Overview
About this event
Open Source Days is hosted annually by the Academy Software Foundation (ASWF), the organization created in partnership by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Linux Foundation to advance open source software across motion pictures, visual effects and animation. ASWF (aswf.io) is home to 21 projects and 4 working groups spanning rendering, color management, asset interchange and machine learning.
The event brings together creative studios, software and hardware makers, and the broader VFX and animation community to share updates on popular open source projects, emerging trends and best practices. It runs each year timed to coincide with SIGGRAPH, moving to whichever city hosts that year's conference.
The 2026 edition takes place in Los Angeles, where SIGGRAPH 2026 runs July 19 to 23. Open Source Days runs its own dedicated Main Program on July 19 before continuing inside SIGGRAPH itself on July 20 through a full day of Birds of a Feather sessions.
What Usually Happens at Open Source Days?
The Main Program day combines a keynote address with a full day of talks from VFX and animation studios, software vendors and open source maintainers, covering project updates, production case studies and emerging technical standards. Coffee breaks, lunch and an evening social mixer, branded Beers of a Feather, round out the day.
The Birds of a Feather day runs inside SIGGRAPH itself, giving each ASWF working group and hosted project a dedicated in-person session to share roadmaps, technical updates and open discussion with the community. Attendance at BoF sessions requires a SIGGRAPH badge rather than separate Open Source Days registration.
When Is Open Source Days 2026 Taking Place?
Open Source Days 2026 runs July 19 to 20, 2026. The Main Program on July 19 takes place in Los Angeles with an in-person and virtual option. The Birds of a Feather sessions on July 20 run inside SIGGRAPH 2026 at the same venue. Full event details are at events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-days and registration is open at events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-days/register.
Open Source Days 2026: Latest Updates
5 topicsRegistration is open and the keynote speaker is confirmed. Everything below is sourced directly from the official Linux Foundation event page and ASWF's own press announcements.
MoonRay Joins ASWF as a Hosted Project
DreamWorks Animation's open source production renderer, MoonRay, officially joined the Academy Software Foundation as a hosted project, announced via linuxfoundation.org press release on May 19, 2026. MoonRay has rendered every DreamWorks Animation feature film since 2019, including How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, The Bad Guys, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Kung Fu Panda 4, The Wild Robot and The Bad Guys 2. The renderer is released under the Apache 2.0 license and includes a USD Hydra Render Delegate, an XPU mode processing rays on both GPU and CPU, and support for distributed rendering. MoonRay joins more than 20 existing ASWF projects including OpenColorIO, OpenEXR, OpenVDB, OpenTimelineIO and Open Shading Language.
Bill Ballew Confirmed as Keynote Speaker
Bill Ballew, Chief Technology Officer of DreamWorks Animation, will deliver the keynote address, titled How to Train Your Renderer: MoonRay's Journey from DreamWorks' Dragons to the ASWF. The talk covers the technical challenges of moving a proprietary studio tool into open governance, the strategy behind building a sustainable community around it, and why ASWF membership is the next chapter for the project.
Registration Priced at $50 for the Main Program
Registration for the July 19 Main Program is confirmed at $50, covering keynotes and presentations, coffee breaks and snacks, lunch, an event t-shirt, and the Beers of a Feather social mixer at Prank Bar from 5:30 to 8:30 PM. Employees of ASWF member companies and their subsidiaries are eligible for complimentary registration if claimed before July 1, 2026.
Additional Confirmed Sessions
Confirmed presentations alongside the keynote include Adopting Open Standards: Blender's Journey on Supporting OpenPBR from Sebastian Herholz and Francesco Siddi of Blender; a virtual production evaluation asset session from Jim Geduldick of Spaceboy Labs and independent director Jay Holben; a color fidelity session from Scott Geffert of The Metropolitan Museum of Art; and Building Studio-Safe AI Open Source Workflows from Collin Dutter of Griptape by Foundry.
Call for Proposals Closed May 24, 2026
The Call for Proposals to speak at Open Source Days 2026 closed on May 24, 2026, with submissions accepted through events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-days.
Main Topics at Open Source Days 2026
4 topicsThe 2026 programme spans rendering pipeline evolution, open standards adoption, color science, virtual production and the emerging intersection of AI with studio-safe open source workflows.
Rendering and Path Tracing
MoonRay's keynote appearance anchors the rendering track, covering how a proprietary studio renderer transitions into open governance while retaining production stability. MoonRay's own Birds of a Feather history, including its regression testing suite and GPU-CPU XPU mode, reflects the technical depth expected across rendering sessions.
Open Standards for Color and Interchange
Sessions on OpenPBR adoption in Blender and scene-referred color reproduction standards continue ASWF's long-running focus on shared standards for color management and material interchange across studio pipelines, building on established projects like OpenColorIO and ACES.
Virtual Production
A session on virtual production evaluation assets joining the Digital Production Ecosystem Library addresses how virtual production workflows are standardizing the assets used to test and calibrate LED volume stages and in-camera visual effects.
AI and Studio-Safe Open Source Workflows
A dedicated session on building studio-safe AI open source workflows reflects the growing presence of AI tooling questions within the VFX and animation open source community, addressing how AI can be integrated into production pipelines without compromising content security or IP protection.
Event Experiences
3 topicsOpen Source Days 2026 runs across two distinct days with two distinct formats: a standalone conference day open to the public, followed by a full day of working-group sessions embedded inside SIGGRAPH itself.
Main Program: July 19
The Main Program is a full day of keynotes and presentations from VFX and animation studios, software vendors and open source maintainers, open to anyone interested in attending, in person in Los Angeles or via virtual access.
Beers of a Feather Social Mixer
The day closes with Beers of a Feather, an evening social mixer at Prank Bar running from 5:30 to 8:30 PM, included in the standard registration fee.
SIGGRAPH Birds of a Feather: July 20
The Birds of a Feather day runs entirely inside SIGGRAPH 2026, giving ASWF's working groups and hosted projects, including OpenColorIO, ACES, OpenMoonRay and the Machine Learning Working Group, dedicated in-person sessions to share updates and take community questions. A SIGGRAPH Full Conference or Experience badge is required; separate Open Source Days registration is not needed for this day.
Why Open Source Days 2026 Matters
4 topicsOpen Source Days is the definitive annual checkpoint for open source software underpinning modern VFX and animation production. The 2026 edition arrives as MoonRay's transition from proprietary DreamWorks tool to community-governed ASWF project offers a live case study in how major studios are opening up production-critical software.
For VFX and Pipeline Engineers
Sessions on rendering, color standards and virtual production give pipeline engineers and technical directors direct access to the maintainers of the open source tools already embedded in most major studio pipelines.
For Studio Executives and OSPO Leaders
Bill Ballew's keynote on moving MoonRay from proprietary tool to open governance offers a direct playbook for executives and Open Source Program Office leaders evaluating whether and how to open source their own internal production tools.
For Students and Early-Career Developers
Open Source Days explicitly welcomes junior developers and engineers with no prior experience, alongside students, professors and academia, making it one of the more accessible entry points into the VFX and animation open source community. Scholarship details for students and early-career attendees are at events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-days/attend/scholarships.
For AI and Tooling Teams
The session on building studio-safe AI open source workflows gives teams evaluating AI integration into VFX pipelines a direct view of how the industry is approaching AI adoption without compromising content security.
Agenda
Times shown in Pacific Daylight Time (PDT, UTC-7). Full schedule at events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-days/program/schedule.
| Date | Programme | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday, July 19 | Open Source Days Main Program: keynote (Bill Ballew), sessions, coffee breaks, lunch; evening Beers of a Feather mixer at Prank Bar (5:30 to 8:30 PM) | J.W. Marriott L.A. Live |
| Monday, July 20 | SIGGRAPH Birds of a Feather sessions: working group and hosted project updates across rendering, color, AI and standards tracks (SIGGRAPH badge required) | J.W. Marriott L.A. Live |
Registration and Access
Registration for the July 19 Main Program is $50 and includes keynotes, presentations, coffee breaks, lunch, an event t-shirt and the Beers of a Feather mixer. July 20 Birds of a Feather sessions require a SIGGRAPH badge rather than separate Open Source Days registration. Register at events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-days/register.
| Access Type | Details | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Main Program (July 19) | Keynote, sessions, coffee breaks, lunch, t-shirt, Beers of a Feather mixer | USD 50 |
| ASWF Member Employee Registration | Complimentary for employees of ASWF member companies and subsidiaries, claimed before July 1, 2026 | Free |
| Birds of a Feather (July 20) | Working group sessions inside SIGGRAPH; requires SIGGRAPH Full Conference or Experience badge | Included with SIGGRAPH registration |
| Virtual Access (Main Program) | Remote access to July 19 Main Program | See events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-days/register |
Want updates on ASWF Open Source Days 2026?
Get our recap, key takeaways and analysis delivered to your inbox the moment the keynote ends.
Venue
J.W. Marriott L.A. Live
The J.W. Marriott L.A. Live sits in downtown Los Angeles adjacent to the L.A. Live entertainment complex, within walking distance of the Los Angeles Convention Center where SIGGRAPH 2026's broader conference programme runs. The venue hosts both the July 19 Main Program and the July 20 Birds of a Feather sessions.
Date & Time
Jul 19–20
Starts 9:00 AM PDT
Location
Los Angeles
J.W. Marriott L.A. Live, United States
Format
Hybrid
In-person & Livestream
Speakers7
Engineers shipping the work, not theorizing about it
Open Source Days 2026 has confirmed its keynote speaker along with several additional session presenters, with the full schedule and additional speakers confirmed on a rolling basis.
Recap: 2025 & 2024
The biggest announcements from the last 2 ASWF Open Source Days editions.
Open Source Days 2025 Recap
Open Source Days has run annually alongside SIGGRAPH since 2019, moving each year to that year's host city. The two most recent editions set the direct precedent for the format continuing into 2026.
Open Source Days 2025 ran August 10 and 11, 2025, at the Marriott Pinnacle in Vancouver, Canada, alongside SIGGRAPH 2025.
The 2025 schedule archive is at osd2025.sched.com, the Academy's official recap is at acescentral.com, and OpenMoonRay's Birds of a Feather recap is on github.com/dreamworksanimation/openmoonray.
Main announcements included:
- The keynote was delivered by Martins Upitis and Konstantins Visnevskis, the filmmaking team behind the Academy Award-winning animated feature Flow, made entirely with the open source 3D toolset Blender, covering their real-world production pipeline and the growing democratization of filmmaking through open source software.
- A separate opening keynote, State of the Foundation, was delivered by David Morin, ASWF Executive Director, with guest speaker Meredith Shea, Chief Membership, Impact and Industry Officer at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
- Alex Forsythe, Senior Director of Science and Technology at the Academy, presented a keynote tracing the definitive history of ACES from inception through the release of ACES 2.0, featuring insights from DreamWorks Animation, Netflix and Industrial Light and Magic.
- A further keynote, Transforming the LAIKA Pipeline with Open Source, was delivered by Jeff Stringer, Jonathan Gerber and Martin Davies of LAIKA.
- Main Program sessions included Flowpipe VFX Production from Jonas Sorgenfrei of RISE FX, a session on order independent transparency from Preetish Kakkar of Adobe, and a security audits talk from Amir Montazery of the Open Source Technology Improvement Fund.
- The August 11 Birds of a Feather day covered nine working groups and hosted projects including OpenCue, the Alliance for OpenUSD, OpenPBR, OpenColorIO, ACES, OpenMoonRay, the Diversity and Inclusion Working Group and the Machine Learning Working Group, each with named presenters from studios including Industrial Light and Magic, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Weta FX, Apple, Autodesk and Epic Games.
- OpenMoonRay's own Birds of a Feather update, later published as a community recap, covered a new versioning scheme, a 350-test regression suite called RATS, and GPU-CPU XPU mode improvements, laying the groundwork for MoonRay's formal adoption as a hosted ASWF project the following year.
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