The guys from Weta Digital are big Linux fans

Oct 10, 2014 11:55 GMT  ·  By

The Linux operating systems are present everywhere, not only in the homes of regular people. They are used in all sorts of projects, either for scientific or entertainment purposes. By the looks of it, KDE has been spotted in a short presentation video for the famous Weta Digital studio.

Weta Digital is a studio specialized in special effects and they are really good at what they do. You might not have heard of them, but they have animated a lot of movies over the years, including all of the Lord of the Rings films, The Avengers, Avatar, the latest Godzilla, District 9, Contact, and even the upcoming Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice that is set to launch in 2016.

The studio has been around for more than 20 years, so when they pick the tools to do the work they need, they only go for the best. In this case, it's a Linux distribution and a KDE desktop.

KDE and Weta Digital are quite the match

A video posted on YouTube from the Weta Digital studio shows the team working on special effects for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the second movie in the series. This is the famous scene where the dwarfs tumble down a river, in barrels, and they are followed by a group of orcs. It's unclear what Linux distribution they are using, but the KDE interface can be clearly seen. Ivan Čukić, one of the KDE developers, was kind enough to share this info on his Google+ profile.

"Weta Digital presents a peek inside the world of the animation team as they work out how to solve one of the most complicated shots in Peter Jackson's film, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. As part of an epic seven-minute action sequence, Bombur's bouncing barrel shot required an elaborate approach. See how our animators suited up and used their own performances as part of the animation process," is also noted in the video comments.

KDE is also used in scientific circles

The KDE Plasma desktop has other uses as well. For example, it has been spotted in Control Station of the Adlershof Particle Accelerator, on a huge multi-monitor display, and it's used in other places as well.

If you want to take a look at KDE yourself, you're more than welcome to download the latest Kubuntu 14.04.1 LTS and give it a try. It's a Live CD and it should be pretty easy to test.