Poor
Shin Itagaki! I wonder if he will say (and draw) something sad about such disgrace on his own column (
http://animestyle.jp/column/battari/)...
Totally legit! Many trust and rely on
RURIN, and is right now the best source for this kind of information I know of (
http://neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=35902619&postcount=12019)...
in part because another good source for those spectrum analysis ceased the updates from July, 2011 and onwards! At least samples to compare and good tools are still available there (
http://gorry.haun.org/pw/?fftspectrum &
http://gorry.haun.org/pw/?fftspectrum_sample), if anyone is interested in trying this at home...
While
Hewlett-Packard has always been making a big fuss about being the sole provider of efficient and very up-to-date workstations to important Japanese animation studios like
Studio Ghibli or
Studio Khara (χαρα
, these have always been more interested in maintaining a steady workflow and easy management of the data created, which for them is still more important than the definitive compositing and very punctual rendering process. In fact, for a presentation of their new infrastructure to deal with a full-digital future for their works,
Studio Ghibli's
Noriyuki Kitagawa mentioned absence of HDD storage when handling all the raw data they needed as the major concern, while digitizing in a very a high definition their material (
http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/20060626/hp.htm).
Yes, it is difficult to research and know the Why's and How's for each studio given their idiosyncrasy. However, and as I see it, two fundamental factors influence a general stance they can have towards implementation of new labors to achieve for their projects a higher-resolution work output:
One is the, more out-of-convenience (as seen before), reason that is managing in a fast way all the task's corrections and checks between different stages of the process (specially digital touch-ups and painting). And another is a limiting factor as is the equipment necessary, and their specifications, but as many studios rely on dedicated support companies to handle those tasks instead of relying completely on in-house digital photography departments... I would say the first one could be the most decisive nowadays.