DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda

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DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda

A single DreamWorks Animation (DWA) film requires tens of millions of CPU hours for the processes of adding color, texture, and lighting to each frame. When the company wanted to redesign its proprietary rendering software to help lighting designers work in near-real time—rather than waiting minutes or hours to see the result of their work—the company received a grant from the Energy Dept.'s INCITE program to work on some of the world's most powerful supercomputers. The changes helped lighting designers render Kung Fu Panda and subsequent films.