HoBSoft - Animation Production Systems

Automatic transfers and updated FCP timelines

Production summary

Director:

Bibo Bergeron

Plot:

Paris,1910. Emile, a shy movie projectionist, and Raoul, a colorful inventor, find themselves embarked on the hunt for a monster terrorizing citizens. They join forces with Lucille, the big-hearted star of the Bird of Paradise cabaret, an eccentric scientist and his irascible monkey to save the monster, who turns out to be an oversized but harmless flea, from the city´s ruthlessly ambitious police chief.

Runtime:

90 min

Clients:

Europacorp

Studios:

Software:

Budget:

€26,000,000

Technique:

IMDb:

A Monster in Paris

HoBSoft setup

System diagram of HoBSoft on A Monster in Paris. Move the mouse over the image for details.

HoBSoft responsibilities

Production system

HoBSoft was responsible for tying together all 3 studios in the production, EuropaCorp/Pumpkin3D, Walking the dog and Mac Guff Ligne.

Pumpkin3D had a production database in place which were designed to work within one studio only.

When the production expanded to work in more studios HoBSoft was hired to implement automatic transfers of assets and animation to Walking the Dog in Brussels based on the data in the Pumpkin3D database.

HoBSoft implemented custom techniques to synchronize the databases.

Once HoBSoft was in place it was simple to include automatic sending of stereo packages to Mac Guff for Stereo Compositing.

File structure

HoBSoft, in co-operation with the local CG Supervisor, designed a filestructure that would fit Lighting, Rendering, Compositing(2D) and delivery for Stereoscopy.

The first step in organizing the file tree is a good specification, but without enforcement there is a high probability that it becomes chaos.

If the file tree is not correct, it will not be possible to create automatic procedures. Automatic procedures can save massive amounts of money reducing the trivial repetitive workload substantially.

The automatic HoBSoft system created all necessary files according to the specification, and then automatically enforced the file naming all throughout all the studios in the production.

Editing setup

HoBSoft set up automatic updating of Final Cut Pro editing stations in Walking the Dog and Europacorp/Pumpkin3D.

Whenever something was marked ready in one studio it would automatically be available in FCP in all studios.

Security

HoBSoft implemented automatic transfer of files secured by strong certifcate based authentication and encryption.

This ensured that no footage from the production leaked from the transfering of files, unlike e-mail and ftp.

HoBSoft never uses insecure channels to transfer data.

Automatic transfers and updated FCP timelines

Production summary

HoBSoft setup

HoBSoft responsibilities

Production system

File structure

Editing setup

Security

Trailer

Links

Un monstre à Paris

Un monstre à Paris at Wikipédia

Un monstre à Paris at IMDB