To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key.

what? a brief overview

Aims and objectives

For my Msc project i will be conducting several studies into Universal Scene Description, this will be done through qualitative and quantitative data in addition to practical software elements. Pixar and Disney are two words that resonate through most households all over the globe, as if Disney had not taken over enough of the world and our children’s minds, they are stepping into a new revolution called Universal Scene Description (USD). The universal scene description is the first publicly available software that addresses the need to robustly and scalably interchange and augment arbitrary 3D scenes that may be composed of many elemental assets. USD provides for the interchange of elemental assets (e.g., models) or animations (Introduction to USD,2020).

how will my research impact others

I aim to critically analyse Pixar’s universal scene description (USD) and to outline plugins like this and how they affect and change the visual effects industry and their workflows. The testing of this plugin will begin in Maya. USD is the core of Pixar's 3D graphics pipeline, used in every 3D authoring and rendering application, including Pixar's proprietary Presto animation system. Thus, meaning that this pipeline will have to be imputed before any work has begun. My methodology is to create a complex Maya scene, with fully rigged characters from Zbrush, effects animation, look development assets, and to be fully rendered out in Maya using Arnold and Renderman. All of which will be created using the USD plugin, this plug of which is the first publicly available software that addresses the need to robustly and scalably interchange and augment arbitrary 3D scenes that may be composed of many elemental assets. (Introduction to USD,2020) hence why I will be creating several assets from different software and creating a large project. The reason behind creating a large-scale project is to analyse if I can complete the Maya scene with a quicker workflow time than without the plugin. This testing will then allow for more research into whether plugins are the way forward for the visual effects industry and if this will speed up production time, therefore saving money and speeding release times for production to the cinema.

So why am I doing this? As previously stated, my main aim for this research is to gain relevant knowledge and to create more awareness of plugins and how they work. As from my research, I am hoping to find that plugins will be beneficial for visual effects artists enhancing their workflows, however, they are hardly used in the industry, now this is where Disney is trying to change this. Through their plugin USD, Universal scene description is the first publicly available software that addresses the need to robustly and scalable interchange and augment arbitrary 3D scenes that may be composed of many elemental assets (Introduction to USD,2020) Thus meaning it will be easier for companies to combine several assets in one place, quicker, easier and without breaking their computers.

Development of creative technologies within my field

Animation has been Maya's bread and butter since its inception (Gibson,2011). Models are fundamental for any digital product. Ranging from main characters to secondary props, they always must satisfy the aesthetic and technical requirements (Pinskiy,2014). This initial research allowed me to learn that it is vital to create seamless, accurate assets from the beginning as each little part of the scene will be noticed and have its own part in the overall outcome especially impacting workflow times such as the rendering timeframe. For example, the more precise and better geometry the model has the quicker the render time will be due to it not having to iron out any messy mistakes or bugs. From this article, Pinskiy begins discussing Maya and how Disney utilizes the software in order to create the best 3D models possible. Disney Animation has invested heavily in proprietary modelling software. Our tools strive to meet two main goals. First, they need to be intuitive to use, seamlessly integrated into Autodesk Maya. Second, they have to be efficient, and to achieve this, we develop and employ state-of-the-art algorithms (Pinskiy,2014) This literature snippet also helps to answer my research question centring around plugins and the development of software’s to aid the Visual Effects industry.

My hypothesis is to simply record and study how the creative technologies are developing within my field. thus being the Visual Effects Industry.

To effectively complete this project to the best standards, I need to develop my skills of using Plugins within Maya and learning how to set these up and use them effectively. I need to know the ins and outs of what USD is before I start testing it this will allow for much more valid testing and accurate results. Furthermore, I need to acknowledge whether the work and studies I am doing are feasible for the timescale I have to complete this master’s degree. In addition to this, I need to know as to whether the Pixar plugin is affordable and accessible, as we all probably know Disney does not like to let their creations go without a hefty price tag attached.