Get free VFX image viewer and video playback tool DJV 3
DJV Imaging – aka former Lucasfilm software engineer Darby Johnston – has released DJV 3.0, the latest version of the free image viewer and playback software for VFX and animation work.
The release – the first major update to the application for five years – adds support for new industry standards including OpenTimelineIO, and experimental support for USD files.
A free image sequence viewer and video player for VFX and feature animation work
DJV makes it possible to play back high-resolution, high-bit-depth image sequences and videos when reviewing shots in professional VFX or animation pipelines.
It supports a range of file formats used in production pipelines, including Cineon, DPX, JPEG, OpenEXR, PNG, PPM, SGI, TGA, BMP and TIFF for image sequences.
For video playback, it supports the MJPEG movie codec, and FLAC, MP3 and WAV audio codecs.
The player also supports the OpenColorIO (OCIO) color management standard, making it possible to preview colors accurately within a production pipeline.
It provides a free alternative to commercial tools like Autodesk’s RV, now available as part of its Flow Production Tracking platform.
DJV 3.0 – a major update to the software that almost didn’t happen
DJV 3.0 is the first update to the software in five years, during which the number of open-source image viewers on the market has increased.
Since the release of DJV 2.0, leading VFX firm DNEG has released the source code for xStudio, its in-house playback tool, while Autodesk has open-sourced part of the code for RV.
As a result, DJV 3.0 almost didn’t happen: in 2023, Darby Johnston posted online that he wasn’t sure how much time to put into an update, given that xStudio and Open RV were available.
Instead, he launched a new project that built on DJV, tlRender.
It fixed “almost all of the issues” with DJV 2 – but, as an open-source code library, was intended for developers of other image-viewing tools, not ordinary users.
Now supports OpenTimeline IO and USD
Thankfully for artists who simply want a professional viewing tool, Johnston has now released DJV 3.0.
We assume that it uses the tlRender library, since it has many of the same features, including a new high-performance core based on OpenTimelineIO.
The new open interchange format for editorial cut information is now being supported in a growing range of VFX-focused applications, including Cinesync, Nuke Studio and RV.
Other features from tlRender available in DJV 3.0 include support for A/B comparisons between versions of a shot: the software supports wipe, overlay and difference modes.
DJV 3.0 also supports multi-track audio, with support for variable-speed and reverse playback.
In addition, the release introduces experimental support for USD files, which are rendered to image sequences using the Hydra rendering framework.
License and system requirements
Compiled versions of DJV 3.0 are available as free downloads for Windows, Linux and macOS.
The source code is available under a 3-clause BSD license. You can find instructions for compiling the code on the product website.
Read more about DJV on the product website
Have your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we don’t post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.