Production workflows

PRODUCTION WORKFLOWS

@oenvoyage ++ @fsiddi -- Blender Conference 2012 -- Amsterdam 13/10/2012

Concepts for small, medium sized productionsOr for people who never thought about workflow

FOREWORD

ASSETS ORGANIZATION

๏ set up paths - relative paths

๏ good naming (more about it later)

๏ versioning? SVN is not bad

SPIKE STRUCTURE

MANGO STRUCTURE

FAST RESPONSE

๏ use proxies, they are very good for speed

๏ use groups, node groups can be reused.

๏ when working with groups and libraries, make sure the SCALE is correct and consistent between object... to avoid rescaling assets (spike sets examples)

NAMING

๏ create a folder for each Sequence or Shot. In those folder put all pass and mattesproject_root/scenes/02_03/

๏ start your file name with scene/shot numbers, then add a “descriptive description”02_03_sword_matte02_03_forest_bg

MORE NAMING

๏ numbers = versions of file:  sword -> sword_bak_01, sword_bak_02, etc

๏ a,b,c,d = version of an object : sword_a, sword_b, sword_c, etc

in your life and your projectsBE CONSISTENT

NAMING 2๏ do not use spaces, or strange accents etc... no good for unix or

writing relative paths, scripting etc.

๏ Yoda : Luke never spaces you will use, no never

๏ under_scoring or CamelCase

๏ name your object according to what they do : CTRL for controller bones, DEF for deformers, GRP for groups, goes for assets as well

๏ communicate about your naming

NEVER BE IN A WTF CASE

๏ what's that file?

๏ where is that file ?

๏ who named that file ?

๏ why is that file here ?

NEVER BE IN A WTF CASE

๏ what's that file?

๏ where is that file ?

๏ who named that file ?

๏ why is that file here ?

is not a real filename.

-- James Neale (@jamesneale)

Image001_final_v02_A01_FINAL_final0012.jpg

RENDERING๏ make pre render at low resolution

๏ render 10 frames at full resolution across the shot

๏ use low resolution proxies for rendering

๏ use touch and no-overwrite functions

๏ use render management system

render management means being able to handle multiple renders at the same time. It can be done with 1 computer.

RENDER MANAGEMENT ≠ RENDER FARM

TEAM

Try to find what each team member enjoys most and try to dispatch more of that kind of work to that person.

Example: animators should do animatic, more experienced people solve complex problems, less technical do simpler or repetitive tasks.

TEAM

Try to find what each team member enjoys most and try to dispatch more of that kind of work to that person.

Example: animators should do animatic, more experienced people solve complex problems, less technical do simpler or repetitive tasks.

2 people counts as a team

TIME MANAGEMENT

render an animatic

๏ create a tracking sheet, it will allow you to keep track of scenes/shots, and start rendering when not all scenes are finished

๏ start animating the easy shots to feel comfortable with characters

๏ try to “finish” your movie as quick a possible so that you can have an overall feeling, then tweak and make it better (Final1, Final2, etc)

TRACKING SHEET

TEARS OF SHEET

TEARS OF SHEET

TIPS & TRICKS๏ start simple

๏ do stuff in compositing whenever you can

๏ use and reuse models

๏ don’t assume it will work (it will break)

๏ communicate with your team

๏ do it on one platform

๏ back up your data

and communicate about it with teammatesBE CONSISTENT

FORGET ABOUT IT!

@oenvoyage ++ @fsiddi -- Blender Conference 2012 -- Amsterdam 13/10/2012