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SmartFrog in the HP Labs Utility Rendering
Service
All the HP Labs Service Utility platform components are
deployed and managed using SmartFrog. Also SmartFrog
describes, assembles, launches and manages the components to
form the Utility Rendering Service (URS). SmartFrog uses
service templates so that, once described, a service can be
launched repeatedly.
The Resource Manager configures the Service Utility's
processors, and is able to keep track of what processors are
available - or have ceased to be available for whatever
reason - through our research technology called
Anubis, so it is clear to all, which of them, and
how many, are available at any time.
Anubis can report a failure in one or more of the
processors, allowing the Service Utility platform to recover
the information on the affected devices and distribute it to
other nodes. Anubis is fully decentralised, meaning it can
detect and respond to a wide variety of problems, and
provide a consistent picture of what is happening, to every
resource in the system.
White Papers
Servicing the Animation Industry: HP's Utility Rendering
Service Provides On-Demand Computing Resources
Showcase for tomorrow's computing utility
SE3D
HP/Alias CGI Film Rendering: Combining cutting-edge research,
creative residencies and public events, the SE3D animation
showcase involves animators, digital artists and production
companies in shaping the technology of tomorrow. In 2004,
SE3D offered 12 groups of UK animators free access to HP
Labs’ experimental Mayaź Rendering Service to produce a 3D
short.
http://www.hpl.hp.com/SE3D/
Picture This
“Picture This”, a short 3D film created by
Dan Lane, was
used in a prototype that creates on-demand customized 3D
short films from photographs provided by consumers. The
service is built around HP Labs Utility Rendering Service
(URS), a remote 3D
rendering application for the creation of computer graphics
animations using the Maya modelling package. In our
demonstrator, the consumer’s photograph is inserted in
"Picture This". The film is re-rendered on-demand using the
URS and burnt onto a DVD that the consumer can
walk away with. The prototype has been demonstrated at the
2005 International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam. A
customized sample of "Picture This" featuring the HP Labs
SE3D team or SmartFrog is available for viewers:
Links:
The Painter
Scientists at HP Labs teamed with the award-winning
production company 422 to produce an animated film that
takes advantage of new technology from HP.
"The Painter," a four-minute film depicting the artistic
adventures of a tiny robotic painter, is to be submitted to
the world-famous Sundance Film Festival and other
competitions.
In producing the film, animators made use of a prototype
utility rendering service developed by researchers at HP
Labs Bristol and run on the Labs' Utility Data Center.
(Rendering is the process that turns animators'
computer-generated wire models into finished frames.)
Links:
Updated
25 June 2007
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