Imageworks’ Open Shading Language now a hosted project by ASWF
Open Shading Language (OSL), originally developed by Sony Pictures Imageworks. It has been brought on board by the Academy Software Foundation as its latest open-source software project.
OSL is the de facto standard shading language for VFX and animation and was originally released as open-source in 2010 after development at Imageworks.
Currently, the ASWF houses OpenVDB, OpenColorIO, OpenEXR, OpenCue, and OpenTimelineIO, with Open Shading Language joining those.
Rob Bredow, SVP, Executive Creative Director and Head of Industrial Light & Magic. Also, the Governing Board Chair of Academy Software Foundation made this comment in a press release. “Over the past ten years, Open Shading Language has grown to become a critical component of the VFX and animation ecosystem. It widely used in production and embedded into several industry-standard renderers. Many of our members and projects rely on and support OSL, so it’s a natural fit for the Foundation. We look forward to working with the OSL community and supporting the project’s continued development and growth.”
“We have seen firsthand how other projects have grown as part of the Academy Software Foundation. We believe that joining the Foundation is the next step to help us expand the Open Shading Language community”. Added Larry Gritz, Software Engineering Architect at Sony Pictures Imageworks and Open Shading Language founder and chief architect in the release.
“We have some major development efforts underway, including bringing OSL to a full GPU ray-traced implementation. The additional resources, support, and increased community involvement that the Foundation facilitates will be highly beneficial.”
Also in the release, the ASWF noted that it “will maintain and further develop the project with oversight. It will be provided by a technical steering committee. All newly accepted projects, including Open Shading Language, start in incubation. While they work to meet the high standards of the Academy Software Foundation and later graduate to full adoption.”
The ASWF separately announced that AMD has joined the Foundation as a Premier member. DockYard has joined as a General member.
You can read more about these announcements at ASWF’s website.
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