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Disney Switches To Linux For Animation

Posted by timothy on from the intuhlectual-property dept.

EEEthan writes: "It looks like Linux is really the next big thing for movie graphics houses. The New York Times is reporting that Disney has switched over to Linux-based HP workstations for animation. Although Disney has historically been known for their hand-drawn animation, this is a big move to Linux for what might be the world's most famous producer of animated films."

33 of 489 comments (clear)

  1. Wait by KingKire64 · · Score: 4, Funny

    But Disney is still Evil Right?

    --
    "All I can tell the "lesser of two evils" folks is that if they keep voting for evil, they'll keep getting evil."-Lp.org
    1. Re:Wait by Jason+Earl · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Even if Disney were evil it's not like they were a vampire and Linux is the karmic equivalent of holy water. Linux use is growing because of purely economic reasons. With Linux you get a lot of bang for your buck, and migrating from commercial UNIX is relatively straightforward. That's all that should be read into this particular switch. The folks at Disney added up the numbers and realized the same thing that pretty much the entire animation and special effects industry is realizing. Switching to Linux will save them time and money.

    2. Re:Wait by The+Cat · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Care to elucidate? In terms of pure technical skill, they are.

      Yes, I like anime better.

      Doesn't this answer your question? Disney animation 40-50 years ago was incredible. Disney animation now is assembly line crap.

      Anime is out-Disneying Disney. There are still background images in CardCaptor Sakura that by themselves are more entertaining than "The Emperor's New Groove" or whatever it is, and certainly are more entertaining than the latest "sequel of the week."

      Disney needs to hire and fund some creative people and leave them alone long enough (about 15 years for a start) to come up with something truly new and innovative, otherwise anime is going to eat their lunch.

  2. Their Software by jmu1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    is great. I saw it in action when I went to Disney World for my honeymoon in May. I asked several questions about the software and about GNU/Linux and they seemed to be quite enthusiastic about it in general. It makes sense really. They write all of their own software, so why not have an OS that they can completely manipulate, without paying extra for the code!

    1. Re:Their Software by jmu1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It's one of their tours at MGM/Disney Studios. They have a Q&A session towards the end and you get to see lots of the stuff in action behind great big glass walls. I was(of course) plastered to them most of the time trying to get a glimpse(they were using SGI machines for the most part).

    2. Re:Their Software by MisterBlister · · Score: 4, Insightful
      You're missing the point.

      Disney isn't going with Linux because they agree with the GNU or Linux worldview. They are going with Linux because they can use it for free, as in beer. When you consider the cost over hundreds or thousands of workstations, it adds up. Especially when Microsoft's starting to get all crazy with their forced subscription model. Something like that could cost Disney millions of dollars per year in their animation department alone, not including IT & Legal costs associated with making sure everything is "in compliance".

      Disney doesn't give a fuck about OSS ideals, they just want free-beer.

    3. Re:Their Software by MAXOMENOS · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Maybe somebody should inform Mike Eisner that it CBDTPA passes, their Linux software will become illegal.

      --
      Finding God in a Dog
  3. Join the Dark Side, Linus.... by zpengo · · Score: 3, Funny
    It's always reassuring when companies such as Disney that are generally understood to be Evil(tm) break down and go for things developed by the forces of Good(tm).

    Next thing we know, MS will switch their website over to Apache....

    --


    Got Rhinos?
  4. Its time for a tux show. by minkwe · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Tux is such a cute friendly creature/character, I would really like to see a Disney cartoon series based on that. Maybe something based on the theme "First they ignored us, then they laughed at us, then they fought us, then we won"

    --
    "Fighting terrorists with millitary might is like killing a mosquitor on your Dad's forehead with a rifle."
    1. Re:Its time for a tux show. by Tim+Macinta · · Score: 3, Funny
      The Tux is such a cute friendly creature/character, I would really like to see a Disney cartoon series based on that.

      That's a much better idea than their movie about a bootloader. They could have at least made it Lilo and Tux (though I'm partial to Lilo and Grub).

      --

      -----

      Free P2P Backup, Windows & Linux

  5. So what? by cperciva · · Score: 4, Informative

    If the operating system *mattered* for animation, this would be a big deal... but it doesn't. They're using Linux because it's cheaper, and because any (half-decent) operating system would function just as well for this sort of task.

    --
    Tarsnap: Online backups for the truly paranoid
  6. DVDs by SanLouBlues · · Score: 5, Funny

    Of course, they won't be able to watch their own movies on their computers now. Unless they use DeCSS . . .

  7. Re:um... by delphin42 · · Score: 5, Informative

    uh, i think they're switching to linux to render the animation, not actually produce it. big difference

    Wrong. Read the article next time.

    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

    So the renderfarms were converted to Linux years ago for the most part. The real news is that the content creation is actually being done on Linux workstations now.

    --
    -- Adam
  8. Disney needs a boycott by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Disney sponsors Hollings bill.

    BOYCOTT DISNEY.

    Don't buy Disney products. Don't go to DisneyWorld, Don't install Linux distributions.

  9. Not really.... by Dark+Nexus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Try to find any self respecting production studio that uses a Windows box for anything more than basic editing.

    If they ARE using a desktop machine (instead of a dedicated box or something like an SGI workstation), then it's probably a Mac - simply because the Mac has MUCH better tools than windows.

    I haven't heard much about Linux desktops being used in animation/post production before, but it's nice to see it happening. I'm wondering how the tools they're using stack up against Mac and Windows equivalents (both with and without price in the equation).

    --
    Dark Nexus
    "Sanity is calming, but madness is more interesting."
    1. Re:Not really.... by stubear · · Score: 5, Informative

      If you're using Avid Symphony, Avid|DS, Avid|DS HD, or Avid|DS HD Editor, you are most certainly uisng a Windows box as you can't run any of this on any other system. If you are running 3D StudioMAX, once again, you are running Windows because this is all it runs on. Should I go on?

    2. Re:Not really.... by donglekey · · Score: 3, Interesting

      This is false. SGI was the high end and has been dying very slowly. For 3D NT and 2000 have really been the mainstay. Mac never had any good 3D programs except for Lightwave, and just recently Maya. Look at the backbones of high end 3D, Softimage|3D/Softimage|XSI, PowerAnimator/Maya and Houdini. First they were on SGI, then SGI and NT, and now they are all on Linux. Mac's aren't a player on the animation side of things, but Apple seems to be trying to change that quickly. What is one tool for Mac that isn't available on windows?

      The tools they are using on Linux ARE THE SAME TOOLS they were using on windows. That is why they are switching, because they can port stuff over, and the upper end of 3D and animation (Softimage, Maya, Houdini, Shake, etc. etc.) are available on Linux.

      --

      This Wiki Feeds You TV and Anime - vidwiki.org
  10. Re:What is with software by RealisticWeb.com · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I hope that is what this means. I seriously want more large companies to be convinced that it is worth thier time to release stuff for linux. If macromedia ported all of thier software over to linux, I could finaly get rid of my windows box!

    --
    Sigs are out of style, so I'm not going to use one...oh wait..
  11. Not a moral choice by fm6 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I very much doubt if Disney cares about Good or Evil, at least as it applies to platforms. They simply decided it was more cost effective to get their next round of upgrades from HP instead of SGI.

  12. Steve Jobs tried before by mr100percent · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Steve Jobs once flew to LA to meet Disney's head of feature films, Jeffrey Katzenberg. He tried to sell them some top-of the line NeXT workstations, running Pixar's software for 3D movies.

    Jeffrey cut Steve off when the animation was being demoed. "This is art. I own animation, and nobody's going to get it. It's as if someone comes to date my daughter. I have a shotgun. If someone tries to take this away, I'll blow his balls off." -The Second Coming of Steve Jobs

    Apparently Disney felt seriously threatened that Pixar could make full-length animated movies, which could smash Disney's monopoly. They didn't buy the software, and threatened to crush Pixar, until they hired them for a movie, Toy Story. Funny how it seems so different now.

    1. Re:Steve Jobs tried before by mr100percent · · Score: 3, Interesting

      "Disney and Pixar had a good working relationship at that time"

      Not really, Pixar wanted to sell their technology, and Disney only got their software, not their animating equipment, and threatened to roll over Pixar like a steamroller if they tried making animation. Disney dominated the animation business.

      The problem was that in the 1970's and 1980's, Disney went into a slump, and put out a bunch of mediocre movies. Animators were quitting, like Tim Burton, and going onto big success (like Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, and Batman). Meanwhile, Pixar went to Paramount and WB to search for work, knowing full well that Disney was aware.

      That might be why in 1990, Disney and Pixar went into talks for a feature film. Before the meeting Jeffrey's people were arrogant and condescending, implying that Pixar was nothing and Disney runs the show. Once they met, Disney was willing to talk, provided Pixar went to no other studios.

      Yes, Jeffrey is an amazing negotiator, and he brokered the deal (driving a really hard bargain) and setup a three-movie deal.

  13. Linux isn't eather a force of Good or Evil by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Linux is a tool. Thats all it is not nessary a force of Good or Evil. All it dose is take requestest and decided to do them or not. It is great for the spread of the wide useage of Linux at disney is using them but. Still linux is just an OS a tool to get the job done. It is like calling a Craftman Hammer a force for good and a Stanly Hamer a force for evil. One may work better then the other but it is still a tool and not a religious Icon. I suport Linux and Hope for its growth It is a nice OS compared to some of the others out there. But still it is a tool and not a political party or a religion that some people make it seem to be.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  14. Re:bad news for Linux? by Enry · · Score: 3, Informative

    Huh?

    Naming issues only arise if the two are in the same market and could be confused. Which is why I can't go out and call a restaurant "McDonalds", but open a shoe store called "McDonalds". There is a valid reason for the real McD to think consumers will be confused by the two McD restaurants, but confusing a restaurant and a shoe store is more of a stretch (comments about food quality and shoe leather notwithstanding).

    Given that "Lilo" in "Lilo and Stitch" are cartoon characters, and "LILO" is a program, I don't think there will be many problems.

  15. Disney's split personality by webmaven · · Score: 5, Insightful
    As Cory Doctorow Pointed out:
    "The great irony, of course, is that Disney is also using the Broadcast Protection Discussion Group to make it illegal to develop open source digital video applications."
    --
    The real Webmaven is user ID 27463. I don't rate an imposter, because my ID is such a lame-ass high number.
  16. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  17. Irony by Target+Drone · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I find it rather ironic that a company that tries to squeeze every last cent out of people for the IP it creates is using an OS created by people who have freely donated their IP.

    1. Re:Irony by zentec · · Score: 5, Insightful


      Oh you mean a company that takes public domain material (or at least claims it's public domain), uses it to make movies and then works like hell to make sure its own work never appears in the public domain?

      That would be Disney.

  18. Switching to Apple? by AIXadmin · · Score: 3, Interesting

    One has to wonder. With Apple's string of aquisitions, and invetiable future string of aquisitions of 3D and other content creation tools.
    Will shops starting switching to Mac OS X. I imagine several all ready have Mac OS X in their environments for Photoshop.
    So far Apple has kept the Linux versions on most of the applications and dumped NT. What happens if they dump Linux?

  19. Interesting Timing by T3kno · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just this morning I was reading about how Disney is starting to loose money on their animated films. The story is on the front page of todays WSJ and it lays out what the price/performace ratios of the last few movies were.

    From the article:

    The Lion King 1994
    Production Budget: $50 million
    U.S. Box Office Take: $312 million

    Hercules 1997
    Production Budget: $100 million
    U.S. Box Office Take: $99 million

    Tarzan 1999
    Production Budget: $150 million
    U.S. Box Office Take: $171 million

    The Emperor's New Groove 2001
    Production Budget: $100 million
    U.S. Box Office Take: $89.2 million

    Lilo & Stitch
    Production Budget: $80+ million
    U.S. Box Office Take: Unknown
    Of course it could be because of the declining quality of these movies, the only one I've seen is Lion King, which was a pretty good flick IMHO. I wonder if the lower TCO argument of Linux is starting to kick in a little bit. This will be interesting to see.

    --
    (B) + (D) + (B) + (D) = (K) + (&)
  20. Add DMCA waiver clause to open source licences by bwt · · Score: 5, Interesting


    What if we added a clause to the GPL and all other OSI licences that said "by accepting possession of this software, you agree to grant technological protection measure access rights that otherwise would be reserved under the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA to any software developer who releases the resulting software under this licence (or any other OSI approved licence) in a way that does not otherwise infringe the copyright"?

    Such a clause would immunize open source software developers from DMCA claims by corporations that use *any* open source software. That sounds like a fair trade to me: we work for free to build software for them in return for the right to not be sued under the DMCA.

  21. CGI in disney cartoons since Aladdin by peter303 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    A few parts in each summer animated movie since Aladdin have been CGI. Dinosaur was the first full CGI film. The magic carpet and cave scene were cgi. The ballroom dance scene in Beauty and Beast was CGI. The wildebest stampede in Lion King was CGI. The street crowds in Hunchback were CGI. The Olympic clouds in Hercules were CGI. The soldier armies in Mulan were CGI. Disney talked about these at the national and L.A. SIGGRAPH meetings.

  22. Re:I *used* to like Disney movies by the+gnat · · Score: 4, Informative

    You may feel differently, but I cannot conceive of a plausible justification. Except that liberty isn't important to you.

    Maybe I don't have quite so fucked-up of an idea of "liberty"? Maybe I've not been spending quite so much time smoking weed and reading the GNU Manifesto?

    Tell me, do you ever use Shell Oil? Unocal? Chevron? They've done far worse than Disney could ever dream of. Just because free software is important to you, doesn't make your issues with Disney more important than all the problems of millions around the world who face real loss of liberty due to corporate evil.

  23. Linux is destroying Unix by duck_prime · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Aside from a few test stations, Windows isn't used at Feature Animation, and only a few people are lobbying for it.

    We've seen this before... Linux rarely pushes out Windows, and often pushes out other Unices. I do believe we will soon see Linux squeezing all the profit out of proprietary Unix implementations.

    You may see this as a good thing, or not. But once the other Unices die, we'll really see if GPL hobbyists can compete with Microsoft.

    This promises to be interesting.