HP makes 'Madagascar 3: on the march through Europe' possible

The power of HP technology and the creative genius of DreamWorks Animation SKG have combined once again in a new installment of 'Madagascar'. This production used HP Converged Infrastructure, HP Z Series workstations, HP server and networking solutions, and digital animation assets to create a new level of richness in an animated film.

The technology HP has been used to help DreamWorks creatives solve the artistic challenges necessary to bring Marching through Europe to the big screen in the third edition of the blockbuster Madagascar. This is the first time the public will be able to see a film Madagascar in 3D. The original film was released in 2005 along with its sequel which was released in 2008, it has generated a total of $1.1 billion at the box office.

HP technology used by DreamWorks includes HP Converged Infrastructure, HP Z Series Workstations, HP Server and Networking Solutions, and digital animation assets to create a new level of richness in an animated film.
“Our goal with every film is to push the boundaries of our creativity even further to bring the story to life,” said Ed Leonard, chief technology officer at DreamWorks Animation. “HP technology allows our artists to push these limits and focus on creating the best 3D animation experience.”

DreamWorks Animation used HP technology throughout the entire film production cycle, from day-to-day tasks to developing the most detailed animation scenes and processing massive amounts of data. Over the past few years, HP technology has played a role in the creation of DreamWorks animated films, including the saga of Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda, Kung Fu Panda 2 y Puss in boots.

Potencia HP

Artists used more than 200 high-performance HP Z800 Workstations to help create a variety of organic, detailed environments made possible in large part by the extraordinary power of HP Workstations with multi-core processors. Artists used this equipment to help develop all elements of the film, from the Zooster characters to digital effects such as complex fires.

HP DreamColor technology was also used in the film production process to allow colors to be accurate and consistent across prints, monitors and on the big screen.

HP ProLiant BL460c blade server technology, geographically located in four animation centers in the United States and India, provided the power needed for peak production demands. These servers managed an incredible amount of 200 terabytes of data and more than 65 million hours of animation.

HP networking solutions, including HP 12500, 5800 and 6120 series switches, HP Networking Intelligent Management Center and HP Intelligent Resilient Framework, delivered significantly higher levels of network performance while delivering single, simplified and transparent network management across the study's scalable 10G WAN/LAN environment. The HP IBRIX X9720 Network Storage System enabled DreamWorks to meet the studio's high unstructured data requirements while enabling future growth.

Also playing a key role in this film project is flexible rendering, which is part of HP Business Services, giving DreamWorks high-performance computing power to obtain dynamic on-demand capacity for multiple computer graphics (GC) movies. Throughout the production cycle, 12% of the animation of Madagascar 3 It was done in the cloud.

DreamWorks Animation also used HP Managed Print Services (SIA) to ease the complexity of print management and increase productivity during print production. Madagascar 3. This process greatly facilitates the visibility of information, thus allowing for faster revenue generation. Through HP SIA, DreamWorks Animation is transforming print workflows to reduce waste, lower costs and unleash employee productivity.

“HP Z series workstations bring DreamWorks creativity to life and bring the latest and greatest in animation to audiences around the world,” says Nieves Sánchez, head of the Workstations area at HP Iberia. “HP is committed to media and entertainment professionals, and will continue to work with leaders like DreamWorks to understand the needs of the industry and deliver the most innovative technology.”

Madagascar 3, in figures

More than 120,000 individual computer-generated frames were used to create the film.

The masterful Circus Act sequence features the largest and most detailed crowd in DreamWorks production history: more than 5,000 individual characters. This scene includes several special effects, such as fog, sparks, shine, fire and rain, and required 1.6 million hours of animation to produce.

The Flashback sequence incorporates extensive fire effects and highly detailed crowd zooms that required 2.8 million hours of animation.

In the sequence “Run to Catch the Train”, about 1,200 euros are thrown into the air.

Gia's eyelashes have 96 frames that can be animated.

Alex has over 2,000 individual controls to allow animators to place him in any position imaginable.

Each of the people featured in the crowd scenes had three possible bodies, six possible heads, and various wardrobe possibilities, resulting in a total of 19 million unique combinations. A comparative fact: the New York City metropolitan area just reached a population of 19 million this year.

There were 2,393 buildings in the scenes set in Monaco, based on 42 different models, most of which had three variations. Many of the buildings had other models scattered on top (chairs, bushes, planters and other elements).