There has been a lot of media attention directed towards the Centre for Digital Media and the Masters of Digital Media (MDM) program this week. In particular, a film crew hired by Microsoft was on campus recording promotional material relating to the Centre’s render farm. Last fall, Microsoft donated 500 licenses of Windows Compute Cluster Server (CCS) to the Centre, all of which will be managed exclusively by the Centre’s Technical Director, Mark Lange, who has made it his goal to make available as much as possible of Microsoft’s extensive toolset to the MDM students.

The first use of the licenses donated by Microsoft is in the Centre’s own eighty-core render farm. However, the licenses will also be used to build relationships with other high tech institutions who need, or will need rendering abilities; the Centre will be able to introduce collaboration and build relationships with these institutions by donating CCS licenses.

The Microsoft film crew interviewed staff, faculty and students for footage to be used in a Microsoft marketing reel; of principal importance were the uses and the advantages of having the render farm available for everyday use. The attention from the film crew also resulted in some local media coverage. On Friday, February 14^th, the Centre was featured in an article about the render farm on the front page of the Vancouver Sun’s Business section. You can read the article here.

The Centre has actually only recently seen some of the benefits of the render farm. Last week saw the first ever award nomination for an MDM student produced work – produced in the first semester of the Centre’s operation, no less! The student group in question created a nine minute video, titled Crossing, composed of live footage and 3D animation (developed using the Centre’s render farm) over six weeks from early November to mid-December. Crossing has been shortlisted for a Webby Award in the Student On-Line Film and Video category.

The news that Crossing had been shortlisted came as something of a surprise for many students. Aerlyn Weissman, experienced film maker (IMDB), MDM student and a member of the team which produced Crossing, says: “I actually use the Webby Awards as a resource to see what is considered to be on the cutting edge on the web… There is a lot of stunning, well-polished work online. I’m pleasantly surprised to be among the nominees.”