The use of open source in the hardware and software industries is rapidly expanding, with Hollywood’s top studios continuing to make contributions to open source projects. Dan Candela, director of Technology for Walt Disney Animation Studios, was joined by Marc Petit (Autodesk), Sebastian Sylwan (Weta) and Rob Bredow (SPI) to give their perspectives on open source and its involvement in the post production process from an infrastructure standpoint in order to make workflow more efficient.

Exclusively at FMX 2011 Dan Candela announced several new open source initiatives which will be released in 2011. Disney Animation has created a ready-to-animate character "Dee"; a pre-rigged Maya model that has taken a lot of time to develop. Alongside this they will offer "SeExpr", a universal expression language that can be used in a variety of packages; it is currently used in-house at Disney.

Arrow Stereo 3D
This year FMX took a fresh look at Stereo 3D, looking at how this can be used as a storytelling tool and how far this has progressed beyond the big screen into wider-contexts. 3D for Theme Parks featured Sebastian Sylwan who discussed the unique design challenges faced while producing "King Kong 360-3D" and the creative solutions that were applied to deliver one of the world's largest stereo experiences. David Cohen, Variety, reported in his lecture the history of 3D Stereo technology and revealed the struggle of the film industry to master 3D, and how today's 3D issues echo those of the past.

Arrow New Trends in Games
In the games track, contributors from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences and Quo Vadis conversed on the most significant changes in the gaming industry. Presentations included amongst others Joseph Olin, President Emeritus, Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, on how gaming culture is transforming to the point of cultural significance; Benjamin Joffe, Cmune, presented on Uberstrike - the largest 3D First-Person-Shooter on Facebook and Boyd Multerer, Xbox Platform Microsoft, reported on how transmedia is affecting the entire gaming industry as well as TV and mobile devices.  Developments in Stereoscopic 3D Games were discussed including contributions from Sebastien Schertenleib, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited and Dr. Bill Kapralos, University of Ontario Institute of Technology.

Arrow Fantastic Forums
The Schools Campus featured 26 schools, from countries including Austria, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Switzerland and the USA. The engaging School Presentations allowed schools and graduates to present their projects to the wider community while picking up praise along the way.

The Recruitment Hub was an important aspect to the conference, having quickly established itself as the premier European job fair for the animation, games, visual effects and interactive media industries. Visitors took advantage of the bursting recruitment presentations to improve on their application skills and discover how to make an application successful. Company Suites included packed presentations from Autodesk, Adobe Systems, The Foundry and weltenbauer. Many companies recorded receiving 200 applications per day! The bustling Trade Floor featured interesting new tools focusing on Research and Development, demonstrating the future developments in the industry

FMX is an event by Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg, organized by the Institute of Animation, Visual Effects and Digital Postproduction, hosting the Animation Production Day 2011 (APD), a joint venture with the Festival of Animated Film Stuttgart (ITFS). It is an event in cooperation with VES Visual Effects Society, AIAS Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, ACM Siggraph and Stuttgart Media University (HdM). FMX is funded by the Ministry of State and the Ministry of Economics Baden-Wuerttemberg, the MFG Film Funding and the FFA German Federal Film Board.