How Cinesite keeps on track

Regular readers of fxguide and fxphd members will know that we’ve been keeping an eye on VFX production tools for some time now. These might be tools to help plan projects, track assets and time spent and also communicate with clients. One tool on our radar has been ftrack, which was originally developed as an in-house tracking tool at Fido in Sweden. We decided to ask Cinesite’s Montreal general manager Chloë Grysole how ftrack was utilized on one of its projects, The Last Witch Hunter, where the studio’s work included the resurrection of the Queen Witch and a battle sequence that follows.

A scene from The Last Witch Hunter.
A scene from The Last Witch Hunter.

fxg: When did Cinesite start using ftrack? Can you talk about how you came to choose it over other production management tools?

Grysole: Cinesite started using ftrack in 2012. Up until that point we had been using a proprietary asset tracking and production management system developed in-house. It did a fantastic job through many productions over the years, but at the end of 2011 we felt that we would benefit from an upgrade of our systems with a view to provide a more modern user interface, advanced search functionality, customizable schemas and a comprehensive Python API.

As soon as we saw the first demo of an early beta version we felt that ftrack was perfectly aligned with our needs and started working closely with the development team to introduce ftrack at the core of our infrastructure. We have now completed nearly 20 VFX shows across our two facilities in London and Montreal relying on ftrack and are tracking our first animated feature Charming with it.

A Cinesite ftrack screenshot.
A Cinesite ftrack screenshot.

fxg: When you were bidding for The Last Witch Hunter did you use ftrack? If so for what?

Grysole: We usually bid work in excel and import the bid hours into ftrack once work is awarded. We then track our bid versus actuals within ftrack to see how the show is progressing.

fxg: How many shots for The Last Witch Hunter went through ftrack and how many artists were involved?

Grysole: In almost 10 months of post-production, we had approximately 150 shots go through production across over 60 artists and production staff.

fxg: Do you schedule in ftrack – and if you do – when something changes as it always does – how easy is it to ‘play’ and experiment with the schedule to find a solution – or is this done offline and then brought into ftrack once it is solved?

Grysole: We do not usually schedule in ftrack but we do link delivery dates and important milestones so the artists can keep track of important deliveries across both locations.

Vine VFX.
Vine VFX.
Final shot.
Final shot.

fxg: Is this linked in any way to your staffing database – in terms of hiring teams and logging freelancers?

Grysole: Not at the moment no but we do use the bid versus actual tool created in-house (within ftrack) to track hours spent and generate cost reports.

fxg: Can you describe how a typical shot from The Last Witch Hunter, say the fly swarm, would be set up in ftrack to begin with?

Grysole: Once we have started a shot in ftrack and imported the bid hours (thus creating the separate artist tasks), we usually log a request in ftrack with our data operators to load the background plates onto disks. Our VFX editor then verifies and approves the plate in the system, we can trigger the camera tracking and clean up work. The shot then goes through a number of reviews and each element generated gets reviewed and approved in the system before passing on to the next artist.

The fly swarm shots required a huge amount of layers and various simulations so consistent back and forth on the system was required between the FX/TDs and the Lighters to make sure everything looked just right. Our review lists were generated in ftrack and then pushed into RV automatically for dailies. The coordinator could then input notes directly into the system using a review tool we have developed within ftrack.

Swarm VFX.
Swarm VFX.
Final shot.
Final shot.

fxg: What are some of the main features that were used in ftrack for The Last Witch Hunter and which of these proved to be the most useful?

Grysole: We use ftrack to track all elements for each shot, generate review lists and take notes for the artists as well as approving or “rejecting” elements to make sure the artists always know what elements they can use in “downstream” tasks. We generate client delivery groups, re-naming elements for delivery to the client. We also published edits into the system so that the artists can see their work in context of the cut on a regular basis.

fxg: Are they any stats you could share about a particular shot that went through ftrack, such as hours spent on the shot, number of iterations etc?

Grysole: One of the hero shots in the fly swarm sequence (RB_069_0685, where the Queen Witch first invoked the fly swarm) took almost 700 hours across 10 disciplines and 400 elements were generated with almost 50 versions of the comp alone.

fxg: What pieces of software is ftrack linked to at Cinesite (eg NUKE, Maya, Houdini etc)?

Grysole: All applications in use at Cinesite are tightly linked to ftrack. This includes Maya, Nuke, 3DEqualizer, Houdini, Mari, Modo, RV. One of the key features of our tools is that the ftrack integration is entirely shared across all applications so that they all feel as part of a consistent pipeline. The same asset browsers, publication panels, version managing tools etc. are available within all the applications we use ensuring a consistent workflow for all our artists.

Shot in progress.
Shot in progress.
Final shot.
Final shot.

fxg: Have you used ftrack’s API to do any custom interfacing with Cinesite’s software and pipeline? Can you talk about what was involved?

Grysole: Being one of the very first adopters of ftrack meant that the integration with artist applications that is part of ftrack today was not yet available when we started, so we built all of the integration ourselves using ftrack’s API. The original API we have been using was very intuitive and simple to use but was lacking more advanced querying functionality to speed up large queries. A new API is now available to support that and we will start investigating it soon. In addition to integration with artist tools we rely on ftrack’s API to automate some of our processes using ftrack’s event and actions systems.

fxg: Do you have separate databases or is the resource allocation transparent across facilities? Does a producer book the one project across both locations or is it more formal and two separate structures?

Grysole: We use one main database for all of our VFX projects (with a separate one for Feature Animation) so that any show that is worked on as a “multi-site” show is booked and planned within just one project. Each task and shot is then assigned a location so we can track what is being done in each location but the show remains one unified project within the database for simplicity and to maximize the connection between the teams across both sites.

fxg: What process is there for a post-mortem and feeding past successes and failures into future bids?

Grysole: We use our hours tracked and statistics quite heavily at the end of each show to see where we may have underestimated (or overestimated) work and use this as a basis for bidding similar work subsequently.

Find out more at ftrack’s website.