back to article Honey, I BLEW UP the International SPACE STATION - in full 3D

A few years ago the idea of accelerating a BlueArc filer would have seemed bizarre; it's got its own hardware acceleration. But now media special effects processing can be so mind-blowingly intensive that the hardware accelerated filer itself needs accelerating. The case that's illustrating this point is the new George Clooney …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Amazing, I didn't know Sandra Bullock was still making films....

    1. Andrew Moore

      I think she's just CGI

  2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Pint

    Russian dashcams in space -- the movie!

    1. big_D Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Hope there's plenty of road rage to go with the crashes...

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    All that trouble

    to correctly model the trajectories of various bits of colliding debris, and then they go and ruin it all by having sound propagate in a vacuum.

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: All that trouble

      What vacuum? It looks like expanding gas, dust and debris (i.e an explosion)- the rest of the noise is screaming over the suit radio, and noise transmitted along the suit tether- in much the same the way as you can hear the cable of your earphones rubbing against your shirt.

      There is a medium for sound to travel through. I don't expect the noise portrayed in this trailer is what people would hear in that situation, but nor would I expect it to be a silent experience.

  4. Gordon Pryra

    But....

    Can it run Crysys with max settings?

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge
      Headmaster

      Re: But....

      >Can it run Crysys with max settings?

      I don't know about Crysis, but it looks like a crisis for the two astronauts concerned!

      CrySys with two 'y's is something different again, but does have an IT angle: :-)

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CrySyS_Lab

  5. Anonymous Custard
    Joke

    Wow

    You mean that CGI effects are now so good that they make Sandra Bullock look like she can act?

    1. TeeCee Gold badge
      Coat

      Re: Wow

      Yes, but look at the amount of processing they had to throw at the problem to create that effect.

      Presumably the next challenge is Kristen Stewart. They'll probably need vast amounts of DDR3 configured as ramdisks for that.

      1. Justin Stringfellow
        Trollface

        Re: Wow

        The ultimate challenge is of course, animating Keanu Reeves.

        I think we've a few thousand iterations of moore's law (any relation to coleslaw?) before he will ever look real.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Wow

      Maybe the important part is that she is filmed in 3D…?

      1. Simon_E
        Meh

        Re: Wow

        Alas, no, it's a conversion. (per realorfake3d.com, anyway.)

  6. BlueGreen

    Hosing down everything with cgi gets you very little

    I saw Avatar and I saw the South Park movie. Guess which I liked much, much more than the other.

    1. Alan 6

      Re: Hosing down everything with cgi gets you very little

      "I saw Avatar and I saw the South Park movie. Guess which I liked much, much more than the other."

      Not really a valid comparison, as they're completely different types of films, It's akin to saying that Citizen Kane is a classic, but I prefered Debbie Does Dallas

      1. BlueGreen

        Re: Hosing down everything with cgi gets you very little

        Well, they are entirely different genres but I guess you watch such films for entertainment, that's what it's all about. By such measure I found one good, and the other a gaudy but vacuous shell. IMO of course.

        Quick test: if you subtract the CGI from both films, what remains?

        1. Don Jefe
          Happy

          Re: Hosing down everything with cgi gets you very little

          Hilarious dialogue and a great musical score...

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Pint

        Re: Hosing down everything with cgi gets you very little

        I agree, Alan 6.

  7. zooooooom
    Thumb Down

    Can someone point out

    the impressive or challenging part of all that?

    1. Don Jefe
      Stop

      Re: Can someone point out

      Really dude, really?

      I'm sure they would have utilized your services had they known you existed. Maybe you should change your career path and go into CGI since you are obviously profoundly talented in the field.

  8. Don Jefe
    Unhappy

    Model

    I know this is an IT site and all but I think it's a shame that movies have gotten away from building then exploding real models. There's real art involved and the model makers get respected for their craft whereas VFX staff are largely interchangeable, treated terribly and very rarely does anyone involved (even the VFX house) make any real money.

    1. Cubical Drone
      Pint

      Re: Model

      So true. A tip of the hat to special affects pioneers like Ray Harryhausen.

      (a pint since I don't wear hats and will raise a pint instead)

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Meh

    All this....

    ....for a another pile of shit movie from Hollywood. We should have this kind of power for more interesting stuff like a James Burke Connections series. All in 3D of course.

    1. Palf

      Re: All this....

      or a CGI-resurrected Patrick Moore discussing toad sexing. The possibilities with dead celebrities are endless

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "What do i do"... errr try & survive maybe?

  11. john.w
    Happy

    Last paragraph made me think of the old definition of an Engineer, someone who will design something that costs a 10p that any idiot could build for a £1.

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