2d On Linux

[charge]

Can anybody recommend a compositing application that runs on Linux that costs less than $1500?

I'm facing that fork in the road between buying a Linux or Windoze workstation for home... I really hate Windoze and have used Linux at various visual FX houses for years, so Linux is my preference.

However, after buying the workstation and 3D software, I won't have a few thousand dollars left to plunk down on any of the high end 2D apps that run on Linux (Shake, Nuke, Halo, Fusion, etc). I may be stuck getting a Windows workstation and buying AE or Combustion just to save myself a few grand on the 2D software, when all I really want is just something to put together rendered 3D elements and passes.

Also, are there other basic utilities available for 2D/3D on Linux, like tools for combining HDRI images, and where can I find them? I was hoping to find some links in this forum but I don't see any.

Thanks,
Lee

[lloydwood]

QUOTE(leesafari @ 10/25/05, 01:31 AM)
Can anybody recommend a compositing application that runs on Linux that costs less than $1500?

I'm facing that fork in the road between buying a Linux or Windoze workstation for home...  I really hate Windoze and have used Linux at various visual FX houses for years, so Linux is my preference. 

However, after buying the workstation and 3D software, I won't have a few thousand dollars left to plunk down on any of the high end 2D apps that run on Linux (Shake, Nuke, Halo, Fusion, etc).  I may be stuck getting a Windows workstation and buying AE or Combustion just to save myself a few grand on the 2D software, when all I really want is just something to put together rendered 3D elements and passes.

Also, are there other basic utilities available for 2D/3D on Linux, like tools for combining HDRI images, and where can I find them? I was hoping to find some links in this forum but I don't see any.

Thanks,
Lee
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You should have a look at http://www.jahshaka.org
this is open source and very soon the new release is ready.
Its no Shake but for free and Node Based! I'm shure it will be a good app in the next two releases.

There are no Linux alternatives for low budget Compositing.
maybe you could try Combustion and Afx in connection with Wine.

[user_deleted]

See the post "Software for 3D/2D Artists, Designers, etc." here http://www.linuxforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=53452 which I try to update as frequently as time permits.

As for Jahshaka don't be fooled by all the eye candy and claims of what it can do. While I see the product goals have promise the product is still several months away from anything useful. You would be better to use Cinelerra if you're on a really tight budget that supports both NLE, comp tools and even batch rendering. Even though it's not as easy to use as other software it does offer wider support for file formats, powerful tools and there's an online tutorial to help new users.

[kestuveu]

QUOTE(cryolab @ 10/30/05, 12:26 AM)
maybe you could try Combustion and Afx in connection with Wine.
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I have never tried this, but from what I here (with AE at least), this sort of software is too complex to run under Wine. I have had success with AE under VMware, but that requires buying VMware itself, and a Windows license. It is doable though.

[charge]

QUOTE(linuxpyro @ 11/17/05, 08:05 AM)
I have never tried this, but from what I here (with AE at least), this sort of software is too complex to run under Wine.  I have had success with AE under VMware, but that requires buying VMware itself, and a Windows license.  It is doable though.
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Hi all, thanks for the replies (obviously haven't been back here in awhile). I caved in and bought a machine with Windows because the job market for 2D where I live is all AE... Best I can do is set up a dual-boot sometime in the future.

Another issue is that for high-speed HD/2K comps, one usually needs a RAID, but is there good RAID array management software for Linux? I assume Red Hat and Suse come with one, but does it work well?

Has anybody used Side Effects' "Halo" 2D program?

regards
Lee

[marlio]

AE won't run under Wine, and I agree its ilk would be a most useful tool under Linux. Vmware Workstation/Vmware Player is a solution for reliably running AE. I have, regrettably used this for production. You may take a performance hit in render times but it won't be severe.

I have heard rumors of Combustion functioning under Wine but am highly skeptical about whether it's usable. Screen redraw tends to be the worst aspect of Wine and it just doesn't seem worth it. Crossover Office is money well spent however, and you'll find a greater degree of fit and finish to the Windows apps you are able to install, although this won't include many graphics apps. I personally can't do without WinRAR.

RAID support is strong under Linux as it's naturally suited to being a server. I reccomend updating to the latest version of mdadm (2.2) if you choose software RAID. 3ware Escalade RAID card support is strong under Linux kernel 2.6 (unlike many other cards whose support was dropped after 2.4) and this is another purchase well-worth the money vs. software RAID.

Houdini Halo looks very nice. Too bad it isn't officially tested on SUSE. Here is a webpage with Halo compositing tutorials that should serve as a fair basis for evaluation.
http://sidefx.vislab.usyd.edu.au/houdini\_v...ting/index.html

QUOTE(leesafari @ 11/17/05, 12:21 AM)
Hi all, thanks for the replies (obviously haven't been back here in awhile).  I caved in and bought a machine with Windows because the job market for 2D where I live is all AE...  Best I can do is set up a dual-boot sometime in the future.

Another issue is that for high-speed HD/2K comps, one usually needs a RAID, but is there good RAID array management software for Linux?  I assume Red Hat and Suse come with one, but does it work well?

Has anybody used Side Effects' "Halo" 2D program?

regards
Lee
[snapback]219926[/snapback]

[user_deleted]

I would recommed Houdini just because its a 3D/2D App and it has compositing built-in. Though its a bit high in price, it has many features built-in.

Be warned, there is a learning curve, and it can be very diffucualt for some.

Regards,

[joojaa]

but so does xsi... and maya incidentaly just that most people dont realize it.

Anyway houdini is definetly not under 500$ infact itll probably explode the original askers bankacount.

[renech]

For Linux compositing (and any movie related apps) take a look at this wiki page:

Linux in film production

Please feel free to update it if you find any errors / omissions.

Best of luck,
Jack

[user_deleted]

QUOTE(Joojaa @ 01/07/06, 04:07 PM) [snapback]224216[/snapback]
but so does xsi... and maya incidentaly just that most people dont realize it.

Anyway houdini is definetly not under 500$ infact itll probably explode the original askers bankacount.

You're correct with both XSI and Maya though I wouldn't compare Maya Live to the toolset offered in Shake and Nuke. Afer all Maya Live is more of a tracker/match moving utility like Boujou. On a side note I'm hoping with Autodesk finances they can buy Realviz and replace Maya Live with MMTrack. I'm sure they can afford one more company acqusition

Anyway, Houdini Halo which is SideFX compositor software cost $2,999.00 USD. That's actually very competitive when put in comparison with other highend compositors such as Shake for Linux which retails $4,999.00 USD. If though the original poster is looking to only spend a few hundred dollars it's wishful thinking as most compositors are above $2,000.00 USD. Since Novell is communicating with Adobe on porting their products to Linux it would help lower over all TCO if After Effects Pro gets ported as it cost $999.00 USD. There's been issues in the past getting After Effects to run on Wine. So if anyone has successfully been able to install and run the latest version 7.0 on Wine please notify Codeweavers or WineHQ.

[joojaa]

QUOTE(Dark_Knight @ 01/28/06, 07:20 PM) [snapback]226448[/snapback]
You're correct with both XSI and Maya though I wouldn't compare Maya Live to the toolset offered in Shake and Nuke.

Im not talking of live, live is just tracking just the renderer! You can use shadingnetwqorks just like shake nodes and render flat planes ...

For example maya can pull of a key no problem. Its a bittricky by shake standards but possible. But on the otehrhand for 2d anaimatio mayas kine for example southpark is done in maya.

[deke-kincaid]

QUOTE(Dark_Knight @ 01/28/06, 09:20 AM) [snapback]226448[/snapback]
Anyway, Houdini Halo which is SideFX compositor software cost $2,999.00 USD. That's actually very competitive when put in comparison with other highend compositors such as Shake for Linux which retails $4,999.00 USD.
I would be competitive if it could actually do 1/2 of what DFusion, Nuke or Shake could do. Halo is missing way too many tools to be a worthwhile for anything other than strait 3d compositing. Also it is dead slow. I know many studios that evaluated it for their linux pipelines and turned it down. Even Core Digital Pictures up in Toronto who actually pays to have a few in house Sidefx programmers doesn't even use Halo very much for their full cg movie "The Wild" and they own a few hundred copies of Houdini.