23 October 2018
In August, Animal Logic became an inaugural member of the newly formed Academy Software Foundation (ASWF), a neutral forum for open source software development in the motion picture and media industries hosted at the Linux Foundation. Today, the foundation has announced that Sony Pictures Entertainment/Sony Pictures Imageworks, Warner Bros., Blender Foundation and Visual Effects Society (VES) have joined as members. We are excited to see the impacts these leaders in entertainment will have on the greater goals of the foundation.
“We are pleased to be joining the Academy Software Foundation in helping to drive the next wave of innovation for our industry. With increased collaboration, we expect accelerated growth in the development of new technologies and standards for artists and engineers across the industry,” said Randy Lake, President, Studio Operations and Imageworks for Sony Pictures Entertainment. “Warner Bros. makes visually exciting entertainment with our partners and we have long known the value of open source software in the production process,” said Anne Kolbe, EVP, Visual Effects, Warner Bros. Pictures, Production Management. “In that light, we have decided to join the Academy in this important activity as it supports all manner of image rendering inclusive of exciting new immersive formats.”
ASWF also approved OpenVDB, open source software developed and maintained by DreamWorks Animation, as the Foundation’s first hosted project. OpenVDB is an Academy Award-winning industry standard for creating more detailed and realistic volumetric images, including water/liquid simulations and environmental effects like clouds and ice. The ASWF will maintain and further develop the project with oversight provided by a Technical Steering Committee (TSC).
Developers interested in learning more or contributing to OpenVDB can sign up to join the mailing list at www.aswf.io/community.
The ASWF Governing Board (GB) and Technical Advisory Council (TAC) have elected several leaders to help execute this vision and drive overall growth of the Foundation.
GB Chair: Rob Bredow, SVP, Executive Creative Director and Head of Industrial Light & Magic and Member of the Academy’s Science and Technology Council , Open Source Investigation Committee
Executive Director: David Morin, Project Lead for the Academy Open Source Investigation and Head, Epic Games Los Angeles Lab
TAC Chair: Daniel Heckenberg, R&D Lead Engineer at Animal Logic