Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1316365
www.postmagazine.com 18 POST NOV/DEC 2020 OUTLOOK VISUAL EFFECTS he current content boom is unparalleled in modern history, widely driven by the cloud and a range of VFX trends impacting accelerated media creation. For consumers, media distribution via the cloud has made con- tent more accessible than ever before, as evident by the rise in streaming services and OTT distribution across platforms. To meet increasing audience demand for content, advancements in the cloud, machine learning, realtime workflows and open standards are fueling the VFX industry to keep up with this pace. Cloud-based workflows facilitate collaboration among studios for more efficient production and delivery. When VFX-heavy film and episodic projects require multiple vendors on a single production, the cloud provides a stream- lined conduit for securely sharing assets. COVID-19 has accelerated the move to production in the cloud, enabling remote workflows for teams to effective- ly collaborate on creative projects from anywhere in the world. As studios adapt to remote work environments, virtual- ized workstations allow teams to run DCC applications on the cloud and scale down on-premises compute resourc- es. Facilities looking to further reduce on-premises resources are also moving rendering pipelines to the cloud, which offers increased speed and scalability for demanding VFX workloads. Advances in AI and machine learning are addressing time-consuming tasks that challenge artists and drain creative resources. Companies like Autodesk are looking for innovative ways to incor- porate machine learning into existing post workflows and automate repetitive and tedious tasks, freeing artist cycles to focus on the more rewarding and creative aspects of production. For example, in this year's Flame 2021 dot releases, machine learning was further integrated with features like salient key and depth generation to further accel- erate artist workflows. Realtime workflows and engines are also accelerating production and impacting the content boom. In the context of artist workflows, upgraded DCC apps are now able to work as fast as artists can think and iterate, including live viewports in Maya and 3ds Max, and high speed GPU viewport rendering with Arnold. As adoption of virtual production techniques continue to gain momentum, game engines are driving realtime graph- ics to incorporate VFX and animation into live shoots. The prevalence of virtual production will become more wide- spread in the future, as the cost of setup and hardware becomes more affordable and accessible. An industry-wide push away from propriety formats and towards open standards is further connecting pipe- lines across studios and simplifying the transfer of data among VFX vendors during production. Use of open stan- dards ensures that data can be shared and accessed by any facility, without requiring reformatting or conversion at the risk of error or incompatibility. Autodesk has been at the helm of devel- oping open standards, including USD in Maya for film and television, OTIO open timeline support in Shotgun for editorial workflows, MaterialX to standardize on look development across DCC tools, and OpenColorIO for color management. Despite many of the initial challenges presented by 2020 and the global pandemic, advances in technology and workflow developments have helped the VFX industry adapt and become stronger than before. These advance- ments are critical in meeting insatiable consumer demand for top VFX and animated content. VFX TRENDS IMPACTING THE CONTENT BOOM BY BEN FISCHLER INDUSTRY STRATEGY AUTODESK MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT DIVISION SAN FRANCISCO WWW.AUTODESK.COM T REMOTE WORKFLOWS S ince the pandemic appeared, many people in post production have been working remotely. It's now become obvious that remote workflows will continue, even after COVID-19 wanes. MTI believes that a hybrid between remote and on-premises work will be the new norm in post production. In addition to the measures we've taken to facilitate our online and color correction sessions, we've responded by building a remote data center to support offline editors and assistant editors work- ing from remote locations. The center now has 65 editors and assistants work- ing from home since early September. A planned expansion in 2021 to over 150 Avids will begin in January. Beyond its function as a health and safety measure, remote work has many advantages. It's convenient, allowing edi- tors to work when and where they want. Producers can review the work from any location of their choosing, so long as they have a modest internet connec- tion. Remote work also adds significant quality of life benefits. You don't need to commute to work in the morning and, when you finish working, you don't have to drive home. You're already home. In building our remote center, we've applied technologies to make the pro- cess more efficient. Assistant editors connected to our remote center have access to MTI's transcoding software Cortex. It allows them to render media in multiple formats simultaneously, saving hours of redundant work. Acting on user input, we have also adapted Cortex to facilitate "single-step" VFX pulls that merge Avid EDLs containing VFX markers into Cortex timelines — another significant timesaver. I believe we will see many more such innovations in the year ahead that further optimize remote workflows and improve collaboration across all facets of post production. NEW DATA CENTER SUPPORTS REMOTE EDITORIAL BY LARRY CHERNOFF CEO MTI FILM HOLLYWOOD WWW.MTIFILM.COM