To continue the previous chapter the starting point is the following stucture (I removed postprod folder explained later):
201401_OBP/
010_IN/
020_PREPROD/
030_PROD/
040_OUT/
When we start to create directory structure we are about to define the
pipeline as well. By doing that we define concepts and create rules.
Let's think about folders as a sets. We have a lot of things in the VFX
production and we analyze those to define what is what. Does the particular item
fit into that set or not? For example: is the current 3D model an asset or a shot. The answer is quite clear. Is that model a preprod(uction) or prod(uction) model? Not sure. To make it clear we have to create a rule like the following: there is no preprod model because preproducion is only a step its creation process ( for eg.: version 003 is more like preprod asset but version 008 is hires production model).
So right now we have to define a couple of concepts, pre-production (preprod), production, asset and shot produciton.
Pre-production
Less managed workflows like concept art, previz, animatics, storyboard. In VFX production it is usually before the shooting so it means there are no shots. Actually if we make previz or animatics we create shots but they can't be the production shots (except for full CG shots - see below).
Production
It is important to note that in VFX Point Of View there is no post-production. The whole film making process of course has post-production process. But if we use prod and post-prod folder one of them is kind of a meaningless. I hope it is not confusing.
So in my definition production for VFX is the process on the shots created by principal photography.
Asset production
Asset is a general concept in VFX. There is the concept asset production. Basically it means we create things which can be used in multiple shots, or we produce things shot independently.
Usually we are talking about sets like: characters, sets, enviroments, props.
Shot production
Shot is a general noun in the film industry. In a context of VFX shot production means obviously the creation of the VFX shots for the film. It can be divided to VFX shots, full CG shots and so called post FX shots (usually simple 2D effects like translate or rotate the image).
For shot production
Pre-producion can be defined like this: if we working on shots before we get shots created by principal photography it has to be the pre-production.
So asset and shot production basically a production and should below the 030_PROD folder.
201401_OBP/
010_IN/
020_PREPROD/
030_PROD/
ASSETPROD
SHOTPROD
040_OUT/
But can be simpler like this (to avoid deeper folder structure):
201401_OBP/
010_IN/
020_PREPROD/
030_ASSETPROD
040_SHOTPROD
050_OUT/
You may ask: what is the logic behind using capital letters. And the answer is: fashion. There is no reason for that. So it should look like this using camelCase:
201401_OBP/
010_in/
020_preProd/
030_assetProd
040_shotProd
050_out/
To be continued...
