Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/259450
C G W Ja n u a r y / Fe b ru a r y 2 014 ■ 43 ■ DISNEY'S EFFECTS and R&D teams developed new tech- nology to create magical yet believable CG snow and ice. At far left, Anna, Olaf, Kristoff, and Sven the reindeer travel through the result. ■ THE CREATIVE-CARTEL was on set for After Earth , employing its own management system, Joust. On the hardware side, the studio uses JMR equipment. EXC has had a long-standing relationship with EMC. "They have been rock-solid, and the support is great," Briggs says. The ability to add storage as needed, as well as to have a group of users con- nected to that storage, is hugely important to Briggs. In addition, the latest Isilon version offers more gigabit networking on each node, "so we have the ability to connect a lot more users in a centralized place." EXC has three EMC Isilon F200s that offer 6 tb nodes – each one has four 1gb Ethernet ports and 6gb of RAM – for a total of 18tb. Even with that amount, the staff often hits those limits, so Briggs says the studio began looking into buying another node or two. All that storage comes with the need for robust power and cooling. When EXC moved into its present location about four years ago, it had to add a new electri- cal subsystem to accommodate the storage. "It gets really hot," Briggs says. "Once you start throwing in Isilon nodes and backup systems and render- farms – we have about 35 to 40 machines dedicated to rendering, each run- ning different software/engines – that gets power-intensive. Then you have the cooling aspect, keeping it under 70 degrees." In terms of projects, Element X this past summer completed a national spot for 7/11 out of the Integer Group promoting the convenience store's July 11 free Slurpee giveaway. It features comedian Nathan Barnatt doing the "Slurpee dance" in front of a greenscreen with retro '80s graphics behind him. The visuals were composited and animated at EXC. Charlieunformtango handled the edit. Another job was for Occam Marketing client Leapfrog. EXC created a flurry of CG products and graphics for the piece. The studio's primary 3D software package is Autodesk's Softimage. The facility also employs Pixologic's ZBrush and The Foundry's Nuke, Nuke X, and Nuke renderfarm nodes; a seat of Mari was expected to be added, as well. The Creative-Cartel The Creative-Cartel (www.thecreative-cartel. com) in Culver City, California, manages projects from camera to DI, providing everything from engineering digital pipelines, to near-set lab and dailies services on loca- tion, to VFX and stereo production management. Its resumé includes Priest, Ted, and After Earth. Storage is incredibly important to every aspect of what The Creative-Cartel does and how the studio does it. It's all about effi- ciency and streamlining the workflow – so much, in fact, that the studio created its Storage Space