About the VFX Reference Platform
Background
The production of visual effects and animation for film requires the use of a number of different software products. In order for these products to work together and share data through commonly understood file formats, they frequently depend on the same set of third-party components. Unfortunately software vendors are often not building with the same versions of these shared components. The result can be significant integration challenges for studios and end users.
For example, if the versions of Python vary then plug-ins written for one software product will not work with another. The same issue can arise with Qt widgets or Boost libraries. Even varying versions of low-level components like the C++ compiler or glibc can result in plug-in incompatibilities or crashes when sharing files.
Goals
Our main focus is on minimising incompatibilities between different software packages:
- Ease the support burden for integrated pipelines at VFX and animation studios.
- Make it easier for software vendors to support their products on Linux and other operating systems.
- Encourage further adoption of Linux by making it less daunting for small to medium studios and end users.
- Help the industry adopt new technologies more rapidly.
Process
Each year a new VFX Reference Platform is published for use by vendors building software for release during that calendar year. Each year the process is as follows:
- January to April - Research and information gathering.
- May - Draft Reference Platform published. The community is invited to provide feedback on the Draft.
- Late July / August - Draft discussed at our annual Birds of a Feather meeting at SIGGRAPH and User Group meeting.
- September 1st - Final version of the Reference Platform published.
- November - Late changes occasionally permitted if required to pick up late releases from upstream dependencies, and where there is consensus within the community.
Latest news and discussion is available on the mailing list: vfx-platform-discuss.