DreamWorks Animation Helps Boost Pixar’s OpenSubdiv

Glendale, CA -- DreamWorks Animation has announced its contribution to Pixar Animation Studio’s OpenSubdiv project. The contribution refactors the front end of OpenSubdiv, creating a new low-level layer that separates the mathematics of subdivision from OpenSubdiv's existing data structures and providing a simplified and accessible core for the standard. New data structures have been built upon this core to eliminate restrictions on the kinds of meshes that can be processed, significantly accelerating both general CPU processing and GPU pre-processing. The work was undertaken by DreamWorks Animation’s Principal Engineer Barry Fowler, in consultation with Pixar.

Pixar confirms DreamWorks Animation’s contribution will be released in OpenSubdiv 3.0 (expected release later in 2014).

"This is a significant and important contribution to OpenSubdiv," said Dr. Steve May, Chief Technology Officer at Pixar. "Barry Fowler's approach not only improves the front end for easier adoption, but makes the back end faster too by directly facilitating a more efficient compute strategy for GPUs. It's great to get such a fundamental contribution from another animation studio."

"Pixar has taken a bold and positive step toward standardizing surface modelling with the development of OpenSubdiv," said Dr. Lincoln Wallen, Chief Technology Officer at DreamWorks Animation. “We are excited to collaborate with Pixar by sharing our technical expertise in integrating optimizations, modifications, and re-structured code into the standard further benefiting our creative community.”

Source: DreamWorks Animation