AMD CPUs and GPUs Used to Make 'Machete'

Opteron and FirePro were the tools behind the film.

Robert Rodriguez makes movies that we love to watch. These include Sin City, Planet Terror, and From Dusk Til Dawn. This week he's back with Machete, featuring an all-star cast including Danny Trejo, Robert De Niro, Lindsay Lohan and Jessica Alba.

Why is this news? Because AMD technology was behind the scene with its CPU and GPU technology to help finalize 500 shots.

Machete is referred to as a "spaghetti western for day laborers," and the film centers on a former Mexican ex-Federale named Machete, who after being setup, embarks on a quest to seek revenge and clear his name.

Production company Troublemaker Studios made use of a unique mix of high-performance AMD hardware, including FirePro V8800 professional graphics accelerators and six-core Opteron processor-based workstations to produce the film on a compressed schedule. A team of ten artists with a post-production period of only six months accomplished 500 final shots.

Shots from three different digital camera models, one film camera, camera tracking work using PFTrack, 3D special effects work using Softimage, and compositing work using Nuke, all came together through AMD hardware.

Such added effects include extensive set damage, a huge number of bullet holes, and wide-ranging set extensions. AMD hardware also played a part in sophisticated particle simulations helped more accurately render realistic blood spatters that interact with each other, the actors and objects in the environment.

Stay tuned tomorrow for our Q&A with the technical team of AMD and Troublemaker.