How 'Dragon 2' director used the cloud to create gigantic animated fight sequences

Dean DeBlois had a vision to create battles that were just as massive as those in The Lord of the Rings films.

The director of How to Train Your Dragon 2 was focused on delivering state-of-the-art animated scenes, and that’s why the popular summer movie — which has generated worldwide box office receipts of more than $300 million — has some battle scenes that extend as far as the horizon.

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Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.