Over the years, animation has gone from traditional, 2D, hand-drawn artwork to software-designed, 3D projects utilizing full-scale computer rendering. DreamWorks Animation is at the top of the pack in this arena, and it is using Big Data analytics to help it produce the animation the public loves in the most efficient manner.

Jeff Wike, head of Research and Development at DreamWorks Animation, sat down with Dave Vellante (@dvellante) and Paul Gillin (@pgillin), co-hosts of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, during the HPE Big Data Conference 2016 at the Westin Boston Waterfront in Boston, MA, to talk about Big Data and the digital revolution that has transformed modern animation.

Where analytics fits in

While animation will never be completely free of some traditional creation techniques, such as hand drawing or shading (albeit with digital pencil), the modern process is entirely computerized. According to Wike, there are around half a billion digital files that are created by the time a film is done, from models to textures to animation curves. These files have dependencies, and the use of analytics is essential to ensuring these files are handled and routed properly according to those dependencies so that they can be rendered to the final product in an efficient manner.

“So when you think about all of that data, and what the dependencies are, being able to track and know where all of that data is, and be able to stage it to where the artists are, [not] only allows them to not sit around and wait but to be able to work immediately,” said Wike. “And that drives efficiency into the animation process.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of the HPE Big Data Conference.

Photo by SiliconANGLE