May 06, 2017

Python Goes To The Movies with Dhruv Govil

41 minutes

Summary

Movies are magic, and Python is part of what makes that magic possible. We go behind the curtain this week with Dhruv Govil to learn about how Python gets used to bring a movie from concept to completion. He shares the story of how he got started in film, the tools that he uses day to day, and some resources for further learning.

Preface

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Your host as usual is Tobias Macey and this week I am joined by Dhruv Govil to talk about how Python is used for making movies.

Interview

Introductions

How did you get introduced to Python?

How did you get started in the film-making business?

What are some of the ways that Python is used in the process of bringing a movie to completion?

How much of the overall pipeline processing happens in Python vs just being used as a means of wiring together other programs.

How much of the code that gets written is reusable between different projects?

What is involved in testing data assets when they are submitted to the pipeline for the open format conversion process?

What are some of the libraries that you have found to be most useful in your day-to-day work?

Why do you think that Python is so widely used in the film industry and are there any other languages that you see being used in a similar manner?

What are some of the areas where Python is used that you were most surprised by?

Are there any portions of the process where you would like to be able to use Python but are unable due to performance or platform constraints?

What are some of the most interesting projects that you have worked on and which are you most proud of?

How does the work that is done by developers and technical contributors get reflected in the final credits?

For anyone who is interested in working in the film industry as a technical contributor what advice do you have?

Keep In Touch

Dhruv

Website

@DhruvGovil on Twitter

dgovil on GitHub

Picks

Tobias

Firefox on Android

Dhruv

Google Earth VR

Links

Udemy: Python for MayaUdemy

Vancouver Film School

Guardians of the Galaxy

Cloudy w/ chance meatballs 2

Blog Post: Python For Feature Film

PyQT

PySide

Autodesk Maya

Katana

Nuke

Cython

Rez

Alembic Geometry Storage Format

Pixar Universal Scene Description

Pyblish

Open Color IO

Edge of Tomorrow

PyOpenGL

Kraken

Fabric Engine

SIGGRAPH Convention

Ray Tracing In A Weekend

Mathematics for Computer Graphics

Blender

The intro and outro music is from Requiem for a Fish The Freak Fandango Orchestra / CC BY-SA

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By Tobias Macey

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