The production of animation series, 3D films and visual effects is a complex collaborative work, that requires a new type of production management software.

Tens, and sometimes hundreds, of persons must collaborate for months, to produce a result that is complex, consistent and of high quality, using graphical software such as Maya, SoftImage, 3DSMax, Photoshop, Nuke, FinalCut, …etc.

At the start, the production team starts with the a script, and then a story board and graphical references.

Then, one produce constituents:

• characters
• sets
• props
• visual effects (VFX)

thousands of elements that go through several phases, each step requiring several iterations before approval. For example, for a character, the modeling team will shape its volume, another team will create the skeleton, attach muscles (rigging), then create clothes, hair and skin, on which one will map textures provided by another team.

Finally, shot by shot, these constituents are gathered in a scene file that will, as well, go through several steps until final render :

• layout
• animation
• lighting
• rendering
• compositing

The production of films is more and more complex, and can involve a large number of temporary objects. One of the challenges for a studio is to master this complexity, know which data is valid or not, and minimize overhead costs related to working on outdated data (artists and computing time). This overhead can reach 20% of the budget.

The production is also very iterative, changes can occur on any type of object, at any time, with more or less expensive impacts. Sometimes, it is the process itself that changes.

Finally, pressure on costs makes everyones time very precious. The ability for a studio to master time and production costs is a critical factor, that is all the harder to reach as teams grow.

To face these challenges, production teams usually keep many dashboards up to date and try to enforce naming rules for files. But when the number of artists grows, when they often change, or work on multiple sites, these simple methods no longer work, and everyone wastes a lot of time synchronizing changing data or working on outdated ones. Besides, classical project management tools are too complex to use, and lack flexibility to deal with iterations and everyday changes.

ArtForge is a software suite, designed by and for creative studios, to help you create high quality digital content.