Choosing Linux was a matter of resources. Studios already had a large amount of expertise on IRIX, a variant of Unix created by SGI. Moving to Linux would provide fewer headaches for existing staff. And it would require less work rewriting or "porting" already existing software. The porting issue extended to third-party application vendors like SideFX Software and Alias-Wavefront. Both companies were contacted by industry members regarding ports of their software to Linux. And both responded.
"The Linux agenda is a key one for us," says Chris Ford, senior Maya product manager for Alias-Wavefront. "The high-end film community uses this product. They need the robust, scalable environment that Linux offers and Alias-Wavefront knows we need to be there."
The company is making a heavy commitment, says Ford, but one driven by their customers.
Alias-Wavefront's Maya program is a de facto standard: a general-purpose graphics application that fits across the high-end film, episodic and location-based entertainment arenas. The appeal to the industry is the program's openness. Many VFX studios build their own tools, but they integrate them into the Maya architecture.
SideFX is actually credited with starting the move to Linux by the industry, having ported its Houdini modeler in April 1999, a full year before the VES 2000 Linux Summit. SideFX's CTO Paul Salvini says that his company ported the application even before there was hardware-accelerated video card support for it in Linux because someone needed to take that first step. "Part of the reason we considered doing the port was the interest shown by a number of effects houses for a Linux-based Houdini. The interest was 'provisional,' considering the lack of workstation-class hardware support that was available, but SideFX took these requests to heart and felt they could help move things along by providing the application side of the equation."
By combining their weight as an industry, the VES members were able to convince many other application vendors to port their software to Linux as well. Pixar's PRMan, Nothing Real's Shake, Silicon Grail's Rayz and Avid's XSI are just a few of the high-end, high-dollar applications already ported.
Next page: But what happens when proprietary software meets the open-source world?