Alembic (computer graphics)

Alembic is an interchangeable computer graphics file format developed by Sony Pictures Imageworks and Industrial Light & Magic.[3][4][5] It was announced at SIGGRAPH 2011,[1] and has been widely adopted across the industry by visual effects and animation professionals.

Alembic
Filename extension
.abc
Developed bySony Pictures Imageworks (Sony Pictures Entertainment)
Industrial Light & Magic (Lucasfilm)
Initial releaseAugust 9, 2011 (2011-08-09)[1]
Latest release
1.8.4
November 11, 2022 (2022-11-11)[2]
Type of formatExchange format for computer graphics
Open format?Yes
Websitewww.alembic.io

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.[6]

Tools which support Alembic

Tools with native support
ApplicationAs of versionVendor
Flame2016Autodesk[7]
Adobe Substance Adobe Inc
Maya2012Autodesk[8]
3ds Max2016Autodesk[9]
KATANA1.1The Foundry[10]
Houdini11.1Side Effects Software[11]
iClone6.5Reallusion Inc.[12]
RenderMan ?Pixar[13]
Arnold ?Solid Angle[14]
MARI10.2v1The Foundry[15]
MODO10.2v1The Foundry[16]
NUKE7.0The Foundry[17]
Cinema 4DR14Maxon[18]
V-Ray2012Chaos Group[19]
Guerilla Render0.15.2Mercenaries Engineering[20]
RealFlow2013Next Limit[21]
Maxwell Render3Next Limit
Clarisse iFX2012Isotropix
LightWave 3D11.6NewTek[22]
Keyshot Pro4Luxion
Octane Render1.5Otoy
Blender2.78Blender Foundation[23]
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 Jazz[24]
OrtholabMudboxOrtholab[25]
DF Plugin3DS MaxDigital Frontier[26]
Alembic ExporterDaz StudioDaz 3D[27]

References
  1. Sony Pictures Imageworks, Lucasfilm (August 9, 2011). "Lucasfilm and Sony Pictures Imageworks Release Alembic 1.0". PR Newswire. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
  2. "Releases - alembic/alembic". Alembic. Retrieved 25 December 2022 – via GitHub.
  3. "Sony Pictures Imageworks - Open Source". Opensource.imageworks.com. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  4. "Lucasfilm - Film and Television Production". Lucasfilm. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  5. "ILM, Sony Imageworks release Alembic 1.0". Variety. August 9, 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  6. "Alembic". Alembic.io. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  7. "Flame - 2d/3d Compositing/Finishing/Editing - Autodesk". Usa.autodesk.com. Archived from the original on 3 April 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  8. "Maya - Computer Animation & Modeling Software - Autodesk". Usa.autodesk.com. Archived from the original on 2013-03-25. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  10. "KATANA - Lighting & look development software - The Foundry". Thefoundry.co.uk. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  11. "Home - SideFX". Sidefix.com. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  12. "3D Animation and 2D Cartoons Made Simple - Reallusion Animation Software". Reallusion.com. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  13. "Pixar's RenderMan Products". Renderman.pixar.com. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  14. "Solid Angle - Arnold Renderer". Solidangle.com. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  15. "MARI Features :: 3D Texture Painting :: The Foundry". thefoundry.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-01-06.
  16. "The Foundry Community :: TV :: Training :: View". Luxology.com. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  17. "NUKE 7.0 is coming soon | the Foundry". Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
  18. "MAXON - 3D FOR THE REAL WORLD: Errorpage". Maxon.net. Archived from the original on 1 April 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  19. "Chaos Group". Chaosgroup.com. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  20. "Guerilla Render - Animation and VFX production rendering". Guerillarender.com. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  21. "EC - Alembic I/O". Support.nextlimit.com. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  22. "LightWave - 11.6 Features Overview". Lightwave3d.com. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  23. "Dev:Ref/Release Notes/2.78/Alembic". wiki.blender.org. Archived from the original on 6 November 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  24. Jupiter Jazz Limited. "AtomKraft, by Jupiter Jazz". Atomkraft.hk. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  25. "Ortholab". CodePlex. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  26. "デジタル・フロンティア-Digital Frontier - DF TALK - Alembic for 3dsmax". Dfx.co.jp. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  27. "Daz 3D - 3D Models and 3D Software by Daz 3D". Daz3d.com. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
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