As the character pipeline lead on Beowulf, my primary function was to supervise the design, development, and implementation of a completely new front-end pipeline, for which I was responsible for up to seventeen software developers and technical directors on my team.

 

Part of the challenge involved implementing and maintaining a new system for a show which was larger in scope of work and physical size of data than had ever been done at this studio up until that time, all while training the artists on its usage while completing an entirely CG motion picture production.

 

Of the over seventy toolsets which we created, the core items included a fully featured Maya-based file-referencing management system, a database shot lineup tracking/editing framework, a scene build and data update system, a robust C++ library-based animation/data block I/O transfer toolset and file format, a new render management system, a Maya/Mental Ray based z-depth rendering/automated compositing system, two multi-tier data publishing systems, and a new streaming vertex offset geometry data cache deformer and I/O system.