The Animation Production Pipeline: Part 2 [The Animation Industry: Preparing for a Career - Unit03]

The Animation Production Pipeline: Part 2

31/01/25

(Walla Walla Studio, 2023)

Introduction

This blog post explores the production pipeline and jobs in an animation studio. This post in particular focusses on the production and post-production phases of development, building on the previous blog post that explores the early preproduction aspects. Whilst looking holistically at these phases this will also analyse the role of colour correction and compositing in greater depth.

Lecture Notes

• Full production pipeline :
• Development
• Pre-production
• Production
• Post-Production

  
  
• Production :
• Editorial
• Centre of production as storyboards/animatics are replaced with shots that reach closer to final production and ultimately final production.
• Essentially the edit will see the film go from rough to final as various production and post production phases are completed
• Rough Layout
• Take the storyboards and block out the camera, staging of characters and the shot continuity.
• Figure out how the sequencing of shots work prior to animation.
• Colour Keys
• Exploring the colour progression throughout the film and from sequence to sequence.
• Animation
• Animating the characters and other scene elements
• Expected work output on a feature film is 5 seconds a week. T.V. is much greater of 30 seconds per week.
• Animation Dailies
• Animators sharing their progress with the director to receive feedback.
• Lighting
• Once animation shots are finished the environments, characters and scenes are lit.
• Character 'Finalling'
• Animated scenes approved by the director and any tweaks made for final approval.
• Final Layout
• Layout department receive the final animated scenes and make any final tweaks to the camera to ensure each shot flows together.
• Back to Editorial
• Shots are sent back to editorial, replacing any roughs that were present.
• Simulation
• Cloth, hair, tentacles, fur anything complex is worked into the shots.
• FX
• Fire, water, smoke and particles in general are added.
• Rendering
• Outputting the final images to produce the animation sequences. Typically using a render farm with "Render Wranglers".
• Compositing
• Combining images and render passes together
• Paint FX
• Removal of any unsightly artefacts. Previously "dust busting".
• Print to film / final digital file export
  
  
• Post-Production :
• Foley Artists
• Adding sound effects using various objects and instruments to give sound to the images.
• Music
• Final music is composed to convey mood and emotion.
• Final Mix
• Adjusting all sound levels holistically across the film so that it is balanced in a way of priority. E.g. making sure voices are heard over the music.
• Colour Timing / Colour balancing
• Making the colour balance is consistent between different shots
• Opening night
• Premier, publicity and buzz to generate excitement
• Selling
• Actors promoting the film through interviews and other promotional activities.
• Movie Theatres
• Public opening and box office office ticket sales.
• Ancillary sales
• DvDs
• Pay Per View
• Licensing
• Games
• T.V. Rights
• Cable
• Record profits!

The infographic below (Ferembach, 2019) visualises this pipeline: 

Another good infographic that simplifies the process is shown below (Walla Walla Studio, 2023) : 

The Role of Colour Correction and Compositing in Preproduction

This section takes a closer look into compositing to understand how various render passes can be used to improve the final visuals in an animated film. This links closely with colour correction but focusses on separating various channels and elements from a rendered image to give you more targeted control of adjustments you make to the final images. This is an area I'm interested in to understand how to improve the look of the final rendered sequences beyond the output of the renderer.

Screen Skills (no date) describe the job role as the people who "create the final image of a gram, shot or sequence." Essentially through taking multiple different elements and render passes to compose the final image. They help unify the final look of the film through colour correcting and enhancing the image to make the final appearance of each shot match. The key skills that they need are an understanding of art theory; attention to detail; managing workload to meet deadlines; synoptic understanding of the animation production pipeline and skill with relevant software. Common software used within compositing includes After Effects, Blackmagic Fusion, Maya, Nuke and Photoshop.

Stein (Davi Stein, Head of Compositing at Escape Studios, 2016) discusses that the role of a compositor is artistic at it's core but also demands technical prowess. They explain how you take different 'layers and elements' to put together the final image. So whilst colour correction and render layer composition you may be taking completely separate elements to form the composition of a final shot. In term of soft skills, teamwork is highlighted as the core skill. This is because you are going to be working with multiple different departments to take their outputs to produce final image. Therefore, you will need to mary the intent of other artists work paired with your own artistic judgement in the best way possible.

Vaughan in their video explanation 'Render Passes (And How To Use Them!)' (2021) shows a technical breakdown of how renders can be separated into multiple layers using the EXR file format. Then he shows how the layers within the render can be manipulated in a range of ways, such as enhancing lighting, adding highlights, targeting specific colour spaces, adding bloom and many more. This adds a significant degree of flexibility and fidelity to enhance your final images to create an expensive looking final image.

Compositing, colour correction and using render layers is something I have been aware of, however, haven't explored to much degree of depth practically. I've typically focussed on perfecting the core animation and achieving render settings to produce a final image that was acceptable so that I didn't need to spend too long in post-production. The above two video tutorial series  (Rendering a complex scene - Part 1/7: Introduction to Render Setup, 2018; Getting Started — Razor Crest VFX Lecture 01, 2022) look at how you can prepare a scene or sequence for rendering in Maya and how you can control and enhance the rendered layers in post production. Whilst they take longer to prepare and enhance, they also offer greater flexibility down the line. This means that if you wish to make particular tweaks to individual elements as a result of client or director feedback you don't need to re-render everything and work on enhancing or tweaking particular elements. Essentially this gives you greater control and ability to compose the final image and achieve an outcome that feels professional and expensive!

Conclusion

Compositing may seem simple of the surface, however, this blog post has explored how artistic and technically challenging this role can be. You are ultimately producing the final images for the film and need to have great attention to detail when balancing and enhancing the final imagery. It is often difficult to achieve the best final image directly out of a digital content creation tool like Maya and a good compositor will understand what layers and elements to expose so that it can be manipulated in post. Furthermore, you maybe be taking renders and separate elements from multiple artists that need compositing together to produce the final imagery. This means you will be working with a vast array of job roles within the studio and need a synoptic understanding of how each job role impacts the final film. Whilst this might not be a role I specialise into it is definitely something I could explore further in the future to achieve a more professional final image that can be enhanced flexibly.

Learning Outcomes

1. Understand the production and post-production stages of the animation pipeline.
2. Identify the tools and techniques used to create polished animated films.
3. Reflect on the importance of collaboration and problem-solving during these phases.

Reference List

1. Davi Stein, Head of Compositing at Escape Studios (2016) YouTube video, added by ScreenSkills [Online]. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuwHVF9hSUI&t=59s (Accessed: 31st January 2024).
2. Ferembach, G. (2019) I Want to Make an Animated Movie [Online]. Available at https://infographicnow.com/educational/languages/educational-infographic-the-movie-flowcharts-by-gregory-ferembach-from-visual-storytelling-inspirin/ (31st January 2025).
3. Getting Started — Razor Crest VFX Lecture 01 (2022) YouTube video, added by CGStirk [Online]. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksQkajw-c0w&list=PLJW-yarFdaptlX0JSXr-_IemJd44jfqwL (Accessed: 31st January 2024).
4. Render Passes (And How To Use Them!) (2021) YouTube video, added by Alfie Vaughan [Online]. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZkJl9BNZ4E (Accessed: 31st January 2024).
5. Rendering a complex scene - Part 1/7: Introduction to Render Setup (2018) YouTube video, added by Maya Learning Channel [Online]. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjbYQF60N2w&list=PL8hZ6hQCGHMW_4jNxt4zaYW_XzPA6y0sI&index=1 (Accessed: 31st January 2024).
6. Screen Skills (no date) Job Profiles > Animation > Compositor (Animation). Available at: https://www.screenskills.com/job-profiles/browse/animation/production/compositor-animation/ (Accessed: 31st January 2024).
7. Walla Walla Studio (2023) How can 3D animation benefit business? everything you should know, Walla Walla Studio. Available at: https://wallawallastudio.com/article/how-can-3d-animation-benefit-business-everything-you-should-know/ (Accessed: 31 January 2025). 
8. Williams, A. (2025) 'The Animated Production Pipeline - Part2' [Video Lecture], 7WCT2011-0105-2024: The Animation Industry: Preparing for a Career. University of Hertfordshire. 24th January.