Editing Donkey Kong Country (section)

===Graphics===
[[File:SGI Power Challenge 10000 L (1).jpg|thumb|right|alt=A photo of an SGI Challenge workstation: a computer monitor sits atop its tower.|Rare used [[SGI Challenge]] workstations (pictured) to produce ''Donkey Kong Country''{{'s}} pre-rendered visuals.]]

''Donkey Kong Country'' was one of the first games for a mainstream home video game console to use pre-rendered 3D graphics,<ref name="NLife: MakingOf" /> a technique used in the earlier 1993 [[Finland|Finnish]] game ''[[Stardust (1993 video game)|Stardust]]'' for the [[Amiga]].{{sfn|Undercover Lover|1994|p=54}} Rare developed a [[Data compression|compression]] technique to incorporate more detail and animation for each [[spritesheet|sprite]] for a given memory footprint, which better preserved the pre-rendered graphics. Nintendo and Rare called the technique Advanced Computer Modelling (ACM).<ref name="RG: MakingOf"/> Rare briefly feared competition from [[DMA Design]]'s ''[[Uniracers]]'' (1994), which also featured pre-rendered graphics, but the staff was relieved upon learning that the player character was ''Uniracer''{{'s}} only element that was pre-rendered.<ref name="NLife: MakingOf" />

The artists began by modelling the characters in [[NURBS]] using PowerAnimator and adding [[texture mapping|textures]]. They then created the animations and rendered them frame by frame before compressing them for the game. The ACM process was handled by a designated computer that had a proprietary utility similar to [[Deluxe Paint]].<ref name="DF Retro"/> Adapting to the cutting-edge SGI workstations was difficult;<ref name="NLife: MakingOf" /> Gregg Mayles' brother [[Steve Mayles|Steve]] said they had a steep learning curve. To help, Nintendo provided Rare with research material regarding apes, barrels, and caves.{{sfn|Undercover Lover|1994|p=54}} The pre-rendered graphics allowed for variety and detail uncommon at the time,<ref name="RG: MakingOf" /> and Tim Stamper constantly pushed the team to go further and incorporate weather and lighting effects.<ref name="NLife: MakingOf" />

The game was Rare's first to require multiple programmers,<ref name=":0" /> and they worked with little guidance.<ref name="DF Retro"/> The ACM process pushed the SNES hardware to its limits;<ref name="RG: MakingOf"/> Betteridge said Rare wanted to do everything they could with the hardware similar to what they had done with the NES game ''[[Battletoads (1991 video game)|Battletoads]]'' (1991).<ref name="Edge" /> A single SGI screen took up more [[Computer memory|memory]] than an entire SNES cartridge, and Gregg Mayles described transferring the backgrounds into the game by splitting them into tiles as "the bane of the project".<ref name="RG: MakingOf"/> Models took hours to render,<ref name="DF Retro" /> so the team would leave the computers running overnight.<ref name="NLife: MakingOf" /> Sometimes, artists would shut down other artists' computers in the middle of the process so they could render their own models.<ref name="DF Retro" /> The SGI machines required a massive [[air conditioning]] unit to prevent overheating, while the team worked in the summer heat without relief.<ref name="NLife: MakingOf" /> Programmer [[Chris Sutherland (programmer)|Chris Sutherland]] was responsible for implementing the graphics and found reducing the characters' frames of animation challenging.<ref name="DF Retro" />