Rebirth of the Tech Madman

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In fact, if it hadn't been for the richest man to press down several times, Pixar would be able to launch "Toy Story" the year before last.

In the beginning, the creativity of John Lasseter and others came from the 1988 Oscar Award for Best Animated Short Film "Little Tin Soldier". Although it is also a partner movie, the plot and taste are different from Tang Huan’s impression. Very big, so he was beaten back several times.

After solving the artistic problem, the technical aspect encountered that even the CPU used in mainstream personal computers had to reach the development barrier of 100mhz operating frequency step-since one of the main purposes of "Toy Story" is to show off computer technology , Then it is logical to slow down and wait for the latest hardware platform and software system to be in place.

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In the end, the "Toy Story" project used 116 dual-cpu radius holder workstations, 40 4-cpu radius holder workstations, and 3 top-level radius servers-the total number of microprocessors exceeded 400.

As for the team size, it has reached 110 people, including 27 animators, 22 technical directors, 61 other artists and engineers.

In contrast, Disney often requires at least twice the number of manpower required to produce traditional cartoons.

It can be seen that if project participants can truly master computer animation production tools, work efficiency will be greatly improved.

The 77-minute long animation of "Toy Story" includes more than 1,500 shots and more than 114,000 frames with a size of 1536x922 pixels, and the rendering time for each frame ranges from 45 minutes to 30 hours.

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Every audience who participated in the trial screening had learned about such data and couldn't help but admire this epic digital sensory product that was completely computer-generated.

After the movie begins, the first thing to show is the scene of the child Andy playing with his many toys.

Over the years, a variety of computer animation short films are not uncommon. Everyone has long had a general understanding of the effects that this technology can achieve, at least a preliminary level of understanding.

But the exquisiteness in the opening screen of "Toy Story" still shocked everyone.

When Andy plays with a toy, the effects of lighting, shadows, etc., are all realistic and natural-at such a level, it is definitely the first in the industry!

After watching the film, regardless of the artistry, no one has any doubt about the consensus that film production has ushered in a major change, and the IT industry has a deeper understanding of its own status.

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The intention of the richest man is very simple. The artistry and market value of "Toy Story" should be evaluated and operated by a professional team in Hollywood, and the IT circle only needs to feel the technological power contained in it.

Sure enough, the IT circle was surprised by its own technological achievements, and the voices of admiration were overwhelming; many executives were thoughtful.

"Toy Story" has a marketing budget of 20 million U.S. dollars, and now it has obviously received an excellent warm-up effect in advance.

Some reporters asked the richest man-what do you expect from the box office of "Toy Story"; Tang Huan just smiled-it's good if everyone likes it.

This relaxed attitude is really the same.

Don’t look at "Toy Story" in a blink of an eye, becoming a super advertising spokesperson for the development of the IT industry over the years, but its production cost is similar to that of ordinary movies at the moment, spending more than 30 million US dollars, and James Cameron’s "prodigal" By comparison, it's far inferior.

If you have to say a number, the US$80 million in box office is enough to achieve a balance of payments; after breaking through the US$100 million in box office, it is a profit.

What's even more positive is that in terms of distribution, "Toy Story" can catch up with the best summer season of the year, and even catch up with the Christmas season to release vcd and video tapes.

And don't forget, if "Toy Story" is really a big success, it can drive the surroundings, for example, in turn authorize Hasbro to cooperate.

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The computer animation technology used in "Toy Story" and the demand for microprocessor performance made Intel CEO Andy Grove unable to sit still.

He found an opportunity and said to Tang Huan: "Tang, Intel is also actively striving for the workstation market and has prepared a microprocessor with excellent performance for it. If the progress goes well, it can be released at the end of the year. This aspect is still needed. Please support Fangyuan workstation product line and Zheru software operating system."

Tang Huan nodded slightly, but he could understand Andy Grove's urgency.

You know, throughout the 1980s, Intel's x86 series of microprocessors, in the process of competing with Motorola's mc68000 family of microprocessors, has been overwhelmed by the performance of the other side.

One obvious manifestation is that many computer manufacturers use the mc68000 family of microprocessors in workstation products-for example, Sun Microsystems, before developing its own risc microprocessor sparc, has always been in love with the mc68000 family of microprocessors. .

It wasn't until the 1990s that Motorola, which made more and more money in the communications market, was finally defeated without a fight in the field of microprocessors, and was surpassed cleanly by Intel's Pentium microprocessors. In addition, the appeal of risc became stronger and stronger. Giving up the cisc microprocessor market, making Intel relatively easy all of a sudden.

In addition to the product recalls caused by the "floating-point addition error" that was raging last year, the Pentium microprocessor, which exclusively enjoys the cisc market, has indeed performed very well, bringing the performance of personal computers to a new level; especially it The p5 core of the P5 has added a set of simd-the instruction set mmx of single instruction stream and multiple data streams. After upgrading to p55c, the processing capacity of multimedia data has been significantly improved.

Under this circumstance, it is completely reasonable for Intel to follow the example of Motorola and let its microprocessor enter the high-end market of workstations.

"The performance of Pentium microprocessors in the field of personal computers is very good, and it is aspiring to higher-end application environments, and it is worth looking forward to. After all, on the cisc camp, it is not an exaggeration to describe Intel as the only remaining fruit." Tang Huan joked. , He asked: "This ambitious new product should be Pentium 2."

"Although the microprocessor core has been upgraded to the new p6, we do not intend to call it Pentium 2, but pentium_pro." Andy Grove explained: "This is mainly due to the combination of desktop and workstation markets. Consideration of clear division."

"Pentium_pro?" Tang Huan raised his brows and waved to the assistant to add details about the cooperation between his side and Intel on pentium_pro.

Compared with the pentium of the p5 kernel, the pentium_pro of the p6 kernel has two most significant improvements-the introduction of a risc-style decoding mechanism and the packaging of a high-speed second-level cache.

But there is a noteworthy problem, that is, the higher-level pentium_pro does not support the mmx function of the lower-level pentium.

If you draw a roadmap for the x86 family of microprocessors, you will find that 57 mmx instructions of pentium_pro and pentium are absent, and the lack of consideration for compatibility with real mode support is not generally similar to that of intel_80286 and intel_8086.

Andy Grove defended this: "Pentium_pro faces the workstation market. It shouldn't have a strong demand for multimedia processing like the personal computer market. The existence of the mmx instruction set should be irrelevant."

Tang Huan frowned, unhappy and said: "Why don't you learn good things, but imitate ibm's rigid practice of self-righteously forcibly dividing the market? Why do Intel microprocessors occupy a considerable share of the current personal computer market? Not by technology, but by compatibility! If you are so smart on pentium_pro, then I will put the prediction here first, and the failure will be waiting in front."

Andy Grove was sweating profusely and could only answer weakly: "But pentium_pro is now finalized..."

"If you don't suffer from the last loss, you won't be impressed with a long memory!" Tang Huan waved his hand impatiently, "You can do it whatever you want-I still hate wasting my saliva."

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Andy Grove, who had fled, just happened to meet Jobs head-on after he left.

These two are also old acquaintances. Looking at Andy Grove, who is a little embarrassed, Jobs gloats and said: "Why, got scolded?"

Andy Grove snorted angrily, dropped the words "Good luck", and walked away.

Seeing this, Jobs hesitated a little, then raised his leg and walked in.

Finding that it was Steve Jobs, Tang Huan slowed down and said, "How about it, the computer animation effect shown in Pixar's "Toy Story" is inspiring, isn't it?"

"Of course!" When Jobs was really convinced, he never knew what he was embarrassed about. "In terms of hardware, next really can't support such a large-scale intensive calculation."

In the process of having to decide to abandon the hardware business of next, Jobs was inevitably entangled and embarrassed-for example, the next computer factory, which was decorated with an artistic atmosphere, was confused by Canon, one of the investors. Sold off the ground.

Tang Huan didn't need to irritate Jobs needlessly, so he didn't answer the topic, but instructed his subordinates to make a cup of tea in accordance with the other's eating habits.

"I think "Toy Story" will definitely sell at the box office." Jobs continued.

"At that time, you will also have a share." Tang Huan smiled slightly, "However, for us, money really only represents numbers-after all, it can only fill life at best, but it can't enrich life."

"Steve, I think we have a lot in common with the concept of money."

"The true meaning of "Toy Story" does not lie in the box office, but it brings a brand-new way to film production, and at the same time it brings us to a new height in the computer industry that we have been engaged in for many years."

"It's true." Jobs nodded deeply.

I have to say that Jobs, who had a good relationship with Larry Ellison and Tang Huan, had obviously different feelings in the process of getting along with them.

When getting along with Larry Ellison, the other party is more like an insatiable local rich man, showing upstart's style and aggressive posture from time to time.

Although at this stage, Jobs can’t compare with Larry Ellison’s net worth, he still maintains a psychological advantage in the opponent, and he subconsciously subconsciously convinces Jobs’ personal charm and wants to learn from this “mentor” I learned something different from the others.

In contrast to the process of getting along with Tang Huan, Steve Jobs did not have this psychological advantage ~www.readwn.com~ and was also imperceptibly influenced.

Jobs has a characteristic, that is, when he recognizes a person, he tends to show a humbly learning attitude-for example, Michael Markkula, who had not turned his head against each other ten years ago, was regarded as his father's mentor.

The success of the richest man is uncontroversial, coupled with a certain "like-minded" that appeared from time to time, so even though Jobs didn't say anything, he actually regarded Tang Huan as a "mentor."

Of course, this kind of "mentor" is nothing rare. Jobs has many "mentors". In Zen, doesn't he have a long-term soul mentor-Otsukawa Hirofumi.

To put it bluntly, this is a way of pursuing success.

In any case, with this level of tacit relationship, the communication between Jobs and Tang Huan is much smoother than that of other people, and at the same time, compared to ten years ago, it is many times smoother.

After talking about the common language on the wealth view, Jobs turned to the topic of the trip, "Tang, in the current booming scene of the industry, the decline of Apple Computer is particularly dazzling!"

Tang Huan sighed and said leisurely: "You are the founder of Apple Computer, and you naturally have a feeling that is hard to let go; in fact, I also have a special feeling for it-precisely because of the early relationship with Apple. Cooperation has allowed me to quickly enter the ranks of billionaires."

Jobs showed a sympathetic look on his face, "Apple CEO Michael Spindler recently sought to sell Apple to IBM, HP, and Sun Microsystems. It’s no secret—has he contacted you? ?"

"Steve, I know what you want." Tang Huan smiled and shrugged. "But it's a pity that they haven't contacted me on this matter."