AMD announced that the AMD Opteron processor played a significant role in the digital magic behind DreamWorks Animation SKGs recent movie, Madagascar. Madagascar is the tale of four Central Park Zoo animals who, after spending their lives in blissful captivity, are unexpectedly shipped back to Africa and shipwrecked on the wild and exotic island of Madagascar. The movie, which premiered in the U.S. last week as part of the second largest Memorial Day box-office opening weekend ever, has piqued film-critics interest with its stylized cartoon characters and lush environments. The AMD Opteron processor significantly improved rendering times for Madagascar and enabled digital artists to create never-before-seen images.

AMD64 technology made scenes possible within Madagascar that up until now would have been virtually unattainable due to processing limitations. For example, crowds of furry creatures, which have traditionally been considered one of the holy grails of animated films due to the complexity of fur animation, were an integral part of Madagascar. The faster rendering times and increased memory bandwidth enabled by AMD64 technology allowed DreamWorks Animation to render scenes with up to 900 lemurs celebrating in a lush jungle  one of many amazing feats displayed in the movie Madagascar. The AMD64 technology utilized by DreamWorks Animation to help create Madagascar is integral to all AMD products, from servers and workstations to desktop and notebook PCs. DreamWorks Animation will continue to expand its use of AMD products as the partnership between AMD and DreamWorks Animation matures.