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Alembic (computer graphics)
File format

Alembic is an interchangeable computer graphics file format developed by Sony Pictures Imageworks and Industrial Light & Magic. It was announced at SIGGRAPH 2011, and has been widely adopted across the industry by visual effects and animation professionals.

Its primary focus is the efficient interchange of animated geometry (models) between different groups working on the same shots or same assets, possibly using different applications. Often different departments in the same company or different studios are working on the same projects. Alembic supports the common geometric representations used in the industry, including polygon meshes, subdivision surface, parametric curves, NURBS patches and particles. Alembic also has support for transform hierarchies and cameras. With the latest version comes initial support for materials and lights as well. Alembic specifically is not focused on storing the complex dependency graphs of procedural tools but instead stores the "baked" results by sampling the model data at different points along an animated scene's timeline.

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Tools which support Alembic

Tools with native support

ApplicationAs of versionVendor
Flame2016Autodesk6
Adobe SubstanceAdobe Inc
Maya2012Autodesk7
3ds Max2016Autodesk8
KATANA1.1The Foundry9
Houdini11.1Side Effects Software10
iClone6.5Reallusion Inc.11
RenderMan?Pixar12
Arnold?Solid Angle13
MARI10.2v1The Foundry14
MODO10.2v1The Foundry15
NUKE7.0The Foundry16
Cinema 4DR14Maxon17
V-Ray2012Chaos Group18
Guerilla Render0.15.2Mercenaries Engineering19
RealFlow2013Next Limit20
Maxwell Render3Next Limit
Clarisse iFX2012Isotropix
LightWave 3D11.6NewTek21
Keyshot Pro4Luxion
Octane Render1.5Otoy
Blender2.78Blender Foundation22
Fusion7.0Blackmagic Design
Unreal Engine4.13Epic Games
Unity Engine2018.1Unity Technologies
EmberGen0.7.5JangaFX
Marvelous Designer?CLO Virtual Fashion

Plugins

PluginApplications supportedVendor
Crate Suite3DS Max, Maya, Softimage, ArnoldExocortex
AtomKraftNuke, After EffectsJupiter Jazz23
OrtholabMudboxOrtholab24
DF Plugin3DS MaxDigital Frontier25
Alembic ExporterDaz StudioDaz 3D26

References

  1. "Sony Pictures Imageworks - Open Source". Opensource.imageworks.com. Retrieved 27 May 2016. http://opensource.imageworks.com ↩

  2. "Lucasfilm - Film and Television Production". Lucasfilm. Retrieved 27 May 2016. http://www.lucasfilm.com ↩

  3. "ILM, Sony Imageworks release Alembic 1.0". Variety. August 9, 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2019. https://variety.com/2011/digital/news/ilm-sony-imageworks-release-alembic-1-0-1118041083/ ↩

  4. Sony Pictures Imageworks, Lucasfilm (August 9, 2011). "Lucasfilm and Sony Pictures Imageworks Release Alembic 1.0". PR Newswire. Retrieved September 22, 2012. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lucasfilm-and-sony-pictures-imageworks-release-alembic-10-127316408.html ↩

  5. "Alembic". Alembic.io. Retrieved 27 May 2016. http://alembic.io ↩

  6. "Flame - 2d/3d Compositing/Finishing/Editing - Autodesk". Usa.autodesk.com. Archived from the original on 3 April 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20130403050304/http://usa.autodesk.com/flame/ ↩

  7. "Maya - Computer Animation & Modeling Software - Autodesk". Usa.autodesk.com. Archived from the original on 2013-03-25. Retrieved 27 May 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20130325105223/http://usa.autodesk.com/maya/ ↩

  8. [1][dead link] http://usa.autodesk.com/3DMax ↩

  9. "KATANA - Lighting & look development software - The Foundry". Thefoundry.co.uk. Retrieved 27 May 2016. http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/products/katana/ ↩

  10. "Home - SideFX". Sidefix.com. Retrieved 27 May 2016. http://www.sidefx.com ↩

  11. "3D Animation and 2D Cartoons Made Simple - Reallusion Animation Software". Reallusion.com. Retrieved 27 May 2016. http://www.reallusion.com ↩

  12. "Pixar's RenderMan Products". Renderman.pixar.com. Retrieved 27 May 2016. http://renderman.pixar.com ↩

  13. "Solid Angle - Arnold Renderer". Solidangle.com. Retrieved 27 May 2016. http://www.solidangle.com ↩

  14. "MARI Features :: 3D Texture Painting :: The Foundry". thefoundry.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-01-06. https://www.thefoundry.co.uk/products/mari/features/#geometryhandling ↩

  15. "The Foundry Community :: TV :: Training :: View". Luxology.com. Retrieved 2016-05-27.[permanent dead link] http://www.luxology.com/tv/training/view.aspx?id=619 ↩

  16. "NUKE 7.0 is coming soon | the Foundry". Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved November 3, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121105043831/http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/articles/2012/09/07/410/nuke-70-is-coming-soon/ ↩

  17. "MAXON - 3D FOR THE REAL WORLD: Errorpage". Maxon.net. Archived from the original on 1 April 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20130401071547/http://www.maxon.net/products/new-in-cinema-4d-r14/overview.html ↩

  18. "Chaos Group". Chaosgroup.com. Retrieved 27 May 2016. http://chaosgroup.com/en/2/siggraph2012.html?os=0726 ↩

  19. "Guerilla Render - Animation and VFX production rendering". Guerillarender.com. Retrieved 27 May 2016. http://www.guerillarender.com ↩

  20. "EC - Alembic I/O". Support.nextlimit.com. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160610162240/http://support.nextlimit.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=14319905 ↩

  21. "LightWave - 11.6 Features Overview". Lightwave3d.com. Retrieved 27 May 2016. https://www.lightwave3d.com/11-6_features_overview ↩

  22. "Dev:Ref/Release Notes/2.78/Alembic". wiki.blender.org. Archived from the original on 6 November 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161106151828/https://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Ref/Release_Notes/2.78/Alembic ↩

  23. Jupiter Jazz Limited. "AtomKraft, by Jupiter Jazz". Atomkraft.hk. Retrieved 2016-05-27. http://atomkraft.hk ↩

  24. "Ortholab". CodePlex. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304025807/http://ortholab.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=AbcTranslator&referringTitle=Home ↩

  25. "デジタル・フロンティア-Digital Frontier - DF TALK - Alembic for 3dsmax". Dfx.co.jp. Retrieved 27 May 2016. http://www.dfx.co.jp/dftalk/?p=5916 ↩

  26. "Daz 3D - 3D Models and 3D Software by Daz 3D". Daz3d.com. Retrieved 27 May 2016. http://www.daz3d.com ↩