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Film Gimp Chalks Up Another Studio

Posted by timothy on from the hey-fellas-this-one-is-free dept.

Robin Rowe of the Film Gimp project has a piece running on NewsForge (also part of OSDN) that says "Film Gimp has recently been adopted by ComputerCafe, the fourth motion picture studio to use it in making feature films." Check out this recent post about Film Gimp to see some great screenshots of behind-the-scenes use. (And Rowe is also hoping you can get to the Linux Movies Track at Creative Cow West 2003, starting Tuesday in Los Angeles.) Update: 02/17 04:04 GMT by T : Brain rebooted, so I added the missing link.

6 of 111 comments (clear)

  1. Re:So... by jericho4.0 · · Score: 5, Informative
    It's just that all the usual answers apply, it's free, it works, it scales, it's multi platform and if you're trying to get the maximum performance out of your aplication, having access to the source is a huge help.

    In many respects, IRIX is the better choice. IRIX is loaded with features that make it great for film work. But in the end, the high price of hardware and software loses out to linuxes strengths.

    --
    "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
  2. Re:So... by kfg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Since the previous OS of choice was IRIX, a Unix variant, the transition to Linux was both logical and fairly easy. In the past this was done on SGI workstations because Intel CPUs simple didn't have the horsepower.

    Times change.

    Windows wasn't used for a few reasons. First of all, it didn't exist for starters. It might be hard for some to bear in mind how recent a development Windows really is. Then, once it did exist, it simply didn't have the stability. It also didn't have the networking and multitasking capabilities of Unix, which was much, much, MUCH more expensive than any MS product, but worth it.

    Now Linux is much, much, MUCH cheaper than MS products, but still a Unix variant.

    Sure it's possible to write open source software for Windows, and there's lots of it available, but Unix has been, like it or not, the OS of choice for "serious" computing ( much to the disgust of the LISP machine fans) for over 20 years, and Windows is actually the "toy" OS newcomer. Not a troll. Just an observation from someone old enough to remember.

    KFG

  3. OSS/MPAA/CDBTPA/DMCA by trandles · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Does anyone else wonder what's on Hollywood's mind when you see stories like this? An open source project like Film Gimp is heralded for all it provides to Hollywood and the film industry and yet this same industry vigorously lobbies for legislation like CDBTPA and DMCA which could potentially make open source projects illegal! I can't be alone in seeing the hypocrisy in this.

    My general opinion of Hollywood is that it's populated by people like Jack Valenti, clueless rich assholes that will stop at nearly nothing to suck every last dime from the pockets of the public. I'll feel some sympathy for poor Jack when the film industry is living in cardboard boxes beneath highway overpasses. They whine and bitch about pirates stealing billions from their pockets when I read stories like this.

    1. Re:OSS/MPAA/CDBTPA/DMCA by astrashe · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The film industry is huge, with all kinds of different people working in it.

      The people who retouch frames of films probably make good salaries but not extravagant ones, and for all practical purposes are living on another planet than people like Valenti or the movie stars.

      My very limited contact with that world makes me think that this particular segment is pretty geeky -- movie geeky and technology geeky. Good folk.

      If movie piracy cuts into the bottom line, a certain number of these people will probably lose their jobs.

      (I said it, and what's worse, I believe it, so mod me down! Lobby the /. crew for a new negative category, counterrevolutionary!)

  4. Classic commercial open source by sammyo · · Score: 5, Informative

    FilmGimp started as a hacked up version of Gimp to solve a particular problem that had no solution. Instead of making that a propriatary product R&H went open source. FilmGimp is more specialized buy very handy for some extgreme image processing. very cool

  5. Apples & Oranges by tweakt · · Score: 5, Informative

    Your comparing people who make movies with those who's business is to invest, finance, and eventually profit from them. The people using this software only care about quality and creating spectacular effects, and use the best tool for the job be it OSS or not.