1. Introduction
2. History
3. Methodology
4. Findings (Notes in following post)
2. History
3. Methodology
4. Findings (Notes in following post)
5. Conclusions
1. Introduction
US studios - Fully animated feature films
Digital production pipeline - a synergy between the human groups and technology.
Aim - To study and share info on pipelines, to ‘derive a conceptual framework’
‘ The purpose of this thesis is to collect, study and share information regarding
production pipeline practices, and to derive a conceptual framework, as a first step toward the larger goal of developing an effective theoretical model. ‘
Not yet being a professional I do not presume to recommend any of the findings to those in the industry. Shared as an academic interest?
Introduction of computers:
In contrast to the linear pipelines of the past, modern developments have allowed a certain malleability. Changes to a characters design in old animations has to be re-drawn in every frame where as now changes can be applied to motion already created by an animator.
Special Effects: the History and Technique [27:149]
Flexibility of pipelines allows for endless re-iterations. Danger of overworking a shot - the animator will loose his Patience / the acting will lose it’s sense of spontaneity.
Directors and producers may run up costs by changing their minds about a shot or adding new material towards the end of production.
“Considering the kinds of changes that are now possible and feasible, investigating the
inner workings of the studios that produce animation in this new way would be logical. However, the nature of the industry often blocks such inquiries. “
‘Making of’ DVDs and book present in depth development of ideas for the work a studio has produced. Professionals discuss innovation at conferences like SIGGRAPH
But studios remain secretive with what they see as “intellectual innovations or unique practices”
this includes their pipelines.
Partial publication of knowledge - no defined concept of what a pipeline is.
Producing animation, Winder.
CG pipelines given a brief and basic covering at the end of chapter 9. This is an example specific to one person at one studio on one short production. A good introduction but by no means a description of the industry standard.
Of course there is a wealth o public data - It’s just not organised from the perspective of Identifying and designing CG pipelines. It can be reorganised to fit using promary research into specific studios.
Must respect and abide by intellectual property concerns of any studios involved in promary research
Thesis split in two - First, publicly available material. Second - coded information to protect identities. (all research gained through interviews is subject to review by the studio leadership)
All information deemed inappropriate for dissemination by the studio leadership has been struck from the record and does not appear in this thesis.
2. History
6 Key aspects to the success of CG features:
1 - Technical competence
2 - Artistic/visual-communication skills
3 - Storytelling capability
4 - Ability to objectively and critically assess the effectiveness of their own work
5 - Supportive corporate culture (respectful, collaborative, etc.)
6 - Sound economic model
rough timeline:
‘Ancient History’ (for cg animation)
zoetropes...
1895 - Lumière brothers, film animation
1906 - Stuart Blackton's Humorous Phases of Funny Faces
1945 - ENIAC (first computer)
And so the prototypes of all three disciplines were now present.
19?? - Ivan Sutherland - Sketchpad
1972 - MAGI - first company to us CGI for commercials
1972 - Frederic Parke's Animated Faces
1972 - Ed Catmull - cg Animated hand
‘History’
1982 - Tron - The birth of CG feature animation
"it is commonly recognized as a watershed event in the history
of the CGI film making." [34]
1995 - Toy story
Focus on the four studios being studied for the thesis, to provide a background that will inform an understanding of CG pipelines.
Pixar, PDI/Dreamworks, BlusSky and DNA
PDI - Antz (not the only studio that could gain box office success) (2 ½ years, nearly twice as fast as has proven for current cg features.
Shrek - (proved other studios could produce blockbusters and gain market dominance)
Built their own computer
Pixar
Time to develop as a company under ILM and Steve Jobs. Partnership with disney in producing Toy story.
Katzenberg from disney (an important individual in the inital Pixar/Disney collaboration) moved to PDI and guided their development of Antz.
Blue Sky
Book [34]
Ice age - smaller staff and smaller budget (alternative pipeline and business model)
Started out working towards and achieving photo realism. Bought over by 20th century fox before beginning on Ice age.
Came from the original wave of CGI, felt they had to create their own propriety code to have successful animation.
use CGI studio (proprietary Raytracing/Global-Illumination Renderer) - lighting set up is closer to real lighting directors, saves on human hours but takes more rendering time (computationally heavy with light based on more accurate physics)
DNA - Jimmy Neutron - even smaller staff and even smaller budget
Did not come from the original wave of CGI, their early work was traditionally produced (except in the use of computers instead of animation stands. When moving into 3D they simply bought commercial software instead of producing their own.
Never aim at realism - CG cartooning.
Remained an individual entity despite some dealings with paramount
these companies show the potential of both in house software with heavily specialised teams and off the shelf software to produce commercial successful productions.
3. Methodology
Qualitative analysis (as opposed to quantitative analysis)
Five predominant forms of enquiry in a qualitative analysis
A life history
Positioning the subject within a multi-layered context
A grounded theory
Create a theory in response to data collection
A case study
the study of a bounded system, a variety of studies giving a variety of perspectives on a problem
A phenomenological study
a single subject experienced by different individuals, the underlying meaning of the experience is uncovered by individual descriptions (usually concerning the structures of consciousness)
An ethnography
examination of a social group, cultural group or system - studying behaviors, customs and ways of life to give a holistic portraite
Verification of qualitative research
Prolonged engagement
Studying a subject for an extended period of time in order to avoid conclusions drawn from a shallow understanding.
Triangulation
corroborating evidence from several differing sources.
Peer review
submitting work for review by other researchers in the field
Member checking
Those who have given evidence are given the opportunity to review the analysis and interpretation of their interview
Clarifying researcher bias
Being a qualitative analysis the conclusions will retain viewpoints of the researcher, declaring the researchers bias is a necessary element.
Rich thick description
Presenting the thesis as more of a journalistic experience allowing the reader to “determine whether or not the findings can be more widely applied because of shared characteristics in the data.”
Negative case analysis
Check the hypothesis fits all scenarios, are there rival hypothesis?
External audites
research is reviewed by a consultant who examines it to check if “the process, findings,
interpretations and conclusions are actually supported by the data”
5. Conclusions
Dynamics and influences that should be taken into account in identifying the influences that shape the pipeline.
Personnel relationships
Each person needs a clearly defined role
A freedom to contribute within the role
be held accountable within realistic bounds
effects of Increasing computational power
Unimportant for layout
‘Significant boon’ to lighting
‘frustrating mirage’ to animation
Generalising and specialty
“A diversified background provided the strength and insight to apply the
Main Conclusion
In conclusion, the researcher found that a CG production pipeline was neither merely process nor product, but rather a set of resources with constraints with the purpose of creating a film. Having collected information from different forms and sources of knowledge, the researcher synthesized these findings to form a case study model of a CG production pipeline. From this model, he created an abstract conceptual definition of the CG pipeline as the use of existing resources and constraints in response to the needs of system users for a particular project at a particular time.
A digital production pipeline must therefore, by definition, utilize digital computing hardware and
software to facilitate human work and collaboration for the overarching purpose of producing content for film. A digital production pipeline is not defined by its structure; its structure is merely a manifestation of its influences. Ideally, chief among these influences would be the needs of the film project, the values of the studio and its management, the inherent strengths of their manpower, and the software/hardware legacy of the studio.
A digital production pipeline is not a permanent structure, but rather a malleable set of components which can be arranged and configured, and adapted into new structures as needed. These malleable components are human groups with assigned task domains, and digital hardware and software systems. The human groups are normally referred to as departments or teams. The digital hardware and software systems are operating systems, software tools and applications, networks, processors, and storage. The digital production pipeline is the synergy of these two types of components into adaptable systems and structures for the purpose of producing a film.
Further research potential
Differences in work flow brought about by national culture or medium of work
CG effects for live action films, or other media
Studios in other nations
The history and development of the CG pipeline, reconstruction of events from document analysis and the personal experiences of those involved
1. Introduction
US studios - Fully animated feature films
Digital production pipeline - a synergy between the human groups and technology.
Aim - To study and share info on pipelines, to ‘derive a conceptual framework’
‘ The purpose of this thesis is to collect, study and share information regarding
production pipeline practices, and to derive a conceptual framework, as a first step toward the larger goal of developing an effective theoretical model. ‘
Not yet being a professional I do not presume to recommend any of the findings to those in the industry. Shared as an academic interest?
Introduction of computers:
In contrast to the linear pipelines of the past, modern developments have allowed a certain malleability. Changes to a characters design in old animations has to be re-drawn in every frame where as now changes can be applied to motion already created by an animator.
Special Effects: the History and Technique [27:149]
Flexibility of pipelines allows for endless re-iterations. Danger of overworking a shot - the animator will loose his Patience / the acting will lose it’s sense of spontaneity.
Directors and producers may run up costs by changing their minds about a shot or adding new material towards the end of production.
“Considering the kinds of changes that are now possible and feasible, investigating the
inner workings of the studios that produce animation in this new way would be logical. However, the nature of the industry often blocks such inquiries. “
‘Making of’ DVDs and book present in depth development of ideas for the work a studio has produced. Professionals discuss innovation at conferences like SIGGRAPH
But studios remain secretive with what they see as “intellectual innovations or unique practices”
this includes their pipelines.
Partial publication of knowledge - no defined concept of what a pipeline is.
Producing animation, Winder.
CG pipelines given a brief and basic covering at the end of chapter 9. This is an example specific to one person at one studio on one short production. A good introduction but by no means a description of the industry standard.
Of course there is a wealth o public data - It’s just not organised from the perspective of Identifying and designing CG pipelines. It can be reorganised to fit using promary research into specific studios.
Must respect and abide by intellectual property concerns of any studios involved in promary research
Thesis split in two - First, publicly available material. Second - coded information to protect identities. (all research gained through interviews is subject to review by the studio leadership)
All information deemed inappropriate for dissemination by the studio leadership has been struck from the record and does not appear in this thesis.
2. History
6 Key aspects to the success of CG features:
1 - Technical competence
2 - Artistic/visual-communication skills
3 - Storytelling capability
4 - Ability to objectively and critically assess the effectiveness of their own work
5 - Supportive corporate culture (respectful, collaborative, etc.)
6 - Sound economic model
rough timeline:
‘Ancient History’ (for cg animation)
zoetropes...
1895 - Lumière brothers, film animation
1906 - Stuart Blackton's Humorous Phases of Funny Faces
1945 - ENIAC (first computer)
And so the prototypes of all three disciplines were now present.
19?? - Ivan Sutherland - Sketchpad
1972 - MAGI - first company to us CGI for commercials
1972 - Frederic Parke's Animated Faces
1972 - Ed Catmull - cg Animated hand
‘History’
1982 - Tron - The birth of CG feature animation
"it is commonly recognized as a watershed event in the history
of the CGI film making." [34]
1995 - Toy story
Focus on the four studios being studied for the thesis, to provide a background that will inform an understanding of CG pipelines.
Pixar, PDI/Dreamworks, BlusSky and DNA
PDI - Antz (not the only studio that could gain box office success) (2 ½ years, nearly twice as fast as has proven for current cg features.
Shrek - (proved other studios could produce blockbusters and gain market dominance)
Built their own computer
Pixar
Time to develop as a company under ILM and Steve Jobs. Partnership with disney in producing Toy story.
Katzenberg from disney (an important individual in the inital Pixar/Disney collaboration) moved to PDI and guided their development of Antz.
Blue Sky
Book [34]
Ice age - smaller staff and smaller budget (alternative pipeline and business model)
Started out working towards and achieving photo realism. Bought over by 20th century fox before beginning on Ice age.
Came from the original wave of CGI, felt they had to create their own propriety code to have successful animation.
use CGI studio (proprietary Raytracing/Global-Illumination Renderer) - lighting set up is closer to real lighting directors, saves on human hours but takes more rendering time (computationally heavy with light based on more accurate physics)
DNA - Jimmy Neutron - even smaller staff and even smaller budget
Did not come from the original wave of CGI, their early work was traditionally produced (except in the use of computers instead of animation stands. When moving into 3D they simply bought commercial software instead of producing their own.
Never aim at realism - CG cartooning.
Remained an individual entity despite some dealings with paramount
these companies show the potential of both in house software with heavily specialised teams and off the shelf software to produce commercial successful productions.
3. Methodology
Qualitative analysis (as opposed to quantitative analysis)
Five predominant forms of enquiry in a qualitative analysis
A life history
Positioning the subject within a multi-layered context
A grounded theory
Create a theory in response to data collection
A case study
the study of a bounded system, a variety of studies giving a variety of perspectives on a problem
A phenomenological study
a single subject experienced by different individuals, the underlying meaning of the experience is uncovered by individual descriptions (usually concerning the structures of consciousness)
An ethnography
examination of a social group, cultural group or system - studying behaviors, customs and ways of life to give a holistic portraite
Verification of qualitative research
Prolonged engagement
Studying a subject for an extended period of time in order to avoid conclusions drawn from a shallow understanding.
Triangulation
corroborating evidence from several differing sources.
Peer review
submitting work for review by other researchers in the field
Member checking
Those who have given evidence are given the opportunity to review the analysis and interpretation of their interview
Clarifying researcher bias
Being a qualitative analysis the conclusions will retain viewpoints of the researcher, declaring the researchers bias is a necessary element.
Rich thick description
Presenting the thesis as more of a journalistic experience allowing the reader to “determine whether or not the findings can be more widely applied because of shared characteristics in the data.”
Negative case analysis
Check the hypothesis fits all scenarios, are there rival hypothesis?
External audites
research is reviewed by a consultant who examines it to check if “the process, findings,
interpretations and conclusions are actually supported by the data”
5. Conclusions
Dynamics and influences that should be taken into account in identifying the influences that shape the pipeline.
Personnel relationships
Each person needs a clearly defined role
A freedom to contribute within the role
be held accountable within realistic bounds
effects of Increasing computational power
Unimportant for layout
‘Significant boon’ to lighting
‘frustrating mirage’ to animation
Generalising and specialty
“A diversified background provided the strength and insight to apply the
skills developed in a specialty for use in leadership of a specialized department.”
Main Conclusion
In conclusion, the researcher found that a CG production pipeline was neither merely process nor product, but rather a set of resources with constraints with the purpose of creating a film. Having collected information from different forms and sources of knowledge, the researcher synthesized these findings to form a case study model of a CG production pipeline. From this model, he created an abstract conceptual definition of the CG pipeline as the use of existing resources and constraints in response to the needs of system users for a particular project at a particular time.
A digital production pipeline must therefore, by definition, utilize digital computing hardware and
software to facilitate human work and collaboration for the overarching purpose of producing content for film. A digital production pipeline is not defined by its structure; its structure is merely a manifestation of its influences. Ideally, chief among these influences would be the needs of the film project, the values of the studio and its management, the inherent strengths of their manpower, and the software/hardware legacy of the studio.
A digital production pipeline is not a permanent structure, but rather a malleable set of components which can be arranged and configured, and adapted into new structures as needed. These malleable components are human groups with assigned task domains, and digital hardware and software systems. The human groups are normally referred to as departments or teams. The digital hardware and software systems are operating systems, software tools and applications, networks, processors, and storage. The digital production pipeline is the synergy of these two types of components into adaptable systems and structures for the purpose of producing a film.
Further research potential
Differences in work flow brought about by national culture or medium of work
CG effects for live action films, or other media
Studios in other nations
The history and development of the CG pipeline, reconstruction of events from document analysis and the personal experiences of those involved
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