If it's animation or special effects, it's Linux

Computer World ^ | August 18th | Steven J Vaughn-Nichols

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

My colleague Eric Lai discovered recently that while top animation and FX (special effects) programs are run on Macs and some of them, like RenderMan Pro Server are being ported to Windows, it's on Linux clusters that the really serious movie and television visual effects are created. As Robin Rowe writes at LinuxMovies.org, "In the film industry, Linux has won. It's running on practically all servers and desktops used for feature animation and visual effects."

Rowe's not just being a Linux booster. It's the Gospel truth. The animation and FX for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; Star Wars: The Clone Wars; WALL-E; 300; The Golden Compass; Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; and I Am Legend, to name but a few recent movies, were all created using Pixar's RenderMan and Autodesk Maya running on Linux clusters.

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

You can't point to animation and special effects software as a major win for open-source software, there is absolutely no doubt that every time you gasp at a breath-taking escape by Indy or grin at a particularly clever visual bit of fun in Ratatouille, you're appreciating the power of Linux.

[MarkL]

The simple fact is that *IX is just far better suited than Windows for the sort of serious data crunching that visual effects takes... And that includes MacOS. As an example (though not related to visual effects), the company I work for uses a program called "Sawmill" to take syslog files and put the raw internet access data into usable form for security and Internet access trend analysis. When using the Windows version, generating the reports would take nearly 3 days (52 hours). Using the exact same hardware, the Linux version of Sawmill generates the exact same report in just over 10 hours.

Mark

[Big Giant Head]

Where’s that Linux Ping List?

Ping!

[HAL9000]

Linux is great for render farms, but not so good for design workstations.

[skinkinthegrass]

When using the Windows version, generating the reports would take nearly 3 days (52 hours). Using the exact same hardware, the Linux version of Sawmill generates the exact same report in just over 10 hours.

that's impressive; sounds like, Bill Gates, "abandoned ship" just in time to save his reputation / $$$$...so much for the much vaulted company.

[Vince Ferrer]

My colleague Eric Lai discovered recently...

It has been this way for about eight years.

[MichiganMan]

Where’s that Linux Ping List?

*Ping*

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

What do you mean?

[Vince Ferrer]

The move to Linux for special effects was done some time ago. Companies like SGI used to rule special effects with their rendering software. (SGI was still UNIX even then) But Linux and cheap processors quickly took over, and even SGI had to abandon their proprietary chips and go with the render farms running Linux.

[ShadowAce]

[LexBaird]

So, the question is are SFX a creation of the animator at his station, deciding what the visual will be, or are they the result of the number-crunching farms that render the final image?

Different applications, different needs.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

The article mentions RenderMan as a Pixar program - and Pixar is, of course, the property that bought Steve Jobs his Disney stock.

It can be no surprise that Pixar was using some form of Unix, since Jobs was already committed to Unix when he left - was pushed out of - Apple.

[Still Thinking]

You can't point to animation and special effects software as a major win for open-source software, there is absolutely no doubt that every time you gasp at a breath-taking escape by Indy or grin at a particularly clever visual bit of fun in Ratatouille, you're appreciating the power of Linux.

Say again?