In the animation industry, a few companies stand head and shoulders above the rest. One of them is Pixar, and the other one is DreamWorks. Both have created reputations for Consistently releasing high-quality 3D animation feature-length films. In DreamWorks’ case, what software do they use to create and render the animations?
For the purposes of creating 3D models and animations, DreamWorks uses an application called Premo. In contrast, it uses Moon Ray for the purposes of rendering its animations to the high quality standard that it is known for. From time to time, DreamWorks may also use third party applications for certain stages of the production pipeline. For example, they may use substance painter to help with the application of materials and textures.
It is no surprise that when it comes to the largest companies in the animation industry will prioritize using the software that they have created for 3D modeling, animation, and rendering. But they do not always use their own proprietary software exclusively and can sometimes use third-party applications depending on the task. So does blender fit into the DreamWorks pipeline in any way?
What Software Does Dreamworks Use For Animation?
Just as Pixar will use Presto for its 3D modeling and animation pipeline, DreamWorks will use Primo To perform the same tasks in its own workflow.
Since it is one of the largest animation studios in the world, it only makes sense that it has its own software to complete the key tasks of its traditional pipelines.
Premo is built from the ground up with efficiency in mind. For an animation tool, its interface has a reputation of being very easy to work with and allows artists to move through the creative process at their own pace.
It allows artists to complete all of the tasks related to character and animation design that you would expect and is one of the best applications for animating with complex rigs for character models.
The application is relatively new compared to the more well-known 3D animation applications such as mire, having first been used for the feature-length film How to Train Your Dragon 2.
Since the film was released, DreamWorks has fully transitioned to using the software to create its 3D animations.
Before this, DreamWorks often used other forms of proprietary software and even third-party applications such as Autodesk Maya for its animation pipeline.
Has Blender Ever Been Used By Dreamworks?
In recent years Blender has had a growing influence in the animation industry as it has been taken on as the software of choice for much smaller start-up studios and freelance animators because of its accessability and versatility.
Despite this, there is no evidence to suggest that Blender has been used for any significant projects from either Pixar or DreamWorks.
There are a few reasons for this, and they don’t revolve around Blender’s inability to animate 3D models and scenes.
Blender is every bit as good when it comes to creating full 3D animations as any other application that you are likely to find.
One of the reasons it is seldom used at the very top of the industry is that other applications have typically been ingrained in the workflow of that studio.
For example, since Premo was released, It has been one of the core applications within the DreamWorks Animation pipeline. Because the tasks performed by the software are similar to what would be performed by Blender, there is simply no reason for DreamWorks to transition from their own software to Blender 3D.
Even before this time DreamWorks had other applications built into its own animation pipeline. For example, it may have used Autodesk Maya for some of its older Feature length films.
Regardless of the price associated with a given application, there is a significant cost to transitioning from one application to another regarding the level of animation and feature-length films that we have come to expect from companies like DreamWorks.
The transition to Premo would not have come without a cost, both in terms of developing the software in-house and training the animation staff to use that software.
It simply makes a lot more sense for a company like DreamWorks to make this transition to its own proprietary software rather than another third-party application like Blender.
In addition to this, Blender has not always been regarded as an industry-standard tool, even though it can create professional-grade animations. In the last few years, Blender and the Blender Foundation have introduced an LTS structure, short for long-term support.
This is a necessity in the industry for Any application that is to be used In a professional pipeline As animators may often require support with regards to the software in all that to maintain an efficient workflow And also to help prevent any scenarios that may result in a dramatic loss of work. Something that can be extremely costly at the highest level of the industry.
What About The Rendering Stage?
Pixar is known to divide its workflow between animation and rendering using two applications. It uses the Presto software for modeling, while for the rendering stage it uses Renderman.
DreamWorks follows a very similar approach, dividing up its animation and rendering process is between two applications.
As we know, it uses Premo as its animation software. Still, when it comes to rendering its animations to the professional quality that we see in its feature-length films, DreamWorks will use the Moonray software.
What’s really interesting about Moonray though is that DreamWorks plans to release the renderer as an open source application under the Apache license.
This will make moonlight available to all and highlights a future possibility where the renderer could be integrated into Blender as an add-on, similar to the Renderman add-on from Pixar.
Thanks For Reading The Article
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