Python Further Embedded in the Animation Industry

Python's inexorable march towards world domination* continues with the recent announcement that visual effects provider The Foundry plans to incorporate a Python programming interface into the next version of its Furnace product. The UK broadcast industry news article that brought this to my attention also (correctly) says Python is

an extensible programming language, which is becoming widely supported by other application vendors and forming the backbone of many studios pipelines

It seems that Python's origins in "computer programming for everybody" has allowed it to become a default choice for embedded scripting capabilities in many areas. It is fast becoming the standard in the film industry. It would be nice, now the secret is out, to see that industry contributing a bit more to the development of the language and its community.

* Just in case you wondered, there are no such plans!

Python Everywhere ...

In other news, a Swiss company that sells remote sensing systems for liquid petroleum gas tanks is buying Python-based sensing equipment from a US-based company. This is probably nothing new, as the Python in question is 1.5.2, but it reminds me just how pervasive Python is becoming.

The device in question is 1.62" x 1.24" x 0.14" (41.4 x 31.4 x 3.6 mm if you must) and it runs Python!

The news about Autodek's adoption of Python for Maya now also seems to be getting around - three more news pieces listed in my Google alerts today.