Who to speak to? RE: CGI, rendering workstations, 'big 3D'

[Sub-Divide]

Hi guys,

Good to be hear I've managed to stay well below the radar as a 'lurker' in the Beyond 3D forums but finally the time has come for me to step forth and ask a couple of questions

I'm currently freelancing as an IT journalist in Australia, and I'm looking to write a 'feature article' on the "big boys of 3D".

Forget your 6600GTs, X850XTs or even that crusty Ti4200 in the back cupboard.

I'm talking the stuff (see: Hardware & Software) that production houses use to render 3D special effects, high poly models, CGI and other production level content.

I'm having some difficulty tracking down people who are versed in the industry and willing to share a chat / information with me about the following topics,

1) The hardware used, strengths, differences in architecture etc
2) The software that interacts with hardware
3) What goes into production level 3D? What seperates it from the still relatively low res, low poly world of gaming that the current crop of mainstream GPUs are used for.

So people, here's your chance to point me in the right direction, or if you know of a company / individual who might spare a few minutes of their time for a Q&A session (plus get a free product or application plug in an Australia wide IT magazine) please contact me either here, or at t15bs15@colesmyer.com.au

I'm sort of thinking people within places like SGI, or even individuals or hobbyists with a keen knowledge of this level of 3D hardware/software....

Thanks

 

[Sub-Divide]

So no-one at Beyond 3D - one of the supposed most talked about and seemingly 'connected' GPU/3D websites in the world - can help me out?

I find that difficult to believe.

 

[hey69]

maybe post this in "3d boards and driver" or another subforum . some people don't come often here in the "general discussion"

 

[Sub-Divide]

Ok..is that ok with the moderators???

for me to post this elsewhere??

 

[3dcgi]

You might try to talk with 3dlabs and the workstation groups at Ati and Nvidia to get a view of the hardware side of "Big 3D". Also, maybe try to contact some development studios and ask what hardware they use for rendering. Nvidia has been trying to use their Gelato software to get GPUs into the mix for final frame rendering, but most of the heavy lifting is done on Linux boxes with Intel and AMD CPUs. Note that I'm not involved in the workstation market. These are just my observations from a lot of reading over the years.

 

[RussSchultz]

Post in the "3d architecture and coding" group.

I know we have some people around that have worked on movies (such as Ice Age) and others.

 

[Sonic]

http://www.cgtalk.com

That link might help you out, it might not.