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Having interned at DreamWorks, it was amazing to see how much the studio depends on Open Source software... Right from having everyone use Redhat systems across

Having interned at DreamWorks, it was amazing to see how much the studio depends on Open Source software... Right from having everyone use Redhat systems across the board to massive use of Python for a lot of the pipelining and processes and internal tools, DW is a strong company when it comes to Open source usage (contributions as with most companies can be improved quite a bit). Strongly welcome this venture and hope the industry as a whole can move forward because of it.:)

florabuzzword 8y ago
Very cool. Were there any projects outside of the VFX Platform (vfxplatform.com) you could point out? As mentioned in this article, it seems that the VFX studios, even the small ones, are very siloed and protective. Of the studios with Github accounts, the software they release is usually stuff they don’t use any longer.
- pzone 8y ago
  The reason for this organization is that many of the key components of the VFX platform are open source, but not open governance. They live inside Dreamworks, Disney, etc. but without any sort of public collaboration model. You can't contribute to the Alembic file format unless you work at Imageworks, you can't contribute to EXR unless you're at ILM, and you can't contribute to OpenVDB unless you're at Dreamworks.
- wandersandwich 8y ago
  https://research.dreamworks.com/open-source-projects/ https://research.dreamworks.com/open-source-projects/ In particular look at OpenVDB (volume database). It is a wide and shallow volume format designed for performance around certain use cases. It also includes good lib support for the common simulation functions. A lot of the other open source offerings from the animation/vfx studios are about common formats and pipelines and may be of less interest outside of the industry.
  - florabuzzword 8y ago
    I think you’re right. I should have specified formats and pipeline components. There are business reasons to not open source these things, but it couldn’t hurt to ask. OpenVDB was a crucial step. It’s hard to live without it these days.

florabuzzword 8y ago

Very cool. Were there any projects outside of the VFX Platform (vfxplatform.com) you could point out? As mentioned in this article, it seems that the VFX studios, even the small ones, are very siloed and protective. Of the studios with Github accounts, the software they release is usually stuff they don’t use any longer.

pzone 8y ago
The reason for this organization is that many of the key components of the VFX platform are open source, but not open governance. They live inside Dreamworks, Disney, etc. but without any sort of public collaboration model. You can't contribute to the Alembic file format unless you work at Imageworks, you can't contribute to EXR unless you're at ILM, and you can't contribute to OpenVDB unless you're at Dreamworks.
wandersandwich 8y ago
https://research.dreamworks.com/open-source-projects/ https://research.dreamworks.com/open-source-projects/ In particular look at OpenVDB (volume database). It is a wide and shallow volume format designed for performance around certain use cases. It also includes good lib support for the common simulation functions. A lot of the other open source offerings from the animation/vfx studios are about common formats and pipelines and may be of less interest outside of the industry.
- florabuzzword 8y ago
  I think you’re right. I should have specified formats and pipeline components. There are business reasons to not open source these things, but it couldn’t hurt to ask. OpenVDB was a crucial step. It’s hard to live without it these days.