After the early years of the industry were dominated by Silicon Graphics, Linux became the natural successor to SGI’s IRIX. Over 20 years later, Linux is the primary operating system used on artist workstations at many studios. Two of the goals of the VFX Reference Platform specifically relate to Linux:
September 2024
The 2024 VFX/Animation Studio Workstation Linux Report (pdf) is now available presenting an overview of the current state of migration from CentOS Linux 7 and future plans for artist workstations running Linux within the VFX and Animation industry. Based on a survey conducted by the VFX Reference Platform Working Group in August 2024, it serves as a follow-up to 2022's VFX Linux Distribution Recommendation Report, offering a snapshot of the industry's progress nearly two years later.
The insights provided aim to support informed decision-making for both studios and vendors, particularly in light of CentOS 7's End Of Life in June 2024. To ensure timely dissemination of information, this report focuses on presenting the data without detailed commentary.
August 2023
Recording of the 2023 VFX Reference Platform User Group from August 1st, 2023:
August 2022
Recording of the "The Future of Linux for Professional Artist Workstations" talk from ASWF Open Source Days 2022:
Download the VFX Linux Distribution Recommendation Report (pdf).
January 2022
2021 Studio Platform Survey Report published (pdf).
August 2021
Recording of the annual VFX Reference Platform "Birds of a Feather" meeting:
Linux topics start at 14:48.
Slide deck can be downloaded here (pdf).