 Square Pictures rendered the film using some of the most advanced processing capabilities available for film animation at the time . A render farm consisting of 960 workstations was tasked with rendering each of the film 's 141 @,@ 964 frames . It took a staff of 200 and about four years to complete The Spirits Within . Square intended to make the character of Aki Ross into the world 's first photorealistic computer @-@ animated actress , with plans for appearances in multiple films in different roles . 
