Alembic (Computer Graphics)

Alembic

Filename extension	.abc
Developed by	Sony Pictures Imageworks, Lucasfilm
Initial release	August 9, 2011 (2011-08-09)[1]
Latest release	1.5.8 (March 28, 2014 (2014-03-28)[2])
Type of format	Exchange format for computer graphics
Open format?	Yes
Website	http://www.alembic.io/

Alembic is an interchange file format for computer graphics used by visual effects and animation professionals. It was announced at SIGGRAPH 2011,^[1] and has been widely adopted across the industry.

Its primary focus is the interchange of geometry (models) between different groups working on the same shots or same assets. This is often different departments in the same company or different studios 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 is very specifically NOT concerned with storing the complex dependency graph of procedural tools but instead stores the "baked" results.^[3]

Alembic was developed as an open source library primarily by Sony Pictures Imageworks^[4] and Lucasfilm.^[5]

Tools which support Alembic

Tools with native support

Plugins

Trivia

• Alembic is named after a bar of the same name in the Upper Haight neighborhood of San Francisco.
• The octopus in Alembic's logo is inspired by the name of Sony's previous format, Tako, which is the Japanese word for octopus. The logo also incorporates a yin-yang symbol, representing the symmetry between the input and output functions of the Alembic API.

References

External links

• Official website