DreamWorks Animation sees work speed increasing in switch from AMD to Intel chips

DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., maker of the "Shrek" movies and "Kung Fu Panda," announced Tuesday it will switch from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. computer chips to Intel Corp.'s as it moves toward making all 3-D movies. The studio's current three-year relationship with AMD started in 2005, back when animating animal fur was a key industry milestone. With that achieved in the very furry "Kung Fu Panda," released last month, the animation house is following through on a commitment made last year to make all its movies in 3-D starting with "Monsters vs. Aliens," which is scheduled for release in March 2009. The 3-D format requires twice the computing power of traditional animation because viewers' right and left eyes receive separate images, meaning it can take up to 16 hours to process a single frame, the company said. "Our... [read full story]