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Company Success Stories - Troublemaker Studios
Troublemaker Studios cheers AMD’s encore performance in “Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over”
Profile
Troublemaker Studios
"Digital effects creators look forward to making their imaginative worlds ‘real’ with 64-bit computing - Alex Toader, visual effects artist"
One of the pint-sized talents that packs a wallop in the new “Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over” isn’t a face you’d recognize from the red carpet. But Hollywood knows this star’s number and continues to call.
In fact, movie studios are demanding repeat performances by the AMD processors that power the engines of the Hollywood digital movie-making machine. Most recently, famed director Robert Rodriguez and his crew of artists at Troublemaker Studios called on AMD’s talent. The AMD Athlon™ MP and mobile AMD Athlon XP-M processors powered the servers, workstations and notebook computers used to create the eye-popping graphics and digital landscapes Carmen and Juni Cortez navigate in the latest Spy Kids adventure.
“Computers have revolutionized the movie making industry in the same way airplanes have revolutionized the travel industry,” said Alex Toader, visual effects artist at Troublemaker Studios. Indeed, entire worlds can be created on the computer and creatures that have no place in the natural order of things can be conjured out of thin air.
“With computers, there is no limit to what can be done. If you can imagine it, you can create it on screen,” said Toader.
For instance, digital storyboarding can be done as production shots are being planned and filmed. This minimizes the risk of misinterpreting the director’s creative vision, saving studios valuable time and money.
During the filming of “Spy Kids 3-D,” Daryl Sabara, the young actor portraying Juni, hung from wires in front of the ubiquitous “green screen” performing the acrobatic flips his character would be executing while surfing a digitally-created lava tube. “After taking the shot with the digital camera, we took the footage upstairs, manipulated it and brought our end-product back down on one of the AMD Athlon XP-M processor-powered notebook computers to show Robert, all while Daryl was still hanging from the wires,” said Rodney Brunet, a member of the creative team at Troublemaker Studios.
The digital revolution has just begun for innovative movie makers like Rodriguez. The number of computer-generated scenes, backgrounds and environments seems to grow exponentially with each new season of movies.
Since innovation tends to breed innovation, the special effects promise to get only more complex. Production houses will keep pace with these advances by employing 64-bit workhorses in not only servers and workstations but also in desktop and notebook computers. That means digital artists will be able to create and render more intricate objects, backgrounds and characters even faster than before.
That’s why the creative and technical wizards at Troublemaker Studios are anxious to begin using the AMD Athlon 64 processors for desktops and laptops.
“We’re looking forward to the 64-bit processors. We believe they will allow us to produce dailies for Robert that even more closely resemble the final product,” said Toader, adding, “The AMD Athlon 64 processors are designed to also give us speed. You just can’t have enough speed, especially in post-production.”
So what initially turned Troublemaker on to AMD? “Robert is an avant-garde film maker and we wanted a relationship with an avant-garde technology company,” explained Toader.
The fact that Rodriguez thinks outside the box isn’t news to anyone who has been following the career of one of Hollywood’s most inventive directors. His unconventional approach to financing his first movie is the stuff of legends. He earned most of the $7,000 it cost to make the landmark independent movie “El Mariachi” by volunteering for experimental pharmaceutical studies. Then, he filmed the entire movie in 14 days without a crew.
Ever since, Rodriguez has continued to build his career on his ability to buck Hollywood’s trend of bloated budgets and deliver relatively low-cost films.
Keeping costs down means squeezing every bit of performance out of himself and those who work for him. Rodriguez’s own filmography is a testament to his ability to do this. In addition to directing his films, he has also served as resident writer, editor, director of photography, cameraman, music composer, production designer, sound mixer and effects supervisor. It should come as no surprise that Rodriguez looks for the same qualities in the microprocessors he employs to create the twisted environments and ultra-cool gadgets that once existed only in his mind.
Rodriguez needed a company that could deliver more than hardware; he wanted to work with a company that could bring relationships and reputation to the table as well. “AMD has a strong relationship with software developers and peripheral vendors,” said Toader. That kind of broad industry support really matters to digital-effects artists who use cutting-edge software to do things like put life-like skin on a digital sea monster.
Troublemaker Studios also appreciated that AMD’s products have been used by others in their industry. AMD processor-powered computers drove the special effects in “Men in Black II,” “Spy Kids 2: the Island of Lost Dreams,” “Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones,” “Scooby Doo,” and “Sum of all Fears.” And Landmark Theatre Corp. recently announced plans to use AMD Opteron™ processors in the digital projection gear it uses in 54 theaters across 14 states.
“We are very happy with the technology from AMD. Creatively, we have the same vision,” said Toader. “There are many places that can be explored.”
To borrow a line from old Hollywood, “This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
© 2003 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. All rights reserved.
AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, AMD Athlon, AMD Opteron, and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other product and company names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective companies.
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