Shot status update procedures and shot completion plans

(A) Shot Status Grid

PROBLEM:
Having a shot status log on the web is all well and good, except that the only person who has the ability to update it is the webmaster, who is too busy updating other things. Barbara and the TAs probably know the status of each shot, but that doesn't do the rest of us much good. While digging for shot status from people, I discovered the animators didn't have a clue if the lighting was ready for motion to be imported, the lighters didn't have a clue if the motion was ready to be imported, and the render guys didn't have a clue if any of it was ready, in any scene. Somewhere last week it was decided to test render several shots this weekend to see how the process went. Well, that didn't happen, and the big reason was nobody knew what they needed to do, in any field, or even which shots were up for grabs. (A good chunk of this is mea culpa for not having sent a message like this two days ago. Of course, two days ago I hadn't realized quite how badly it was needed.)

SOLUTION:
I have drawn a big grid on the whiteboard in the "classroom" half of LA2 (the room with the projector). You can't miss the grid, it takes up both halves of the whiteboard. It is divided into a number of sections.

To pick on the Shot 8 line for an example: 

  Shot | Motion | Lighting | FX            | Final Render | Issues
  -----+--------+----------+---------------+--------------+--------------
    8  |        | XXXXXXXX | Leaves: Chad  |              |
       |        | XXXXXXXX | Trees: Wyvern |              | B: Approve
shadows?
  -----+--------+----------+---------------+--------------+--------------

What this means:
Shot = Shot 8
Motion = no status is known
Lighting = Done, finalized.
FX = Chad is working on leaves, Wyvern on trees (which are actually done).
Final Render = hasn't happened yet
Issues = We need to get Barbara to approve or disapprove the shadows

See how I'm doing this? I would like everyone to put your name in the grid on any blank in any shot if you are working on that piece. Put a big "X" in that blank instead if that piece is totally done.

Note that I wrote "if you are WORKING on that piece." I do not mean "that piece is assigned to you." If something is assigned to you and you haven't even had a chance to look at it yet, leave it blank. And if you are bored and have nothing else to do, well, check with the production admins, but eggs to pearls those blank spaces are a good place to put effort. :)

Also note that this is not a one-time thing. I would like everybody to keep this grid up to date as things move toward completion. When Ryan, Chad, and myself go looking for shots to render, this is where we're going to look. For instance, even if shot 3 (to pick on one) is scheduled to be rendered some evening, if it's not done but shot 6 is, it makes more sense to do shot 6.

So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! Keeping Barbara and TAs up to date is not enough! Please put your status in this grid as well, so the rest of us have a clue what is going on too!

And that leads me to...

(B) Rendering Plan

PROBLEM: So, who does what to get a shot ready for final render?

SOLUTION: There have been a lot of semi-contradictory messages lately about this. Well, the three render guys have talked and come up with a more or less final answer. Baring any serious thermonuclear fury from people, here's the actions:

  1. Motion People:

    You make the motion in your directory, then YOU move the girl and animation over to the Lighting directory. No one is better prepared to notice if something breaks than you are.

  2. Lighting People:

    You do sanity-checking on the whole scene. Make sure every object has a shader. Make sure the girl is lit through the whole animation cycle.

  3. Semi-Final Render:

    Rendering people can do a semi-final render here. But if we're not around, and you (anyone) know the scene is ready, don't at all feel guilty about starting this without us. Just note how long the frames take on average at full quality, and let us see the resulting video. The things to look for here are glitches in motion, popping of special effects (like paint effects), wind that looks totally wrong, shadows that look totally wrong, shaders that have jittery pixels, or anything that looks bad.

  4. Barbara and TAs and group:

    Look over it. See any of the above-listed items that need fixed.

  5. Shadering People:

    Fix the shaders that jitter. This can mean baking textures, or for stubborn things, this can mean rendering the texture on a plane. (Example: The Shot 8 ground shader would not bake on, and had to be manually rendered onto a plane piecewise, one render for each layer in the layered shader, and then applied.) Fix any shading issue that was raised.

  6. Render / FX people:

    Fix trees and shadows and wind and leaves and fire and water "stuff."

  7. Motion / Light / etc.

    Fix motion and light and etc.

    Then, everybody who was fixing something e-mail cse490ca-rendering when you are done fixing it. We will then...

  8. FINAL RENDER ...push the final render button in the render group. Everybody takes a cheer and moves on to the next shot. :)
The idea here is that three-fold: (1) Work distributed among a lot of people goes faster than work heaped on one person. (2) People in each group are best prepared to see what is wrong in their area and to fix it. (3) Render group can keep track of status along the way, but we are ill-prepared for revamping the shot when things need love to look good.

Also, I said to e-mail cse490ca-rendering when you finish your glitch-fixing. Don't hesitate to send mail to this alias when you finish anything. The more status updates you flood us with, the better idea we have of when everything is ready to go. We like status updates saying you are done with something. We will be your friends for telling us you are done with something. :)

No, telling us such does not mean you don't have to mark it on the whiteboard. We will be your friends even more if you mark it on the whiteboard first. :)