Dreamworks Open Sources Their Animation Tool!
Now THIS is cool! Dreamworks animation tool was used to great effect in the new “Rise of the Guardians” movie! Now they are giving the code away! This is a great addition to the Open Source community!
DreamWorks makes ‘Rise of the Guardians’ special effects tool open source
“Yesterday DreamWorks released its latest animated feature with the holiday-themed Rise of the Guardians. But for animators who watch the film and wish they could do something similar, there’s good news — one of the tools used on the project is free and open source. Called OpenVDB, the tool is used to create volumetric 3D effects like smoke, and DreamWorks previously used it on both Puss in Boots and Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted. The studio’s hope is that by making OpenVDB free, it will eventually become an industry standard. ‘That ends up benefiting us,’ DreamWorks’ David Prescott told the Wall Street Journal.
The plan to go open source was originally announced this summer, and according to DreamWorks’ David Lipton, OpenVDB allows special effects teams to ‘overcome the memory limitations to which other data formats are subject.’ Just don’t expect animation house to start making all of its tools so readily available. ‘There’s other stuff that we’ve developed in house that we’re like, ‘No, you’re not getting that,” Prescott told the WSJ. You can learn more about OpenVDB at its official site.”
From the Dreamworks Press Release:
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. (Nasdaq: DWA) today announced the launch of OpenVDB (openvdb.org), a previously proprietary sparse volume data format, to the Open Source community. OpenVDB enables a dramatic increase in the scale of achievable volumetric effects.
‘DreamWorks Animation’s technology in the hands of our artists has created our rich, iconic characters and worlds. Our OpenVDB technology in particular has been the focus of intense industry interest,’ said Dr. Lincoln Wallen, Head of Animation Technology at DreamWorks Animation. ‘We have benefitted from using Open Source, and we are pleased to contribute back into the Open Source community in sharing OpenVDB.'”