If you followed the box office success of the Pixar film called Up, you may have heard that it was the 10th animated box office success in a row for Pixar. Animated films are big business, and part of the reason they're succeeding is because of many types of improved technology.
Not everyone realizes, though, that open source software plays a big, behind-the-scenes role in how animated films are created. Partly as an acknowledgement of that fact, Sony Pictures Imageworks, the visual effects and digital character animation unit of Sony Pictures Digital Productions, is launching an open source development program focused on software for use in creating films. To launch the program, the company has announced five new open source technologies for anyone to use, where they will join many other ones.
