Rajiv Sharma

Linux vs Windows ..? for Animation and VFX Work

I am Using  Window 7 at Office and Linux Mint 13 at Home.
Windows is more common, and easier to set up for a single user.
Linux is better in a larger studio environment, and is around 10-20% faster on the same hardware as Windows.
I found Houdini, Maya, and realflow is playing a lot faster In Linux compare to windows. this result is based on my Heavy Simulations and Rendering task.
Maya 2012 64bit is having some issues bugs (Because, I am using debian based Linux Operating system and Maya Native design for Red Hat OS  RPM.)

I Found network speed in Linux is 10 to 25 % fast that windows (this is based on Realflow simulation data (Grid Domain Particles, Meshing) , Maya Fluids and N Particles Cache,  Read and write on network disk)

Pipeline tools design and intigration in production is better in Linux compare to window 7.
compiling extra plugins in the HDK a lot easier on linux as well as you can use the free compiler. On windows Visual Studio is the only way and you can’t compile without the full version for 64 bit.
On linux you can automate tasks a lot easier with shell scripts/python. This is more the stuff you do next to houdini, like batch renaming files, triggering pre and post render scripts, rendering  files.
Of course on windows you can buy (or program) little programs that do it for you as well, but I find you have much more flexibility with linux.
Also.. most bigger studios are on linux.

Linux is Free for any use.  and  for windows you have to pay 12,000 INR
🙂

Cheers!
Rajiv Sharma
FX TD