Disney Releases 3D Texture Mapper Source Code

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Disney Releases 3D Texture Mapper Source Code

Posted by timothy on Wednesday January 20, 2010 @07:52AM from the nice-of-them dept.

dsavi writes "Ptex, Walt Disney Animation Studio's cutting-edge 3D texture mapping library which was first used on nearly every surface in the 2008 animated feature Bolt, was released under the BSD license on Friday. Quoting the announcement on monophyl.com: 'We expect to follow Ptex with other open source projects that we hope the community will find beneficial. We will soon be launching a new Walt Disney Animation Studios Technology page under disneyanimation.com. It will include links to our open source projects as will as a library of recent publications.' This looks good for open source 3D graphics."

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Didn't see that one coming.... by santax · 2010-01-20 07:55 · Score: 3, Insightful

Chapeau Walt Disney! This is just plain cool and I would have never expected Disney to open up anything! Hope they will set and continue this trend!
1. Re:Didn't see that one coming.... by jimbolauski · 2010-01-20 07:58 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Get it while you can they open the vault for a limited time.
  
  --
  Knowledge = Power
  P= W/t
  t=Money
  Money = Work/Knowledge so the less you know the more you make
2. Re:Didn't see that one coming.... by ceoyoyo · 2010-01-20 08:03 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Remember that Pixar bought Disney for minus a jillion dollars a while ago.
3. Re:Didn't see that one coming.... by orangesquid · 2010-01-20 08:08 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Yeah... this might be some sort of miscommunication. Mickey Mouse's lawyers might not have really understood the implications of a BSD license. I wouldn't be surprised if the Ptex site disappears, nothing further ever arrives along the lines of open-source code, and Disney's lawyers attempt to find loopholes to get mirrors of the Ptex source taken down.
  Disney has always held tight controls over their IP, and while the BSD license gives them a lot of control over what *they* do with Ptex, it gives the community a lot of control over what the *community* does with Ptex, provided any forking coders properly acknowledge the original authors and abide by the set (albeit minimal) of constraints provided by the BSD license.
  [Obligatory IANAL, so any groklaw aficianados, feel free to correct, clarify, or serve me with a court-order comprising one Clue Stick (TM).]
  
  --
  --TheOrangeSquid Is it any wonder things seem so awry? We swim in a sea of confusion and don't have to think to survive
4. Re:Didn't see that one coming.... by bored_engineer · 2010-01-20 08:28 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  This isn't a new sort of thing for Disney. Disney were (are?) the main developers behind the Panda3d game engine.
5. Re:Didn't see that one coming.... by santax · 2010-01-20 08:35 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Oh come on, be fair here. Apple doesn't really love the open-source community. That they gave away a little to gain a lot of it. If you disagree, try installing your own software on your Iphone without jailbreaking it first.
6. Re:Didn't see that one coming.... by iluvcapra · 2010-01-20 08:48 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  That they gave away a little to gain a lot of it.
  
  Wasn't that how it was supposed to work? Maybe Bruce Perens can back me up on this, but I thought Open Source was supposed to be good for profits and business.
  
  --
  Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
7. Re:Didn't see that one coming.... by suso · 2010-01-20 08:52 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Disney has always held tight controls over their IP,
  This is a major understatement. Disney is the reason why Copyright has been extended for so long. I mean its nicknamed the Mickey Mouse Copyright act for a reason.
8. Re:Didn't see that one coming.... by serbanp · 2010-01-20 08:55 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Knowledge = Work / Money
  Solve for Money:
  Knowledge = Work / Money
  # Multiply both sides by Work
  Work * Knowledge = Work / Money * Work
  # Work / Money * Work = Money, so:
  Work * Knowledge = Money
  -OR-
  Money = Work * Knowledge
  don't you wish slashdot had a "remove my comment" feature? now you're stuck with this very embarrassing post (brain fart or lack of caffeine?) :-)
9. Re:Didn't see that one coming.... by alexhs · 2010-01-20 09:05 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  That's the way you recognize smart entrepreneurs.
  Steve Jobs of NeXT bought Apple for -429 million dollars in 1996.
  Steve Jobs of Pixar bought Disney for -7.4 billion dollars in 2004.
  Talk about Reality Distortion Field !
  
  --
  I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
10. Re:Didn't see that one coming.... by amRadioHed · 2010-01-20 10:29 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  You'll note that the iPhone was not given as an example of an Apple open-source project.
  
  --
  We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
"This looks good for open source 3D graphics" by tacarat · 2010-01-20 08:04 · Score: 2, Interesting

Since it's the BSD license, how good does this look for closed source graphics? Just curious. I'm not familiar with what was available from other sources before this.

--
"Common sense will be the death of us all"
great news by mr_exit · 2010-01-20 08:04 · Score: 2, Interesting

This is great, a similar thing happened with Open EXR which is an image file format for high end film production. ILM open sourced it and it was quickly picked up by other studios, which lead to the software companies implementing it.
It seems like it's a good route for the VFX companies to take. Open source tools that are useful, then they get implemented in the main software packages which reduces your costs of maintaining plugins and a lot of custom code.

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Look the other way by girlintraining · 2010-01-20 08:14 · Score: 2, Insightful

Pointing this out, of course, will get me modnuked, but what the hell: Yes Disney, after extending copyrights, being instrumental in the oppression and exploitation of dozens of countries, forcing our community to defend itself with complex legal language, placing the culture of going on three generations' childhoods behind a pay wall -- we'll forgive you because you released the source code for a texture mapper. Why? Because This. Is. Slashdoooooot! And as long as you contribute source code, we'll overlook all your other sins. :\

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#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
1. Re:Look the other way by ChienAndalu · 2010-01-20 08:24 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Even if it's fun to imagine that, a company isn't a monolithic entity and certainly not a person like you are trying to picture.
2. Re:Look the other way by kaizendojo · 2010-01-20 08:40 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Of course you can say whatever you like, but without any substantive proof of your claims we'll just write you off as another looney who believes in urban legends.
  
  Why? Because This. Is. Slashdoooooot! And as long as you make us laugh or give us a target, we'll overlook all your other sins. :>
3. Re:Look the other way by girlintraining · 2010-01-20 08:49 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Why? Because This. Is. Slashdoooooot! And as long as you make us laugh or give us a target, we'll overlook all your other sins. :>
  
  I think you meant overrate all my other sins. Or at least, that's what usually happens around here. :\
  
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  #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
4. Re:Look the other way by girlintraining · 2010-01-20 09:24 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Even if it's fun to imagine that, a company isn't a monolithic entity and certainly not a person like you are trying to picture.
  If we're going to give personhood to corporations, and extend them the same rights we have, then I fully intend to judge them on that basis as well.
  
  --
  #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
Build failures and fixes by Seriman · 2010-01-20 08:35 · Score: 2, Informative

You might need to include limits.h in PtexCache.cpp and various combinations of stdio.h, stdlib.h, and string.h in the tests for it to build.
Thank new CTO at Disney, Greg Brandeau by Thagg · 2010-01-20 08:36 · Score: 5, Interesting

Greg Brandeau, the new CTO at Disney, is a powerful advocate of open source. He worked very hard (within the bounds of antitrust law) to help various visual effects and animation studios with Linux, addressing common issues to everybody's benefit. It's good to see projects like this, that studios have put huge amounts of effort into, released into the open source community.
Of course, I have to put my money where my mouth is now :)

--
I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.
Video of the system in use by yakumo.unr · 2010-01-20 08:42 · Score: 3, Interesting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxNlAlOuQQQ
That's a really nice system, I hope it can be adopted into other packages as a plugin or something as it stays under the BSD license.