Fw: NYTimes.com Article: Disney Shifting to Linux for Film Animation

[mattg at timesucker.ne.client2.attbi.com (Matt Galster)]

> >
> > Disney Shifting to Linux for Film Animation
> >
> > June 18, 2002
> > By STEVE LOHR
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > The Walt Disney Company, the doyen of animation studios, is
> > joining Hollywood's embrace of a technological upstart -
> > the GNU Linux operating system.
> >
> > Disney's animation division is announcing today that it
> > plans to use Hewlett-Packard workstations and data-serving
> > computers running Linux for digital animation work in the
> > future.
> >
> > The Disney move is the latest commitment by major studios
> > and special-effects houses - including DreamWorks SKG,
> > Pixar Animation Studios, Industrial Light and Magic and
> > Digital Domain - to Linux, which is a variant of the Unix
> > operating system that is distributed free and under terms
> > that allow programmers to fine-tune the software.
> >
> > Movie animation is a rarefied niche market for computer
> > technology. The studios have deep pockets, legions of
> > technical experts and plenty of financial incentive to get
> > just the right look and detail in movies like "Shrek" and
> > "Monsters Inc.," since the payoff for a box-office hit can
> > be enormous.
> >
> > Yet the advance of Linux into Hollywood is a sign that a
> > technology once viewed as part of the counterculture of
> > computing is moving steadily into the mainstream.
> > "Hollywood is at the leading edge of computing, and it
> > shows what Linux can do," said Martin Fink, general manager
> > for Hewlett-Packard's Linux systems division.
> >
> > At Disney, like other studios, machines running Linux
> > typically take the place of computers running proprietary
> > versions of Unix, like SGI's Irix software. Not only is the
> > Linux software free, but it runs on low-cost personal
> > computer technology, workstations and data-serving
> > computers powered by Intel or Advanced Micro Devices
> > microprocessors. "For us, it's a move to less-expensive
> > commodity technology systems," said John Carey, vice
> > president for Walt Disney Feature Animation.
> >
> > In animation, Linux made its first inroads a few years ago
> > on the clusters of server computers used in "rendering
> > farms," which require huge amounts of processing to render
> > a finished image of a creature or character as it appears
> > on movie screens.
> >
> > More recently, Linux has also been used on the workstations
> > used by animators for drawing and modeling their creations,
> > as the leading producers of animation software have
> > tailored their applications to run on Linux.
> > Alias-Wavefront tweaked its Maya program to run on Linux in
> > March 2001, after it had been approached by animation
> > studios and special-effects houses that wanted to use the
> > Linux technology, according to Kevin Turesky, an
> > engineering manager at Alias-Wavefront, a software
> > subsidiary of SGI.
> >
> > Linux tends to be portrayed as an archenemy of Microsoft
> > and its Windows operating system. In the long run, the rise
> > of an alternative like Linux will limit Microsoft's future
> > growth and market dominance. But in the near term, as the
> > Hollywood experience shows, Linux is gaining at the expense
> > of proprietary versions of Unix.
> >
> > "Historically, animation has been a Unix environment," said
> > Al Gillen, an analyst at the International Data
> > Corporation. "And what's happening in Hollywood is that
> > another piece of the Unix market is moving into the Linux
> > space."
> >
> > Indeed, Mr. Carey observed that adopting Linux for part of
> > its animation was part of its migration strategy to move
> > away from its previous "homogeneous technology
> > environment," revolving around SGI's Irix.
> >
> > The Disney commitment is the second agreement in recent
> > months for Hewlett-Packard systems running Linux in
> > Hollywood. In January, Hewlett-Packard announced a
> > three-year partnership with DreamWorks involving the
> > purchase of Hewlett computers and some joint development of
> > technology.
> >
> > Hewlett-Packard, to be sure, has a heritage of doing
> > business with Hollywood and Disney. The first product the
> > founders William Hewlett and David Packard sold in 1938 was
> > to Disney, an oscillator used to help produce the rich,
> > textured soundtrack for the animated movie "Fantasia."
> >
> >
> http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/18/technology/18LINU.html?ex=1025422203&ei=1&;
> en=7b2e78ebf5c9bd4d
> >
> >
> >
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