Linux and the VFX Community
Several months ago I posted a question on the vfxpro.com board asking about the acceptance of the Linux operating system. The IRIX operating system is getting long-in-the tooth and SGI new line of workstation now offer Linux as an alternative OS.
For additional information on Linux in the visual effects industry, check out the vfxpro.com site which contains more information.
| Linux in VFX Houses? .. After hearing that Linux is starting to be used in some of the larger FX houses I thought I would post my comments and see if I could elicit some responses from industry veterans who may work at a large (or small) FX house and see why they are making the switch. I have a second PC at home with Red Hat Linux 6.2 on it and use it specifically as a learning machine. But I don't have any VFX software that runs on Linux. I believe Hammerhead productions has developed some s/w for the linux platform. What FX tools are available on the Linux OS? I have read Houdini is now available, but what about Maya, Commotion, or even Photoshop or After Effects? Any comments? Are there any public text on that Visual Effects Society discussion? - Mike Fremont,CA http://www.allenagenda.com (work in progress) .. - MikeAllen - Thursday, 13-Jul-00 20:28:02 |
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Reply: Linux in VFX houses .. Hi Mike, Shake and Chalice have announced Linux ports in progress, and Maya have their renderer on Linux. The Gimp is used in production for 2D work (in place of Photoshop) in some houses. Shadetree, for Renderman and Vmantra (Houdini 4.0's new renderer), has a Linux port in the works as well. Just like when NT got to the point that it was usable as a production platform, Linux will take some time and some shakedowns before it wholesale replaces other systems, but it's ready now. I work for Side Effects and I use a Linux box as my main machine on a daily basis. It's ready! When you're a big production house, you can't afford to have lots of downtime, so integration of Linux will take some time. Having said that, Linux has been used in various places for rendering for some time, with very good results. It's actually the GUI elements, especially OpenGL hardware-accelerated displays that have taken the time, but again, this parallels NT a few years ago. I can't speak for everyone, but the advantages of Linux are pretty clear: The boxes and OS are cheap, they are easy to maintain (someone once told me that a good UNIX sysadmin can maintain 50-100 machines, where a good NT sysadmin can maintain 20-50, but don't quote me on that), they integrate _almost_ seamlessly into existing IRIX environments (having different CPUs creates some rendering issues, and Linux does UNIX slightly differently than IRIX) and they come with a huge set of free administration tools. The downside is: There is no single developer to look to for support. Redhat and the others however are filling this void and do offer reliable support. The upside is: There are bugfixes made available daily, and since it's open-source, if you know what you're doing you can fix your own bugs. This is only practical if you're a big shop, or you're already a programmer, but it's certainly useful. Like I said, I work for a software developer (the first production 3D on Linux!) and my opinions are my own, and do not represent the company. I also make no claim of correctness for any generalizations I've made :) Cheers, Peter B .. - pbowmar - Friday, 14-Jul-00 19:41:19 |