Hi all,

This is probably the most noob^noob question, but how do professional studios integrate all the different 3d software packages they use in their pipelines for a typical 3d animated short/movie? For instance if they use Modo for modeling, Maya for rigging/animation and rendering and Houdini for VFX, what is the typical process to get assets back and forth between the packages? I'm assuming the obvious for the modeling is just import/export the meshes, but for the VFX - do they do something with alembic and bring into Maya for rendering ? Or after everything is animated is it imported into Houdini to combine with the serious VFX? Or is everything modeled, rendered and animated in Maya, and the VFX are rendered in Houdini with proxy/placeholder models to mimic the Maya animated models and then everything is composited in a different package? Or some other process?

Many thanks,
Caesar

it's not a noob question when you don't know it you have to ask to get the right answer. :-)

i never worked in a big studio but when you see that there are tools for the scene setup and rendering. example: katana, clarisse, voodoo or even gaffer. there is also USD for the scene description, how they do it in each studio i can't tell but they have invest a lot of time in the pipeline.

Linklist:
Katana: https://www.thefoundry.co.uk/products/katana/ [thefoundry.co.uk]
Clarisse: http://www.isotropix.com/ [isotropix.com]
Voodoo: http://www.rhythm.com/labs/ [rhythm.com]
Gaffer: http://imageengine.github.io/gaffer/ [imageengine.github.io] (Open Source)
USD: http://graphics.pixar.com/usd/ [graphics.pixar.com] (Open Source)

Hey,

I guess in detail studios will handle this differently, but you got the Main idea right.
We did a a Short (Student project) over the last couple of month - we did not have to do that much of an exchange, but … - and did it like the following:

Modeling was done where ever the modeler was comfortable.
Everything then was exported as OBJs or FBXs.
If there was animation to do, stuff went into Maya and was for the most part rendered there.
If there was also simulation to do we went from Maya to Houdini via FBX and did all our simulation stuff here. Then rendering was handled partly or completely with mantra. We did not use proxies prior to the exchange but reduced everything down to what we needed in Houdini itself.
I think for one shot we went back via FBX from Houdini to Maya for rendering.

Using FBX and alembic you can pretty much switch applications to your liking, but it does not run perfectly smooth all the time (at least for us, but again: student project).

Hope this is useful information - and maybe someone with Studio experience can add upon this.

Thanks guys - great insight!

One more question baldwithglasses….

Did you composite the mantra renders with the maya (assuming mental ray) renders? When you did the simulations in houdini with the maya exported assets, how did you insure the look of the renders matched the same assets rendered in Maya?

Thanks again for your generous info!

~Caesar