The SPECapc for Maya 2023 benchmark introduces a significant new animation feature as part of its workload, which allows some, or all, of its data to be cached, potentially requiring tremendous amounts of hardware resources. Pallavi Mehrotra, Erik Niemeyer and Ravi Jagannadhan conducted extensive testing and troubleshooting to determine the hardware requirements and configurations needed to ensure the feature would function correctly, which is key for both vendors and buyers to understand. Without their work, the Graphics and Workstation Performance Group (GWPG) would not have been able to include this important new feature in the SPECapc for Maya 2023 benchmark.

Pallavi and Erik brought suggestions on which workload to use as a valid example of animation caching, and they continued to work through issues with variability. Ravi drew on his application expertise to understand how Maya users actually use this feature and why. The trio also focused on determining the right name for the benchmark result so users would easily understand what it was and its relevance. To pull off this monumental task, they collaborated on numerous occasions despite working for different companies. They also worked with Autodesk and frequently met with Allen Jensen, SPECapc Vice Chair, who was writing the code for the benchmark.