Dreamworks pick Intel's Nehalem and Larrabee over AMD/ATI

Does dreamworks know something about Intel unreleased graphics "Larabee" tech that most of us dont. Whatever it is, they have decided to completely revamp the entire computing environment to Intel.

Jeffrey Katzenberg, Dreamworks Animation's chief executive is said to have said: "They are radical game-changers for the entire field of computing."

"Our objective is to significantly heighten the movie going experience using DreamWorks Animation?s ground-breaking 3-D filmmaking tools," said Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation. "Technology plays a significant role in enabling our artists to tell great stories. By utilizing Intel?s industry-leading computing products, we will create a new and innovative way for moviegoers to experience our films in 3-D."




Here are some related links.

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inqu [...] -amd-intel


http://www.newstin.co.uk/sim/uk/67 [...] -003900960

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Ne [...] wsId=23661

Take that Thunderman!

From what I've gathered, Intel has been focusing on ray tracing as their rendering method with Larrabee, standard consumer graphics cards are focused on rasterisation and shading techniques. Dreamworks films are all ray traced, GPUs do not "out of the box" ray trace, a CUDA/CTM/GNGPU application has to be written to ray trace on the GPU.

I'm guessing the former process was: rasterize the scene on the GPU to position everything (quick), if it looks okay ray trace it crudely to get any additional tweaks on animators workstation (moderate), then when approved ray trace on the supercomputer (CPUs) to full resolution.

I thought the lucas art was more of a BM thing

ATI's new 4800 series does support ray tracing, and from what I've heard rumors about at various sites it's supposedly pretty good. Also, ATI's cards DO support ray tracing out of the box.

Now, even though it might be DX9 ray tracing I feel that ATI would be able to come up with a better ray tracing solution as compared to Intel's.

That's a good question.

Paramount is dropping Dreamworks this year. Without a distributor Dreamworks is trying to raise $2bil to go independent.

We could have asked the same question when they went AMD. Or heck lets ask how much Apple pays companies to use MACs for picture/movie design.

Oh wait. Could it be that Larrabe and Nehalem offer what they need? Heck its possible.

Thing is we have no idea what Larrabee is capable of. Maybe the Raytracing engine on it will exceed what a ATI/nVidia GPU can do considering that Intel has a Raytracing department and is obviously trying to make sure that Larrabee is all set.

LMAO. Thats just funny.

Come to think of it.... maybe if they had this airing on all the TV stations in areas that get hurricanes and such people wouldn't stay.

You know one - Dreamworks. Of course, Dreamworks can probably pull out of the Larrabee deal, if it turns out not to perform the way it expects, I assume.

Although they did say Larrabee was a server processor, which is something it has never been called or mentioned as before. Hmmm?

Exactly. No one has any idea what Larrabee is capable of. All it is at the moment is powerpoint performance projections. Grow some objectivity and quit licking Intel's arse.



Fact: Intel are looking to hit the workstation/server market with Nehalem - particularly the 4P/8P end.

Fact: Intel are looking to hit the GPU market through ray tracing and rasterisation (but mainly ray tracing apparently) with Larrabee.


Having a high-publicity company like dreamworks as a user will do wonders to build the reputation of both Nehalem and Larrabee in their respective markets, regardless of their performance.



I half expect to see a wee Intel logo in the bottom corner of the Dreamworks splash next time I am in the cinema watching one of their films.

I would guess that as opposed to saving time, ray-tracing of DWA 3d content would take longer but provide much higher detail and realism.

I just can't figure out if DWA is expecting everyone to wear those goofy 3d glasses ...

Heh.... as I said. Some company chooses another company and they are being paid or helped out.

Ahhh I love it.

I wouldn't mind the 3D glasses. Freakin awesomeness. I wouldn't mind having a pair to use while I drive. I wounder what that would do.

That's what Larrabee is addressing, allowing the GPU to handle the work that was previously done on the CPU. As I already said, Crysis et al are rasterized graphics (the GPUs fortay), raytracing has always been the CPU fortay.

ATI (and nVidia's) Ray Tracing are not nearly as mature as x86 methods, who knows what kind of specialized rendering software dreamworks is using. It might be way too much of an effort to convert this to the approaches used to program on a traditional GPU (memory access alignment, etc). It sounds like Larrabee is x86 based, so they may not need to port their software, and the savings in development could easily outweigh the hardware cost difference between Larrabee v traditional GPUs.

Yea and 3D glasses + the 3D world would mean the crach and the burning would be in like 6D.......ohhhh.....

With a large purchase the distributor (or OEM itself) has an endless array of programs they can bring together including supplemental advertising funds and branding opportunities. You can be assured of the Intel logo on just about everything from movie posters to television commercials with the 'da....da da da' jingle - if they are willing to pay, of course.

Companies pay for product placement in movies all the time. I think it would be a little tacky in a kid's animated film but not all movies like this are directed at children.

Sheesh ... they even pay race car drivers to sip whoop-ice energy drink during TV interviews (and teach them how to best hold the bottle to get that logo seen). Branding is a way of life in advertising these days. Intel has the cash to do it - certainly more so than AMD.

I'm sure there will be an Aliens vs. Monsters video game (Nuke 'em with Nehalem !!!) with a Jerry Seinfeld 'Larra-Bee'. The cross promotion and advertising opportunities are endless.

^ There's no reason to believe Dreamworks will throw out the AMD machines anytime soon...

Yes, thunderman, those are very expensive doorsteps...

Thunderman gives AMD fans such as me, Reynod and etc. a bad reputation...

Edit: Haha thunderman got voted up =P

Hmmm really...

Followed by.

Yes... Intel have impressed a bleeding edge sfx company with a (very) pre-engineering sample chipset with at best alpha drivers (much more likely pre-alpha). Impressed them so much they are going to chuck their lot in with it for the future even though it is unlikely to have done much more than run (stable being the higher end of scale).

Who you trying to kid with "objective"?

Oh, and Aliens vs. Monsters which the newsies are touting is scheduled for release March 2009.... whereas Larrabee is scheduled for release late 2009... go figure.

^ If they had a Larrabee they'd show it alright! They would be like haha we beat you really badly and pretty much just gloat... that's the whole purpose of a demo chip ~ to create the Osborne effect (laptop guy) with the current GFX... everybody would want a Larrabee and nobody would want whatever AMD and Nvidia have... everybody would postpone their purchase of GFX chips until the Larrabee launch lowering sales...

But the thing is they must not have a working Larrabee or the remaining development cycle is too long and will deter any enthusiasm...

Thus I conclude that Larrabee is nowhere near completion... Now I'd better get back to watching "10 things I hate about you"...

"me grimlock no nice me grimlock king!"

Good times... (Yup, my BF watches the movie all the time, not to mention the cartoon... (DVD collection's set))

Could Grimlock be AMD inside? or Thunderman be Grimlock?

I agree Fangirl I was just saying we do not know. But even if they did have it rady there would be a few possible reasons to keep it in. 1 could be that they do want AMD to do well in the GPU arena. If Intel had something that smacked everything around and could put it out for a good price it would not be good for AMD or nVidia.

2 could be that since they are focusing on Ray Tracing and most every game is still using rasterization they want to wait until other companies start to use both insetad of release it with something barely anyone uses.

3It could also be that they are waiting for DX11 since they are set to support it as well as older DX APIs and Open GL as well. They have to wait until MS has it ready for release to the companies.

Of course that is all just possibilities. I do believe that they have working chips and are in testing stages, more than likely alpha really, as they have had other CPU designs testing from 1 year and sometimes more before release.

Drivers are a good reason to be holding off as well. You don't want to release something with poorly optimized drivers

I can't wait to see what it does. I just hope its something that does shake up the GPU market. Most people don't understand that if Intel does create something that pushes AMD and nVidia it will mean better technology for us for cheaper. And in my mind thats a good thing.

OK, technical stuff aside:

INTEL IS A SINGULAR NOUN, NOT PLURAL.

BAD - "Intel are"
BAD - "Intel were"
GOOD - "Intel is"
GOOD - "Intel was"