Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1474486
26 cgw j u ly • a u g u s t • s e p t e m b e r 2 0 2 2 V isual effects are a technology-driven art form, and VFX artists are only able to create within the boundaries of the tools that are available. Faster render speeds give VFX supervisors and artists more time to create and more freedom to experiment with their cras, allowing them to deliver higher-quality work at a more efficient pace. AMD has emerged as a technological leader in the visual effects world, producing the fastest and most efficient CPUs currently available on the market. Top VFX studios across the industry are now utilizing AMD's processors, allowing them to bring creative vi- sions to life on screen at a scale that was never possible in the past. VFX supervisor Paul Lambert, who received an Academy Award for his spectacular work on Dune (2021) explains, "The magic is in the iterations. A single visual effects shot could have hundreds or more updates and it takes immense processing power to turn around these iterations quickly. [With AMD] we're seeing a 2x improve- ment on our CPU render times." CGW connected with Academy and BAFTA member James Knight, AMD's Global Director of Media & Entertainment / Visual Effects, to explore how technology and collaboration are advancing the VFX industry. More time to create The VFX industry progresses and flourishes when artists have more time to focus on their art. Deadlines are strict and the demand for content has never been higher, so faster rendering speeds are more important than ever. "We were at Blur Studio, working with them on Terminator: Dark Fate [2019]," Knight recalls. "Working on a VFX shot — which is typically five seconds — they iterate on it, revise it, add things to it, and move things around 20 to 30 times before they kick it off to the local render farm and render it for final. But because of our technology, you have more cores within the CPU and they're faster. They didn't have to queue for the local render farm, so they could iterate way more and were able to go from 20 to 30 revisions per shot to over 130. The director of the film even joked that he could tell the difference between someone with one of his other systems and one with ours because the guys working on one of our CPUs constantly had their work up, whereas the other guys had YouTube up because they were waiting for renders." Higher efficiency with a smaller footprint Environmentally friendly technology with a smaller carbon footprint The Future of Visual Effects HOW TECHNOLOGY & COLLABORATION ARE ADVANCING THE VFX INDUSTRY BY KENDRA RUCZAK