As part of our mission to promote the art and industry of animation, ASIFA-Hollywood intends to be a strong voice for the development of open source software. Over the last few decades, there have been incredible advancements in the quality of open source software solutions for artists. Although historically, complex 3D rendering tools and animation software have had a high upfront cost barrier, open source software development is more than ever serving as a counterweight to put fantastic technology in the hands of anyone who is curious enough to explore it.

More than just fun software for creating art, open source technology and the free licensing agreements associated with it, are a democratizing force for our own good. Open standards which can be adopted by everyone help to break down technological barriers between platforms. This overlap in development is hugely advantageous to the professional animation community because it allows more data to flow through software without hitting proprietary walls. Examples of popular open standards used in 2D and 3D graphics today include OpenEXR, Alembic, and Open Shading Language.

There are several things the ASIFA community can do to encourage the growth of this unique industry. As artists, ASIFA-Hollywood encourages its members to try popular open source software programs for themselves. Simply engaging these communities online is a small step to help foster better tools and better art for everyone.

ASIFA-Hollywood is currently an official sponsor of incredible software packages: Krita, Blender, and Godot.