Linux in VFX

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:

• Reduce complexity and effort required to support Linux in VFX and Animation.
• Lower the barrier to adopting Linux as a supported platform both for software providers and end-user studios.

This page contains information about activities and initiatives in support of these goals.

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).