Brief Intro to Computer Graphics Production Pipelines

1. CG Pipelines
[V|K|GUPTA]

2. 1 2
The term "pipe" was introduced in A pipe is an input-output data structure that eliminates the need for program A to write a
computer jargon with the development of stream of data to a file that will be read and processed by program B.
UNIX.
3 4
The concept of moving computer data And so "CG process" became "CG workflows" and these became "CG pipelines”
through a series of software modules
became work process by progressing the
work product through a series of specialized
workers.
The Pipeline Story

3. People
Process Tools
Dimensions of a Pipeline

4. Pre Production Line Production
Asset Build Shot Build
Editorial Look Build
Finishing
CG Pipeline Categories

5. Production Operations Pipeline

6. CG Task Pipeline

7. Version
Approved File Server Live Data
Retake
Publish Revise
Reviewer
Retake
Revision
Published
Assets
Artist
Approved
Work & Data Flow

8. Design
Model
Surface
Rigging
Cascading Pipeline

9. Model
Design Surface
Rigging
Modular Pipeline

10. • The traditional way of thinking about a pipeline is the production pipeline.
• Production Pipeline is modeled after post-industrial assembly systems where workers specialize in a
given task.
• The assembly line is a system where the work product moves past a series of work stations at a
fixed speed, forcing each specialty to be constrained to a fixed duration and narrow set of skills.
• Computer graphics is unlikely to achieve the efficiency of automated manufacturing line, but the
concept of specialization has been embraced.
• CG production is of phased nature, like model construction, motion construction, lighting, shading,
rendering and compositing to break up the work.
• Not all work missions will support the same production pipeline profile.
Production Pipeline

11. Data Management Asset Management Review Management
An asset management system forms the You need to figure out deadlines, who signs off on
Every CG environment involves the
heart and mind of the data pipeline. what, and stick to it.
delivery of a product, a shot, a sequence
or a complete show.
An asset management system allows Almost everyone works better in collaboration, so
users to figure out who is saying "Yes" to an element, or
Along the way assets are gathered and
calling a retake.
intermediate assets or work products are
constructed.
Track the progress
Review management system will track approvals,
retakes, progress etc and feeds the production
Assets used as inputs may include
with status of the show.
footage, stills, and reference materials. Navigate assets
A key material in any pipeline comprises the
One person's output becomes the next Find task / relationships aggregate of direction and instructions about a
person's input. Hence the need for
particular work product (a shot or element of a
pipeline.
shot at the finest level).
Controls the versions and revisions.
Managing the flow of materials through
Managing this data involves collecting, organizing
the studio is an important sub-pipeline.
and distributing the information to the right
persons.
It involves a decision loop, the approval pipeline is
itself a looped pipeline with an iterative nature.
Pipeline Essentials

12. Resource Management Naming Convention
If you have a bulletproof naming system, you
A render farm, storage and servers are are vital can write batch scripts that automate large
for large productions. amounts of painful work.
You need lots of storage space, and you need it Moving directories, renaming files,
secure that is, someone makes rotating backups categorization, even simple compositing tasks
or automated backups. (burn-in, watermarks, etc.).
Depending on what you can get for servers, it In some environments this was not really
may be preferable to have the artists copy the possible, so the more you're able to automate
data locally to work on it, instead of reading it stuff, the easier life gets.
off the server which is also being read from and
written to by the render farm.
This also will help the asset management system
identify relationship for each shot.
A job queue is essential to farm jobs to the
servers.
Pipeline Essentials

13. • A CG pipeline belongs to one of three classes:
• production (task) primary
• material (data) secondary
• approval (meta-data) tertiary
• A CG pipeline is comprised of three structural dimensions:
• People
• Process
• Tools
• A CG pipeline utilizes technology but is not the technology
• A CG pipeline divides a work-flow into separate and meaningful tasks assigned to two or more persons
• A CG pipeline tasks divisions are determined using a tree of specialization across the three dimensions
• The CG pipeline structural form is dictated by
• The business purpose
• Resource availability
• Studio culture
• A CG pipeline is malleable
CG Pipeline Summary

14. Selected Credits
V K GUPTA | CG Pipeline Architect | Twitter @kgvinnakota | Linkedin http://in.linkedin.com/in/vkgupta