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This one is for the software developers, do your colleagues a favor by making it easy to remember the names of the fabulous tools you write.

I feel that scripts and software made for internal use should follow the naming convention of ‘nounVerb’. This provides a number of benefits such as people can easily remember the names of your tools, they are easy to find, you can use tab-completion, etc…

Some possible examples for names of tools that work with images:

dpxView
exrView
imgConvert
imgCrop

Listed below are the technology pieces that I feel are necessary for a solid, and efficient CG animation production pipeline.

Directory Structure and Naming Convention

An organizational structure for job specific tools, shot, and asset groupings. Naming conventions provide tool repurposing and the ability to structure assets.

Variable System

A variable organizational structure to share job and shot configuration information among tools which provides:

• Naming convention control

• Tools standardization and version control

• Tools pathing

• Shadow tree management

• Filename … Continue Reading

Here are some risk management points to ponder when implementing a pipeline for a new production
• Time restrictions imposed by show
• Vendor stability (long run)
• Use of untested, immature systems
• Hitting creative goals and accommodating
creative changes
• Not being able to leverage systems for other
productions.
•Ability to train for assumed production
productivity
• Recruiting talent with appropriate skillsets in
time frame required
• Single points of failure dependencies

Here is a re-post of Kevin Cureton’s great article on naming conventions…

Every time that I’ve started working on a production, be it a film or video game, the issue of naming comes up. Nobody likes the way things have been named on previous productions, and yet no one wants to be the person that creates and enforces a naming convention. Can you blame them? It’s never fun to be the person who has to put the figurative “smack down” on a production team to get them to name things correctly.

Naming conventions can have various levels of stringency. The most basic … Continue Reading

Here are some older (2 years) recaps of lectures and interviews I’ve given on pipelines:

Montgomery simplifies pipelines and workflows at AITF

Industry gives two thumbs-up to AnimationXpress.com AITF, presented by Intel

CG Animation Studio Essentials by George Bruder & Marlon Montgomery

The Anatomy of Production Pipelines

Here is an attempt at trying to collect a combination of

• the best animation business books of all time
• the best management books of all time

This is a first-draft list.  If you have any suggestions please feel free to add them in the comments of this post. I haven’t attempted to sort them or rank them yet; the order is completely arbitrary.

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How do you build a studio that can grow without major pains?

There are a variety of factors that need to be taken into consideration across all areas of the studio’s business.

One of the first items that should be nailed down is how your staffing requirements align with the business, production, and technical goals.

• Are you going to be using production processes that require artists with a higher degree of technical aptitude and/or an investment in training? Or, are you going to adapt your toolset and workflow to be more ‘artist’ friendly. What is the local talent pool available to you?  Are … Continue Reading
  
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