Framing "The Painter"

Scientists at HP Labs teamed with the award-winning production company 422 to produce an animated film that takes advantage of new technology from HP.

"The Painter," a four-minute film depicting the artistic adventures of a tiny robotic painter, is to be submitted to the world-famous Sundance Film Festival and other competitions.

In producing the film, animators made use of a prototype utility rendering service developed by researchers at HP Labs Bristol and run on the Labs' Utility Data Center. (Rendering is the process that turns animators' computer-generated wire models into finished frames.)

Thanks to the new technology, 422 was able render the high-quality film in about 17 days, about 3.5 times faster than was previously possible.

To learn more:

See a clip from "The Painter"

Steve Hinde: From Physicist to Filmmaker - Producing an animated film wasn't in the script for Steve Hinde. He was designing HP's next-generation of utility-style computer server architecture when his team realized they needed a real-world application to put their research to the test.

Animation Company "Fast Forwards" Production with HP Utility Data Center - HP press release about the making of the "The Painter."

422 Fires Up HP Rendering Service - mpulse magazine zooms in on utility computing and its value to digital media companies.

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