An article at CGNetworks.com detailing the VFX work for Tomb Raider 2: The Cradle of Life has a tidbit by Ben Shepherd, VFX Supervisor for the Moving Picture Company, about how they used ILM's OpenEXR to render the Shadow Guardians.

Yahoo News! and Forbes are reporting that SCO has finally decided to go after Hollywood, specifically VFX and CG studios like ILM, Imageworks and Digital Domain. Many of these high profile studios have already converted to Linux for their renderfarms and even on production workstations. While SCO is threatening litigation at the moment seems studios aren't worried.

TechNewsWorld.com is running an article by Robin Rowe, lead of the CinePaint project, about the history and status of Linux in the VFX industry. It includes comments by ILM Sequence Supervisor Robert Weaver.

Flay.com, one of the top Lightwave sites, has posted a plugin created at Rainmaker Digital for loading and saving OpenEXR image files in Lightwave 6.5 and 7.5.

The August issue of Linux Journal will contain an article on the Linux renderfarm cluster that has been used to render such films as The Hulk.

SplutterFish, makers of the Brazil r/s rendering system for 3D Studio Max, have released a free plug-in that supports OpenEXR.

Paul Schneider of ILM recently announced that they have released the first version of a Photoshop plug-in for the OpenEXR format.

Version 1.0.5 of OpenEXR has been officially released which includes many improvements. Also Florian Kainz has written more documentation of the OpenEXR API, with several code samples, for those wishing to write some software.

NXN Software, makers of the alienbrain assett management system, has added support for ILM's OpenEXR file format.

ILM has released the source code for an OpenEXR display driver for PhotoRealistic RenderMan.

LinuxPlanet.com is running an article on OpenEXR, the HDRI open file format from ILM, with lead developer Florian Kainz discussing its development.

A report at CNet states that Pixar is switching its render farm to Intel Xeon processor based systems running Linux, much in the same vein what ILM did not long ago.

Interactive Effects has announced that they have an OpenEXR plugin for the Linux versions of Amazon Paint and 3D Paint.

Just a day after its public release, OpenEXR, the high dynamic range file format from ILM, is getting support from studios and commercial software vendors. The most notable announcement is that OpenEXR will be incorporated in Eyeon's Digital Fusion (which ported it to Windows). There is also talk that OpenEXR will be supported on Pixar's Photorealistic RenderMan, the Film Gimp and Idruna's Photogenics.

ILM has released OpenEXR, an open source high dynamic range image file format, under a modified BSD license. The file format, which started being used on The Time Machine is now being extensively on ILM's productions. They hope to create an open standard for the industry and have been distributing it to other houses, commercial software developers and the academia. Jim Morris and CTO Cliff Plumer made comments about the important announcement.

A recent article at DesktopLinux.com with Robin Rowe mentions that ILM has contributed and might have used the Film Gimp, the pumped up version of the open source Gimp that is suitable for high end film work.

The latest issue of Linux Journal has an article on ILM's switch over to Linux, which happened around the production of Episode 2. Discussed are some of the porting issues, tools used and challenges, and the heterogeneous environment.

Linux Journal has a brand new article on the state of Linux in the VFX industry. It mentions the increasing use of Linux, the first tentative steps into Open Source, the relationship with SGI and the concerns of several FX and animation studios.

A small article on CIO (Chief Information Officer) magazine has appeared that mentions ILM continuing move to Linux and they seem they are going to replace a lot of machines.

A new lengthy article has appeared on Salon giving more information about the inroads Linux is making in the film FX and Animation industry. While there are few ILM specific details, the article provides good info on the impact on the industry and the software vendors.