Technology Will Increase Efficiency of Processes for Creating Pixar Features and Short Films
Pixar is licensing Nvidia's quasi-Monte Carlo QMC) GPU-based rendering technology as part of a multi-year strategic agreement between the two companies.
QMC rendering methods increase the efficiency of rendering processes, especially when used in massively parallel implementations such as those provided by high-powered GPU hardware. "With Nvidia's QMC sampling technology, Pixar can accelerate its creative process while continuing to produce visual imagery and animation of the very highest standard."
The licensing agreement allows Pixar to use the technology in the creation of its own feature and short film projects. QMC rendering is unlikely to be used on 2016's Finding Dory, we're told, and will probably first be implemented by the studio for a 2017 release—presumably Toy Story 4, although Pixar didn't specifically say so.
Another provision of the agreement has Nvidia contributing ray-tracing technology to Pixar's open-source OpenSubdiv Project with the aim of speeding up the rendering of Catmull-Clark subdivision surfaces. Nvidia and Pixar are in regular collaboration on new concepts in computer graphics, not all of which result in specific technology licensing deals.
"Pixar has long used Nvidia GPU technology to push the limits of what is possible in animation and the filmmaking process," said Pixar Vice President and CTO Steve May in a prepared statement. "With Nvidia's QMC sampling technology, Pixar can accelerate its creative process while continuing to produce visual imagery and animation of the very highest standard."
