Intel and DreamWorks Animation SKG have formed a strategic alliance to work together on 3-D filmmaking technology, the companies said Tuesday.

The fruits of their collaboration will first be seen in the animated film "Monsters vs. Aliens," which is scheduled for domestic release March 27, 2009. DreamWorks has said that all of its feature films will be in 3-D starting next year.

Under the alliance, Intel will provide advanced processors with multiple cores and adapt the technology, which is not yet available in the mainstream market, to DreamWorks' authoring tools. In essence, DreamWorks has agreed to convert its computing infrastructure for 3-D film creation to an Intel-based system.

In addition to working with DreamWorks, Intel plans to develop and promote the development of 3-D content on its platform in other markets, such as home theater, personal computers, videogames, online virtual worlds, and mobile devices.

Video, music, games, and other forms of digital entertainment on the PC are a growing market targeted by Intel. Such applications require an ever-increasing amount of processing power, which Intel plans to deliver by increasing the number of cores in a processor. The chipmaker, along with its rival Advanced Micro Devices, currently offers the mainstream market a maximum of four cores per processor.

In PC gaming, Intel is focused on developing technology that promotes the use of a rendering technique called "ray tracing," which requires more processing power than the more commonly used raster graphics, but delivers higher-quality graphics. Current ray tracing technology is best suited for still images in games and special effects on film.

Intel is also betting that online virtual worlds, such as Second Life and World of Warcraft, will eventually provide cinematic quality graphics, which will also demand exponentially more processing power than today's PCs.