallel Studio, Intel® 

Thread Checker, and Intel® C++ Compiler, which helped build multi-core threading capability into the code, 

and Intel® VTune Performance Analyzer, which helped identify and remove memory and threading errors 

that create bottlenecks in the code. 


CAPTURE, 

EDIT, 

POST, & BOAST! 

What fun is shooting a hole-in-one or scoring the 

winning goal if no one sees you do it? Gaming 

glory, after all, is best when you’ve got witnesses. 

Two new products from the Roxio division of 

Rovi Corporation are taking bragging rights to 

a new level. With the Intel® Quick Sync Video 

media processing technology built into the 2nd 

generation Intel® Core processor family, PC and 

console gamers get instant replay on steroids— 

the ability to record, enhance, and share 

gameplay videos. 

Roxio Game Capture* and Roxio PC Game 

Capture* let gamers record their gameplay onto 

their PCs. Using a full-featured set of video 

editing and enhancement tools, they can add 

text, special effects, and soundtracks complete 

with commentary to embellish racing sequences, 

high-score-shattering events, and harrowing 

adventures. Or they can produce game reviews 

and even create machinima—movies based 

on their gaming exploits—all of which can be 

uploaded to popular video sharing sites such as 

Facebook*, WeGame*, and YouTube*. 

Roxio Game Capture * software with Intel® Quick 

Sync Video built into the 2nd generation Intel® Core 

processor family lets gamers show off their skills 

“Gamers have been creating and posting gameplay 

videos using DIY tools,” said Michael Demeyer, VP 

of product marketing for the Corporate Products 

Group at Rovi. “You need a fair amount of technical 

savvy to do that, especially when recording 

gameplay from a game console. We have a onestop 

solution for capturing, editing, and sharing 

game videos that is easy enough for everyone to 

use. We’re giving users a robust feature set and 

offer it in a cost-effective package.” 

Capturing Console 

Gameplay on a PC 

To capture Microsoft Xbox* 360 and Sony 

PlayStation* 3 gameplay, Roxio Game Capture 

comes with a USB hardware device that connects 

to the game console, TV, and PC. Setup is easy, 

and video tutorials on the Roxio Web site make 

it even easier. Games can be played at full HD 

resolution (1920x1080), recorded in real time as 

480p (standard definition, 720x480 progressive 

scan) video, and output in a variety of formats fit 

for viewing online, including AVI, H.264, Windows 

The Roxio GameCap box lets gamers 

capture video streams from Microsoft 

Xbox* 360 or Sony PlayStation* 3 

consoles and store them on their PCs. 

Media* Video (WMV), and DivX*. The software 

also makes it easy to grab still-image screenshots 

and save them in a number of Internet and printfriendly 

formats. 

Capturing PC Gameplay 

on a PC 

With Roxio PC Game Capture, there’s no external 

hardware box. “The software runs in the 

background,” Demeyer said, “capturing video or 

still-screen grabs of gameplay events and 

recording it in up to full HD resolution. Keep in 

mind that recording and playing back full HD 

footage at its full frame rate is best handled with 

a muscular processor, such as a 2nd generation 

Intel® Core i7 processor or [Core] i5 [processor]. 

Whether you’re playing Black Ops* or World of 

Warcraft*, all of the action will be stored on your 

drive, waiting for you to bring it into the editor, 

add creative transitions, background music, and 

voice-over commentary.” 


capture, edit, post 

Advanced editing tools are available for gamers that want to 

delve deeper into personalizing the gameplay videos. 

Easy and Advanced Editing 

Rovi wanted users to have access to tools they 

felt comfortable with. Newbies will appreciate 

the straightforward appearance of the video 

editor, while those who want to spend more time 

developing their gameplay videos have plenty of 

advanced features. 

“Creating a gameplay video is as simple as 

piecing video clips together using a storyboard 

approach. For more advanced users, there’s a 

32-track timeline editor that’s consistent with 

professional-level video software designs,” 

Demeyer said. 

“Users can show a racing sequence in slow 

motion,” Demeyer continued. “They can also use 

a picture-in-picture effect to create split-screen 

videos that show the same scene from different 

players’ points of view. Gamers can also animate 

credits, overlay transitions, add sound effects 

from the software library, and add special effects 

to create engaging videos.” 

Sharing is Easy and Fast 

Before gameplay videos are uploaded to a 

video-sharing site, the files undergo a complex 

conversion process. Both Roxio applications keep 

the under-the-hood complexity invisible, so users 

simply select the sharing service and a quality 

setting, and go. 

Intel Optimized for 

Maximum Performance 

Both Roxio Game Capture products make use of 

Intel technologies such as Intel Quick Sync Video 

to achieve lightning-fast encoding, decoding, 

and transcoding performance, enabling great 

gameplay capture, conversion, encoding, and 

sharing experiences. 

As Demeyer put it, “Our Game Capture software 

uses the same transcoding engine used in Roxio 

Video Copy & Convert (VCC) software. We worked 

with Intel application engineers and support staff 

to tune and optimize VCC to take advantage of 

Roxio Game Capture* software lets gamers easily and quickly record 

video of their Xbox* 360 and PlayStation* 3 gameplay, save it on their 

PC, edit it, and then share it. 

PC Game Capture * records 

Microsoft DirectX * 8–10, OpenGL * , 

and Adobe Flash * -based games. 

the Intel Quick Sync Video hardware acceleration 

technology integral to the 2nd gen Intel Core 

processor microarchitecture. Thanks to deep 

parallelism and increased throughput, along with 

integrated media processing functionality, we 

saw a 2x to 5x performance improvement when 

doing format conversions on the 2nd gen Intel 

Core processors. Gamers will definitely notice 

the difference.” • 


esources 

INTEL® VISUAL ADRENALINE RESOURCES 

Intel’s focus on visual computing and graphics processing is complemented by software 

development products, professional services and tools, technical expertise, and developeroriented 

resources. Keep up with the latest at visualadrenaline.intel.com. 

Explore topics from this issue of Intel® Visual Adrenaline further: 

07 

15 

18 

24 

The Creators Project: 

Celebrating Creativity, 


As Coachella’s first-ever 

creative partner, 

The Creators Project 

re-invented the 

festival by creating 

groundbreaking visual 

experiences advanced 

by Intel® technology. 

Technology has revolutionized social interaction, 

giving individuals unprecedented access to 

global distribution channels. Thanks to incredible 

advances in content creation technologies 

powered by Intel® multi-core, multi-threaded 

processors, today’s artists, musicians, filmmakers, 

and designers are reshaping the boundaries of 

creative expression. 

Intel in collaboration with Vice Media founded 

The Creators Project to showcase innovative 

artists and enable them to realize new artwork. 

“The Creators Project celebrates the connection 

between art and technology,” said David 

Haroldsen, Intel creative director for The Creators 

Project. “We set out to give people who use 

“The Creators Project is about cultivating 

artists from around the world and exploring 

the boundaries of creativity as well as the role 

technology plays in the process,” added Hosi 

Simon, general manager at Vice Media. With 

offices in more than 30 countries, Vice was 

uniquely positioned to draw from its relationship 

among the global art community and identify 

cutting-edge interdisciplinary artists. 

When The Creators Project launched in 2010, 

Intel and Vice used a variety of media, including 

television, print, online, and mobile outlets to 

document the work of more than 100 Creators to 

date, hailing mostly from seven countries (Brazil, 

China, France, Germany, South Korea, United 

computers every day a look at artistic experiences Kingdom, and United States). “In 2011, we pushed 

that are only possible because of technology.” 

that concept forward by showcasing their work 

intel visual adrenaline no. 10, 2011 5 

Taking the Mystery 

Out of Middleware 

Performance 

AUTODESK SCALEFORM* 4.0 LETS YOU VISUALIZE 

PERFORMANCE STRAIGHT OUT OF THE BOX 

BY GARRET ROMAINE 

INTEL’S COMMITMENT TO THE GAME 

DEVELOPMENT WORLD CONTINUES TO 

PAY BIG DIVIDENDS FOR STUDIOS AND 

PLAYERS ALIKE. Recently, Maryland-based 

Autodesk Scaleform* worked with Intel engineers 

to tightly integrate its Scaleform* 4.0 middleware 

with the Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers 

(Intel® GPA) 4.0. The result is another example of 

how Intel is helping to build a better ecosystem by 

fostering cooperation and helping game developers 

access the deepest parts of their code. 

Sleuthing out code bottlenecks and unnecessary 

frame activity is possible only with sophisticated 

tools. PC game developers rely on the Intel 

GPA Platform Analyzer to visualize over time 

the execution profile of the tasks in their code 

on the heterogeneous (CPU+GPU) PC platform. 

But coverage for middleware code has been 

limited for the game development community, 

and the collaboration between Intel and 

Autodesk Scaleform could pay off big for many 

development teams. 

Autodesk Scaleform* tools helped create the user interface in James Cameron’s Avatar*: The Game. Introducing Autodesk 

Scaleform 

With about 30 employees in its home office, 

Autodesk Scaleform was founded in 2005 by 

Brendan Iribe and Michael Antonov, who met 

at the University of Maryland. After creating a 

user interface (UI) middleware company, they got 

busy making an engine and library. Their first big 

success was the UI for the huge blockbuster title 

Civilization* IV. 


Bringing 

Magic to Life 

EXOCORTEX AND INTEL® TECHNOLOGIES 

HELP VFX STUDIOS GRADIENT EFFECTS 

AND WILL GARRETT ACHIEVE MOVIE 

MAGIC WITH INNOVATIVE APPROACHES 

TO SIMULATION 

Creating Stunning Ink-in-Water 

Special Effects 

Long-time fans of the Harry Potter film franchise are familiar with the series’ 

A Large-Scale, High-Fidelity Sequence 

ample visual effects (VFX), and this summer’s box office hit Harry Potter and 

The memory pool sequences required an ink-in-water look where the ink 

the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, the final adventure in the film series, ranks as 

would behave realistically in a large volume, then quickly assume dynamic 

one of the biggest VFX-driven Hollywood productions of 2011. 

shapes that seamlessly transition to live action footage. This complexity 

presented Gradient Effects with a significant challenge. Not only did it require 

Among the many emotive sequences in the Harry Potter film franchise is the 

fluid simulations of unprecedented detail and scope, but it also needed a 

“memory pool” sequence created by Gradient Effects. Here is a behind-the- 

specific “inky” look that most traditional simulators have difficulty producing, 

scenes look at how Gradient Effects, Exocortex Technology, and Intel worked 

even in restricted domains. And because the sequence’s timing and transitions 

together to pull off this visually stunning special effect. 

had already been decided, there was no artistic leeway if the technology ran 

into limitations. 

On the technical side, artists had to be able to see in real time the results 

of increasing the simulation resolution to more than half a billion points for 

final output. It was clear to Olcun Tan, co-founder and head of research and 

development at Gradient Effects, that traditional fluid simulators were not up 

to the task. 

While searching for new simulation solutions, Tan discovered Exocortex’s 

Slipstream technology. “Before committing to any technology, we did 

extensive research by testing all well-known technologies for the type of 

work required on Harry Potter,” said Tan. “Unfortunately none were suited for 

the task. After seeing the first tests from Exocortex, I was instantly convinced 

that we had found our solution in Exocortex’s technology—it was boundingbox 

free. The next thing I remember, I was on the phone with Ben Houston 

discussing how to integrate the Exocortex technology as the new engine for 

our proven in-house tools.” 

Exocortex Slipstream simulation within Autodesk Softimage*. 

16 

DOWNLOAD THE INTEL® VISUAL ADRENALINE APP TODAY! 

software.intel.com/sites/billboard/app/ 

Intel ® Visual 

Adrenaline Gets 

App’tized 

STREAM GREAT CONTENT TO YOUR 

iPHONE*, iPAD*, OR iPOD TOUCH* 

YOU’VE HELD US IN YOUR HANDS, and you’ve downloaded our content 

from the Web. Now, Intel® Visual Adrenaline takes the next step in 

delivering news you can use in the way you choose by creating the Intel® 

Visual Adrenaline app for smart devices, starting with the Apple iOS* 

platform (iPad*, iPhone* and iPod touch*). 

We Control the Vertical AND the Horizontal 

According to Hitendra “Hits” Naik, Intel visual computing marketing manager, 

Like the magazine itself, the new app concentrates on delivering eye- 

the new app takes advantage of iPad features several ways. “Intel was 

popping content, key tips and tricks, updates on software tools, and other very explicit in designing this app to play to our strengths,” Naik said. “We 

advances in the graphics world. Only now we can keep you informed 

wanted to incorporate multiple usage models when it came to designing 

wherever you are and however you acquire the insights that make your the look and feel. When held in vertical, or ‘portrait’ mode, the article you’re 

career sizzle. Our goal is still the same: to serve up vital content to early viewing appears in a standard view, with the ability to scroll through text 

adopters in the community, wherever they may be. 

and minimized graphics. The effect is much like reading a magazine or 

newspaper in column format, as you concentrate on the text.” 

Conversely, when flipped to horizontal or “landscape” mode, there is more of 

a “Wow!” factor as the visual beauty of the graphics shines forth. Images are 

larger and pack more pixels, so you get more of your Visual Adrenaline fix. 

Accompanying text still flows the way you’d expect, but you don’t sacrifice 

the graphics view. 

The app uses all the familiar navigation methods for iPad, iPhone, and iPod 

touch users: You can swipe and tap, and set up favorites at will. You’ll find 

links to the Intel® Visual Adrenaline Software Developer Program, and the 

all-important Feedback button lets you communicate your suggestions for 

improvements. 

“The articles look great on the iPad,” Naik said. “When we were designing 

this, we were pretty excited. The content is completely digital, and visually 

rich and vibrant, so we wanted to keep true to that. We didn’t want to 

clutter the interface with competing colors, so we actually kept it utilitarian, 

The new Intel® Visual Adrenaline app provides extensive access to videos that with simple icons and low contrast.” 

give you even more in-depth coverage of news and commentary. 

22 


The Creators Project: Celebrating Creativity, 


Follow The Creators Project: 

thecreatorsproject.com 

twitter.com/creatorsproject 

fb.com/thecreatorsproject 

Taking the Mystery Out of 

Middleware Performance 

For more on Scaleform* 4.0: scaleform.com/gfx 

Intel® Software Network: software.intel.com/en-us/ 

Bringing Magic to Life 

Intel® Parallel Studio: 

intel.com/go/parallel 

Intel® Threading Building Blocks: 

threadingbuildingblocks.org 

Microsoft Visual Studio*: 

microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us 

Intel® Visual Adrenaline Gets App’tized 

Download for the Apple iPad*, iPhone*, or iPod touch*: 

itunes.apple.com/app/intel-va/id437276144?mt=8 

29 ARTISTS 

33 

36 

46 

Intel tapped three powerhouse channel partners— 

PCAudioLabs, The3DShop.com, and BOXX 

RECOGNIZING THAT ENTHUSIASTS WHO 

Technologies—each experienced with the needs 

CREATE MOVIES, music, and photos could benefit of creative professionals working in music and 

tremendously from the expertise of Intel value- sound, photography, and video, respectively. “Our 

added resellers that typically serve professional goals are three-fold: Provide targeted solutions 

digital media creators, Intel recently launched the for the enthusiast, listen and learn from our 

Intel® Digital Media “Creators” program. It takes customers in each of these creative markets, 

a special breed of channel partner to cater to 

and enable more customers around the world to 

the needs of audio, video, and photography pros, deliver solutions to market in 2012 and beyond.” 

who rely on PCs to deliver exceptionally high 

performance with 24/7 reliability. 

The 2nd generation Intel® Core i5 and Core i7 

processors are ideally suited for digital media 

“Some of our top channel partners are experts creation at all levels. Thanks to new technologies 

in digital media,” said Brent McCray, enthusiast that boost performance on demand and maximize 

marketing manager at Intel. “We’re now working data throughput, these new processors speed 

closely with them to launch hardware and 

video editing and other multimedia tasks, such as 

software bundled solutions powered by some of image rendering and photo retouching, as well as 

Intel’s best technologies and tailor-made for the audio recording, editing, and mastering. 

digital media enthusiast.” 

“We’re specifically using Intel Core i5-2500K and 

What constitutes a digital media enthusiast? 

Core i7-2600K desktop processors that can take 

“We’re focusing on two kinds of people,” McCray full advantage of Intel® Turbo Boost Technology, 

said. “The aspiring professional who, for example Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (on the 

in music, perhaps has a band and plays gigs 

Core i7), Intel® HD Graphics 3000, as well as 

but hasn’t yet achieved ultimate fame, and the overclockability, 

hobbyist who has a day job, but spends nights 

and weekends creating music, editing photos, and 

making videos.” 

1 PROFESSIONAL, HIGH-PERFORMANCE SOLUTIONS 

POWERED BY INTEL® TECHNOLOGIES BENEFIT 

DIGITAL MEDIA ENTHUSIASTS 

“The solutions we’re launching also feature Intel® 

desktop motherboards with Intel® Z68 chipset 

technology and Intel® Solid-State Drives—both 

311 and 320 series. Intel motherboards deliver 

exceptional performance, quality, and reliability. 

Among many other benefits, the Z68 chipset 

technology allows enthusiasts to affordably 

cache their favorite programs on their Intel 

SSD through Intel® Smart Response Technology, 

further accelerating the creative workflow.” 

Compared to traditional spinning hard disk 

“Powerhouse integrators 

and software vendors 

now make their 

expertise in out-of-thebox 

hardware/software 

solutions available to 

digital enthusiasts who 

create movies, music, 

allowing total creative freedom 

by maximizing performance to match your 

and photos.” 

workload,” McCray said. “Of course, [Intel®] Xeon® 

processor-based workstations for professionals 

— BRENT MCCRAY, ENTHUSIAST 

and mobile solutions are also available.” 

MARKETING MANAGER AT INTEL 

1Unlocked feature allowing for full CPU core overclocking is currently available exclusively on Intel® Core i7-990X, Intel® Core i7-2600K and Intel® Core i5-2500K processors. WARNING: Altering 

clock frequency and/or voltage may (i) reduce system stability and useful life of the system and processor, (ii) cause the processor and other system components to fail, (iii) cause reductions in system 

performance, (iv) cause additional heat or other damage, and (v) affect system data integrity. Intel has not tested, and does not warrant, the operation of the processor beyond its specifications. 

Intel assumes no responsibility that the processor, including if used with altered clock frequencies and/or voltages, will be fit for any particular purpose. 


INDUSTRY 

India’s Animators Set Blazing 

Growth Pace with Intel Computing 

Can you name the country that leads the world the 2011 FICCI-KPMG Indian Media and 

in movie ticket sales and the number of films Entertainment Industry Report (Frames Report) 

produced? It’s not the United States. According the Indian animation industry is predicted to 

to online sources, that country is India. Thanks grow from the present USD 1.8 billion to USD 

to the huge demand for entertainment, India 2.9 billion by 2015. 

has become a hotbed for computer graphics and 

animation. Studios and producers from all over 

the world are turning to India for help with 

animation projects. India offers talented 

technicians, competitive pricing, and finished 

work of the highest quality, on blockbuster 

titles you’re sure to recognize. 

India’s first animated film, Agent Vinod, 

featured, amid the traditional singing and 

dancing common to movies from “Bollywood”, 1 

an animated scene with actor Jagdeep flying 

around Bombay holding balloons. From that 

humble start, animation and visual effects have 

grown considerably. Just last year, seven films 

wrapped production in a 12-month period, 

including Toonpur Ka Superhero, Luv Kush—The 

Warrior Twins, and Ramayana the Epic. Vikram 

Bhatt’s upcoming movie, Haunted, is apparently 

India’s first stereoscopic 3D film. According to 

DIGITAL 

The Intel ® Digital 

Media “Creators” 

Program 

SNAPSHOT 



Powered by growth in cable access, digital 

content, and the services industry, India’s 

economy grew by more than 8 percent per 

year from 2004 to 2010, according to 

tradingeconomics.com. While China leads the 

world’s population with 1.3 billion people, 

India is right behind at 1.2 billion, and with an 

economy larger than USD 4 trillion, the country 

places fourth in gross domestic product. From 

any angle, India is a captivating story, but one of 

its most fascinating sectors is its animation and 

visual effects (VFX) industry, as highlighted in 

the Frames Report. 

Published annually, the Frames Report is a joint 

venture between KPMG International and FICCI. 

It covers television, print, radio, music, and other 

entertainment activity, and in sector after 

sector, India presents a compelling growth story. 

HARNESS 

PC POWER 

Justin Lassen and his friends reveal three ways 

that Intel® technology keeps them busy 

If there’s one breed of super-user that has truly We would never have met if it weren’t for art 

benefited from Intel’s role in the computer 

and technology and that creative drive.” 

revolution, it’s the digital artist. Improvements in 

multi-core CPU technology haven’t just spurred The impact of technology boils down to three 

artistic creativity among digital content 

key assists for digital artists: power, speed, 

creators—they’ve unleashed their very souls. 

and creativity. 

Digital art files routinely reach over a gigabyte in 

size, putting tremendous pressure on CPUs and Harness the Power 

RAM. Today, netbooks powered by the Intel® 

Better technology will always benefit power- 

Atom processor serve as a readily available 

hungry customers. But what, exactly, is the 

conduit to creativity, from capturing reverb in 

significance of that connection? 

Justin Lassen, 

European cathedrals to recording crashing waves 

digital composer. 

on California beaches. Ideas that might have 

Lassen believes part of the magic is how 

been scribbled on a bar napkin can now be 

software vendors continue to upgrade tools to 

captured safely. 

take advantage of the newest processors. “Studio 

Like most digital artists, Salonen does her own 

One Pro* is optimized for Intel® multi-core CPUs. 

Intel® Visual Adrenaline magazine has tracked the 

technical support. “I earn my living through the 

For a while, SONAR* was the only software truly 

career of digital musician Justin Lassen since our 

computer, and it’s been my best friend (along 

optimized for multi-core, but Studio One Pro now 

earliest editions. For this issue, we checked back 

with my dog, Wario) for over eight years. I’ve 

does it. And more products are starting to come 

with Justin and talked to his artistic friends to 

spent most of my adult years learning to paint 

around. They’re getting ready for the future.” 

learn what technology has done for them lately. 

digitally, so in a way I’m married to technology.” 

Justin introduced three of his digital heroes: Kirsi 

Kirsi Salonen, a dark fantasy author and digital 

Salonen, Alex Ruiz, and Erlend Mørk. 

Digital artist and animator Alex Ruiz works in the 

artist from Finland, recently upgraded to 24 GB of 

heart of the digital art scene in Los Angeles. He’s 

RAM and a new Intel® Core i7 processor on an 

Lassen credits Intel with bringing him in contact 

worked on the television series The Simpsons, 

Asus P6T* motherboard. “The more layers you 

with this trio of creative souls. “As a result of my 

and he teaches digital art to aspiring students. 

add to the picture, the more you need some 

collaboration with Intel, I was able to meet and 

“Since I use Photoshop* mostly, the faster and 

serious power. Sometimes I have over 30 layers 

develop relationships with them. We did 

stronger the machine, the faster one can be in 

within one work. It’s easier to play with layers, 

Synaesthesia together, and we’re like a family. 

creating. Photoshop uses a lot of RAM, and since 

and it helps to construct the image better than 

We’re all so different and spread across the world. 

file sizes can get huge, it’s extremely important 

traditional painting.” 

to have a good setup.” 


Animated scene from The Mummy: Tomb 

of the Dragon Emperor (2008 Universal 

Pictures), created in part by the Indian 

animation studio subsidiary of 

Los Angeles-based Rhythm & Hues. 

1 “Bollywood,” a combination of “Bombay” (Mumbai’s former name) and “Hollywood,” is the name given to the Mumbai-based Hindi language film industry. 

34 

The Roxio GameCap box lets gamers 

capture video streams from Microsoft 

Xbox* 360 or Sony PlayStation* 3 

consoles and store them on their PCs. 

CAPTURE, 

EDIT, 

POST, & BOAST! 

Roxio Game Capture 

What fun is shooting a hole-in-one or scoring the “Gamers have been creating and posting gameplay Media* Video (WMV), and DivX*. The software 

winning goal if no one sees you do it? Gaming videos using DIY tools,” said Michael Demeyer, VP also makes it easy to grab still-image screenshots 

glory, after all, is best when you’ve got witnesses. of product marketing for the Corporate Products and save them in a number of Internet and print- 

Two new products from the Roxio division of 

Group at Rovi. “You need a fair amount of technical friendly formats. 

Rovi Corporation are taking bragging rights to savvy to do that, especially when recording 

a new level. With the Intel® Quick Sync Video 

gameplay from a game console. We have a one- 

Capturing PC Gameplay 

media processing technology built into the 2nd stop solution for capturing, editing, and sharing 

generation Intel® Core processor family, PC and game videos that is easy enough for everyone to on a PC 

console gamers get instant replay on steroids— use. We’re giving users a robust feature set and 

With Roxio PC Game Capture, there’s no external 

the ability to record, enhance, and share 

offer it in a cost-effective package.” 

hardware box. “The software runs in the 

gameplay videos. 

background,” Demeyer said, “capturing video or 

still-screen grabs of gameplay events and 

Capturing Console 

Roxio Game Capture* and Roxio PC Game 

recording it in up to full HD resolution. Keep in 

Capture* let gamers record their gameplay onto Gameplay on a PC 

mind that recording and playing back full HD 

their PCs. Using a full-featured set of video 

To capture Microsoft Xbox* 360 and Sony 

footage at its full frame rate is best handled with 

editing and enhancement tools, they can add 

PlayStation* 3 gameplay, Roxio Game Capture a muscular processor, such as a 2nd generation 

text, special effects, and soundtracks complete 

comes with a USB hardware device that connects Intel® Core i7 processor or [Core] i5 [processor]. 

with commentary to embellish racing sequences, 

to the game console, TV, and PC. Setup is easy, Whether you’re playing Black Ops* or World of 

high-score-shattering events, and harrowing 

and video tutorials on the Roxio Web site make Warcraft*, all of the action will be stored on your 

adventures. Or they can produce game reviews 

it even easier. Games can be played at full HD drive, waiting for you to bring it into the editor, 

and even create machinima—movies based 

resolution (1920x1080), recorded in real time as add creative transitions, background music, and 

on their gaming exploits—all of which can be 

480p (standard definition, 720x480 progressive voice-over commentary.” 

uploaded to popular video sharing sites such as 

scan) video, and output in a variety of formats fit 

Facebook*, WeGame*, and YouTube*. 

for viewing online, including AVI, H.264, Windows 

* software with Intel® Quick 

Sync Video built into the 2nd generation Intel® Core 

processor family lets gamers show off their skills 

44 

Digital Artists Harness PC Power 

Justin Lassen: justinlassen.com 

Erlend Mørk: erlendmork.com 

Kirsi Salonen: kirsisalonen.com 

Alex Ruiz: conceptmonster.net 

The Intel® Digital Media “Creators” Program 

For more info on each of the Media Program channel 

partners, see: 

pcaudiolabs.com 

the3dshop.com 

boxxtech.com 

Cakewalk Music Creator: 

cakewalk.com/products/sonar/x1-essential/default.aspx 

CyberLink PowerDirector* 9: 

cyberlink.com/powerdirector 

Industry Snapshot: India’s Animation Studios 

Showing Rapid Growth 

Crest Animation Studios: crestindia.com 

Rhythm & Hues Studios: rhythm.com 

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce 

and Industry: ficci.com 

Capture, Edit, Post, & Boast! 

Roxio Game Capture* family products: 

roxio.com/enu/products/game-capture/default.html 

The 2nd generation Intel® Core processor family: 

intel.com/consumer/products/processors/core-family.htm 

48


Stay on the leading edge of visual computing and digital artistry with Intel® Visual Adrenaline—your go-to source for news, tools, 

and resources for video gaming, computer graphics, and 3D animation. 

INTEL® SOFTWARE DISPATCH FOR 

VISUAL ADRENALINE 


WEB SITE 

Peruse the latest gaming, developer, and industry news, 

including informative industry interviews online, anytime. 

Get white papers, technical articles, videos, and more—including each 

issue of the award-winning Intel® Visual Adrenaline magazine— 

dispatched directly via our monthly e-mail. No e-mail attachments to gum 

up your in-box; server-hosted downloadable content only! 

SUBSCRIBE TODAY. 

INTEL® VISUAL ADRENALINE APP 

Stream Intel® Visual Adrenaline magazine content to your iPhone*, 

iPad*, or iPod touch* through the new Intel Visual Adrenaline app! 

DOWNLOAD THE APP TODAY.

i n t e l® V i s u a l 

adrenaline Adrenaline 

Starcraft II * : Blizzard returns to rts 

NapoleoN: total war * : 

little general; huge 

animated armies 

r.U.S.e. * : Waging a 

World War using a 

PC’s touCh sCreen 

tiCker taPe: realism is 

in the little details 

avatar * : the Game: 

the First 3d unveiling of 

the World of Pandora 

I n t E L® V I S U A L 

Adrenaline 

issue 6, 2010 

Epic Games’ Unreal 

Engine* 3 technology 

goes Hollywood 

with Chadam 

WorKInG 

WItH rEAL 

MoDELS In 

rEAL tIME 

I N T E L® V I S U A L 

ISSUE 5, 2009 Adrenaline 

AUTodESk®: 

TECHNoLoGY 

AdVANCES AS 

NEXT-GENERATIoN 

HARdWARE 

MELdS WITH 

CUSToM-TUNEd 

SoFTWARE 

Empire: Total War * 

Takes to the Waves 

with Real-Time 3D 

Naval Battles 

Now iN beta: L.A. composer adds new 

Intel® Media SDK software dimension to work of 

library supports media 

©2009 Mythic Entertainment** 

CG artists around 

acceleration 

the world 

Get a FREE SUBSCRIPTION to Intel® Visual Adrenaline Magazine 

DOWNLOAD THE INTEL® VISUAL 

ADRENALINE APP TODAY! 

Intel does not make any representations or warranties whatsoever regarding quality, reliability, functionality, or compatibility of third-party vendors and their devices. For 

optimization information, see software.intel.com/en-us/articles/optimization-notice/. All products, dates, and plans are based on current expectations and subject to change without 

notice. Intel, the Intel logo, Intel Atom, Intel Inside, Intel Core, MMX, VTune, and Xeon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United 

States and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Copyright © 2011. Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. 

07/2011 / TD / WQ / RHM / 325760-001 Intel Visual Adrenaline Magazine #10 

ISSUE 3, 2009 

WolfEnsTEin * 

ReBoRN: 

Better, Stronger, 

Faster—and True 

to Its Roots 

A Peek into th 

Intel® Architectur 

Code-Named Larrabe 

New Intel® Graphic 

Performance Analyzer

Intel ® Visual

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?