Archive republication: This article was originally published in 2021. Product features, pricing, availability, company status, credits and links reflect the information available at that time.
The Academy Software Foundation accepted MaterialX as its seventh hosted project.
MaterialX lead developer Jonathan Stone said the move brought the format closer to standards including OpenColorIO and Open Shading Language. ASWF executive director David Morin highlighted its role in transferring look-development information consistently between applications and renderers.
Originally developed at Lucasfilm in 2012, MaterialX became an important material-description format at Industrial Light & Magic and was released as open source in 2017. Contributors included Sony Pictures Imageworks, Pixar, Autodesk, Adobe and SideFX.
MaterialX was supported across production applications and technologies including Maya, 3ds Max, Substance Designer, Arnold, RenderMan, Autodesk Standard Surface and Universal Scene Description.
Further information: Read the official ASWF announcement.
