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Pixar Switches to Mac OS X and G5s

Posted by pudge on from the stage-now-set-for-jobs-to-become-ceo-of-disney dept.

fmorgan writes "No big surprise here: when Apple introduced the G5 at 2003 WWDC, it become more a question of 'when' Pixar will move to G5s, than 'if'). At the same conference, Apple showed a new codec for Mac OS X named 'Pixlet,' developed with Pixar. In last year O'Reilly's Mac OS X conference, there was a presentation on how Pixar moved their desktop/office environment to Mac OS X. Now it seems it's the main production work: 'Apple's Don Peebeles said that Pixar has used Linux and Intel-based architecture in 2003, but that Pixar was switching to Mac OS X and G5 workstations for its production work: Peebles went on to say that this switch was "a move that no doubt made common CEO Steve Jobs very happy."'"

14 of 692 comments (clear)

  1. Could see this coming.... by medazinol · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've been telling people for some time now to watch Pixar closely now that the G5 and OS X has matured. It was only a matter of time before they finally switched the SGI and Linux stations over. The rendar farm however still uses a mixture of SUNs and SGI but I've no doubt that G5 Xserves would probably fit in quite nicely... now if they can only start shipping the damn things.

    1. Re:Could see this coming.... by cryptochrome · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I would predict that Xgrid will be finalized, and certain key programs will be utilizing it in the future. So besides the existing render farm, they'll be utilizing all the other computing power as well.

      --

      ---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?

    2. Re:Could see this coming.... by in7ane · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It's only a matter of time, well until Xgrid matures and then the render farm will be switched over as well.

      Hmm, maybe Virginia Tech was something of a test for them as well (yes, I know, initially G5 desktops, now switching to Xserves, probably quite different software as well)

    3. Re:Could see this coming.... by Short+Circuit · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It'd be neat if you could, but you'd probably be required to run TCPA first. All communications would be encrypted, and if you opened the binary in a debugger, you'd be slapped with a lawsuit before you got a ping response from the server.

      In short, it's too risky. They don't want anyone to have the slightest chance to put together enough data to reconstruct a portion of whatever they're working on.

      --
      tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
  2. Also no doubt... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Peebles went on to say that this switch was "a move that no doubt made common CEO Steve Jobs very happy."

    ...a move that just has to be a wee bit influenced by the FUD of SCO's IP claims on Linux too.

  3. Took them long enough. by ScottGant · · Score: 4, Interesting

    With Steve Jobs head honcho at both companies, you would have thought this would have happened a long time ago. Of course, the G5's entering the picture helps quite a bit I'm sure.

    Will the rendering farm also be switching to the G5 in the future, ala Virginia Tech?

    Will we now see Photorealistic Renderman come out for OSX and the G5? Hopefully?

    --

    "Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
    1. Re:Took them long enough. by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Jobs is pretty hands off at Pixar.

      No doubt Pixar will use the best tool for the job. If they start using G5s in their renderfarm, I wouldn't be all that surprised if they used Linux or Darwin on them, to avoid unnecessary GUI overhead.

      If Pixar was not using the best tool for the job, I'd have heard grumbling on the grapevine. So far, this hasn't been the case.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    2. Re:Took them long enough. by Vancorps · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Way to write off the CEO. Gates when he was CEO made decisions like this all the time.

      Steve probably didn't force it down their throats but he probably made a suggestion or two in the positive direction of Apple. In the end no one really knows but him and the people he spoke with. Considerin his past actions I wouldn't be at all surprised if he had a major hand in the switch

    3. Re:Took them long enough. by JohnsonWax · · Score: 4, Interesting

      He's a businessman, and the kiddies that like his fancy animated fish don't care if it was rendered or developed on a Mac or not.

      Yep. A year or two into his iCEO role, he was asked in an interview what computer he uses day to day. He said it was an Intel machine (Thinkpad, I think) running OpenStep.

      Most evidence is that he's a very bottom line kind of guy. If Apple's hardware sucks, he's not using it. And I think that's how a lot of Apple's decisions get made (for good or bad): Steve won't release a product that he won't use himself. He doesn't see the utility in the Newton, so the Newton goes. He sees the utility in the iPod, so it gets the go-ahead.

      It might sound stupid to run a company like this, but then he's not the only guy that does things this way. Warren Buffett makes a lot of decisions on the same rules. He considered buying Sees candy, Bombardier, and Dairy Queen because he liked the products. When the financials and management team checks out, he buys. But his personal preference is a big part of the decision.

  4. Looking at G5's for my data center too by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 5, Interesting
    More the memory bandwidth issue than anything else. Intel, even with the server processors, is stuck at 533 MHz front side bus. The opterons do a lot better, it's just a question of which I can get cheaper.

    I'm running Gentoo, so I don't care if I have to specially compile. I just want a machine that's going to actually USE the MHz it comes with. (Without resorting to massive cache.)

    --
    "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
    --Dr.W.Edwards Deming
  5. Renderman! by thatguywhoiam · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Does that mean Renderman will be restored to a proper Mac implementation, or will that still stay on a Linux farm of sorts?

    G5 + OS X + Maya + Photoshop + Pixlet = one kickass production environment.

    Really though do they need to change the Linux farm? I'd be surprised if they did, there's no real need...

    --
    If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
  6. Re:Here's what I see coming... by daviddennis · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's probably cost-effective for such huge consumers of computer power to swap out their equipment on roughly an annual basis. The difference between, say, a dual 2ghz and a dual 3ghz system would be huge for them.

    Now that I'm doing more video production I'll probably be doing that too, and using my current dual G5 as a render farm for my new main machine. Based on the results I'm getting and the speeds I get, it would be well worth the money to do that.

    Finally, I don't think Pixar's stockholders are in much of a mood to be cheap. Say it costs US$1 million a year to replace their equipment. Finding Nemo is a well over billion-dollar property. Do stockholders care about spending $1 million to make sure the (most likely pretty high paid) people over there get the best equipment?

    Somehow I doubt it.

    D

  7. You know what bothers me... by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Are people that assume all Mac users are these mindless people that need one button mice.

    I've been doing work on UNIX computers and other platforms for years and years. I bought a Mac because it has a great front end to make simple things simple, and the UNIX backend stuff to make hard things possible. I still use GnuEmacs and it works just fine on OS X.

    Also, the licence you apparently are seeking is GPL - the whole POINT of the BSD licence is that companies can make use of the code in the way they are doing. The developers working on BSD chose to work on BSD over Linux or some other GPL system knowing exactly this. As a coder I would think you would be proud to have something you wrote in such widespread use, instead of being a greedy whiner who is upset someone else is making money by using your code. Write your own amazing thing to make money from the code you wrote. Heck, by Apple stock when they adopt your code if you believe in it strongly!! That would have turned out really well for anyone who bought Apple stock around the time when they released OS X at large. They took the risks and also reaped the rewards, which anyone could have shared in.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  8. Steve's surely had a hand in this one... by jordandeamattson · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If there is anything you learn about SJ quickly, it is that he is the absolute definition of "hands-on".

    If this wasn't run past Steve and fully approved by him at a minimum, I would be surprised. That he was likely asking hard questions and pushing his team to do it, wouldn't surprise me at all.

    One of Apple's major customer segments is video prodution for television and movies. Apple for years has had an extremely strong niche in the Entertainment industry (why do you think you see Macs in almost every TV show and movie as the "computer of choice"?). Over the last 18 months they have spent a lot acquiring products to fill out their digital video, video effects, and audio editing and production product line. What we have hear is showing, by eating their own dog food, that they are serious and that you can do it all on the Mac.

    Steve is the master salesman and technical visionary. His finger-prints are all over this move!