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The pipeline is a complex and ready-to-change issue about providing physical and virtual resources for the team, tools and technics, workflow path, and anticipating problems to cut corners. Workflow management comprises intradepartmental concerns such as data asset management (DAM), solid-state drive providers, metadata tool developing, directory management, planning to break down the tasks while maintaining compartmentalization if needed, and handing off chores to double-check and quality assurance feedback.¹ All in all, the pipeline is about to facilitate the production team’s workflow, including artists, technical team, and management.
Any software package, proprietary industry-standard bundle, or a free third-party tool providing rigid pipeline toolsets in a micro-scale and the scale above increases the chance of adaptability to the larger scale, for example, naming convention tools like search/to replace (in Maya), tailored to the whole data management process even if there is a need to develop an ad hoc tool for database, providing metadata tags including artist names, facility number, or fully-optimized search function.² The node-based approach in off-the-shelf software packages tailors to the dependency-tracking system, more importantly in real-time game engines, as useless assets and relationships are schematic, showcasing overload in run-time.
Tool dependency for game and VFX pipeline is critical, while time-consuming processes should not be in the middle of the creative loops where artists need to focus on iterative tasks to get creative approval from the manager.³ The promising pipeline must be flexible enough to propagate assets or shots through the production team and alert the group of potential problems.⁴
There are fundamental differences between film and game pipelines. However, they share the most similar workflows under the hood.⁵ A priori, there are overlapping tasks in each production stage encompassing the same method of workflow on both sides. While game artists often use similar asset-creation tools and technics to their counterparts in film, those assets integrate with the game engine, which comes with spectacular limits that we’ll discuss later.⁶ The game engine using real-time GPU resources behaves quite differently than offline renderers, which films tend to use, and for this reason, PBR workflows developed through the years to provide graphical pipelines not physically correct but physically plausible.
Run-time engineering team, including technical artists, gameplay programmers, and pipeline developers, usually needs to check the in-game simulation systems such as particles to prevent apparent issues and check out the assets and their behaviors, NPCs, and playable characters that run smoothly at first hand.⁷ The pipeline designer role is critical to pinpoint clean file management infrastructure while maintaining an agile mindset to reduce wasted costs, ranging from small to more extensive micro pipelines.
There are different pipeline roadmaps from genre to genre in the gaming industry.⁸ It is not the same to set a pipeline for a multiplayer adventure game, where levels are non-linear and transfer the player through magic portals as linear FPS games, where there is no available teleport decision. Game engine change in the middle of production causes re-scheduling.⁸ With that hindsight, preproduction planning could avoid possible issues at the production level. It also encompasses genre-to-genre differences to build a functional pipeline, including several knowledge workers, need to break the mold.¹⁰ A well-thought pipeline needs to track down several artists required in every project and time estimation to deliver a product to a relevant facility with the least unexpected hindsight. The pipeline designer needs to come up with technological advancements. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for problems; many low-level issues need to be fixed with basic scriptings, like internalizing installation mechanisms for artist workstations.
In-house tool development for artists or infrastructure-related design for solving the pipeline issue is an essential must be done through preproduction, and if not, there are some substitutions for upcoming issues as if a well-thought pipeline behooves.
The common goal of preproduction in games is providing a playable demo with placeholder assets.¹¹ Some policies indicate the production of a piece of the game near to shippable quality, with non-placeholder assets, to survey the team’s confidence or to evaluate how good-looking the game could be in the marketplace.¹² Here is the economics of the game, and negotiation with the publisher can be started, as shippable content can attract the publisher’s attention.¹³
Preproduction is the time for risk minimization and the most stressful week for pipeline designers. On the art side, placeholder assets are prototyping in the game engine, and there is no final debugging to check the physics of playable characters with in-game objects. On the technical side, most written codes in preproduction are unreliable, building temporary solutions for long-lasting problems, and most companies reimplement the tools with new ones in later stages.¹⁴ As TDs are using their scripting technics to establish what suits the pipeline. On the contrary, the Film preproduction phase starts with scripting, storyboarding, LIDAR, and live-action filming.¹⁵ Although they share similarities with the AAA game pipeline role except for LIDAR, a unique technique that fits VFX production, some games have no solid stories and scripting boards, e.g., FPS/MMOs don’t possess this part.
In VFX, all needed assets will be created in preproduction to match the previsualized green screen scene, and then rotoscoping, motion tracking, rigs or crew removal, and so-called postproduction stuff come sequentially. Game pipelines don’t support this, except for in-game pre-rendered cinematic cut scenes (for trailer or in-game) could be a substitute fix and maybe need to be outsourced, which those live-action tracking uses offline renderers to produce the high-quality sequence.¹⁶ Note that in-game cinematic cutscenes are attainable within the game engine, which follows the gameplay color quality instead of unconventional ways.
Postproduction in games is a different rollercoaster than film, as finalized films are the 2D projection of massive 3D work on screen with zero interaction with audiences, whereas games are interactive in terms of camera angle, enemy response rate, and so forth. Game finalizing goes through a couple of milestones passing to the quality assurance department to fix the bugs.¹⁷ Any production stage reduces the possible bugs; thus, shippable content will provide as soon as possible. Paradigms like final game size are essential; there must be burning into a blue-ray drive while considering the console hardware specification to support a shippable product.¹⁸ The milestones categorize into a couple of stages encompassing alpha, content-lock, beta, and final. Alpha is about when placeholder assets are full of bugs, and still skeleton of the game is playable. It is the milestone where negotiation between publisher and game studio will be started. Content-lock is generally about placeholder assets that have been replaced by high-quality assets and some high-level bug fixes, as there is no adding new game object available through this phase, and all pre-rendered cinematics have been updated. Beta is a final shippable version, still buggy, and requires a quality check. The company outsources professional testers to track down inconsistencies and overlooked issues in the gameplay. Some companies have open-beta programs, where professional gamers and testers can play the game and give helpful feedback—trimming heavy-computed objects from the scene as a tradeoff.¹⁹ Most artists have been taken far away from the project in these final phases, while QA testers and programmers generate feedback in a flexible loop.²⁰ Although bugs originate from code segments and assets or the art-team side, problems like non-manifold geometry cause unexpected crashes and need to pass to the artist team for revision.²¹ On the final milestone, the managers and senior people can touch the last-minute change in the game and make it localized for other regions. Although game localization ends up in postproduction, there should be planning for it in preproduction.²²
The term game localization usually refers to providing games for the foreign market. It should usually be well-thought during preplanning as if the process consists of a complete micro pipeline negotiated with localization experts. Text translation, dubbing, and linguistic quality assurance are some of those procedures that should be developed through preproduction, deploying a wide range of technical writers and cross-functional product managers.
Asset management is also a problematic engineering task that influences the pipeline. There is a vast difference between film and game asset management; as most film productions deal with a bulkier amount of data than games, the physical resources are subsequently different from project to project in both pipelines.²³ The repository system is one of the key elements to provide meticulously in production. The second key element is data structure; it refers to the file formats and how they hand off through artists in native software-dependent scene files( like MA ) or software-agnostic files like alembic.²⁴ As version controls cannot save changes on a single file when touched multiple times by several artists, there should be another solution to fix the problem when parallel work is the priority.²⁵ As artists need to access files in parallel, they may touch the file simultaneously and save it at the same time. When it is checked back into the version-control system, there are two options: to merge both sets of changes or to discard one of them and force the artist to begin again from the version of the asset the other has updated.²⁶ Many pipelines implement locked-off content to prevent other users from working on the same file in a parallel environment where files are shared.²⁷
The integrated game comprises complex relationships between assets and codes and additional blend-tree graphs or finite state machines that build AI. It is beneficial to visualize complex dependencies on a separate list. A dependency-tracking system emerges as a separate database graph integrating the big picture.²⁸ The dependency list could be done manually, by person, and mostly with automatic dependency-tracking tools in large production pipelines.²⁹ The list functions the same as a graph data holder, where relationship data are tracked down with diagrams and dependency charts. Neo4j and AllegroGraph are two applicable database packages making the dependency store easier.³⁰ Another benefit of using those trackers is fully understanding the consumed resources; as memory management is vital in game development, it is always helpful to cut corners and see the big picture. The run-time cost of an asset includes the costs of all its incoming dependencies on other run-time assets not present in the scene. Therefore, it’s critical to visualize the relationships between assets and assess their impact on the game to control costs effectively.³¹
Industry pipelines are about managing knowledge workers, too. Traditional agile and waterfall methodologies originated from the software development world, are now applicable to all project management systems.³² The waterfall approach usually works out for long-term and detailed-planned projects, where lack of resources compensates by increasing time and budget, while agile focuses on short-term plans, sacrificing step-by-step conduct to more flexible and creative output.³³ Each one of them has its downsides and upsides. Rare studios use agile or waterfall methodology, literally. There are two approaches to building the proper pipeline that fits the company culture.
Thanks, Renee Dunlop, for providing a fantastic book and board of writers.

I encourage you to read this invaluable book for an in-depth overview, opening each subject in detail.
References:
1) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 1.3: What is pipeline?
2) IBID Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 8 Interlude 1: What is Metadata?
3) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, directly quoted: line 35 of chapter one: Section 1.3: What is pipeline?
4) IBID
5) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 1.4: Differences and Similarities Between Film and Game Pipelines?
6) IBID
7) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 3.9: Effects and Simulations
8) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 1.4: Differences and Similarities Between Film and Game Pipelines
9) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 2.9: Production: An Overview
10) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 5.3: Why Pipelines Change
11) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 2.8: Pre-Production in the Games Pipeline
12) IBID
13) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 2.14: Finalling in the Games Pipeline
14) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 2.6: Pre-Production: An Overview
15) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 2.7: Pre-Production in the Film Pipeline
16) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 2.11: Production in the Games Pipeline
17) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 2.14: Finalling in the Games Pipeline
18) IBID
19) IBID
20) IBID
21) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 5.13: Versioning and Version Control
22) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 2.8: Pre-Production in the Games Pipeline
23) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 2.10: Production in the Film Pipeline
24) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 9.2: What is Asset Management?
25) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 9.3: The Goals of Asset Management
26) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, directly quoted: Section 9.3: The Goals of Asset Management: Managing Unmergeable Files, Matt Hoesterey, line 3
27) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 9.3: The Goals of Asset Management
28) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 9.5: Dependency Tracking: What is Asset Dependency?
29) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 9.7: Dependency Tracking: Manual Versus Automated Systems
30) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 9.8: Dependency Tracking: Storing Dependency Data
31) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, directly quoted: Section 9.9: Dependency Tracking: Visualizing Dependencies, line 15
32) PRODUCTION PIPELINE FUNDAMENTALS FOR FILMS AND GAMES, Renee Dunlop, 2014, paraphrased quoted: Section 10.2: Production-Management Strategies: Agile Versus Waterfall Development
33) IBID Figure 10.1

We’ll consider Autodesk shotgun and Autodesk Maya for asset quality control in this chunk. Shotgun is one of the data management tools for artists, TDs, production managers, VFX coordinators, and anybody involved in the creative project context. There are many ways to facilitate the workflow of management per se, and the point is to navigate through our panel to get accustomed to its UI and get the most out of it.
We have something helpful to speak of; the term Q&A may not refer to whom it may hire on the team because that previous is a complicated and personalized/organizational discipline, with a manifold of biased and unconsciously biased conundrums. In return, the Q&A I came up with is pedagogical and learning-based content about the asset control department, general look dev ideas, and so more! I’m trying to avoid pipeline design as a rule because every question is broad and opens up possibilities for any type.
Before diving in, let’s check out our Part One to see how data management and pipeline will work as a general rule of thumb:
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