The leading VFX house is already running the tool on episodic, film and experience-based projects in production, and expects to finish migrating by the end of the year.
Foundry has announced that DNEG has implemented Hiero to support its editorial workflows, with the leading visual effects and animation company already running the tool on episodic, film and experience-based projects in production and expecting to be fully migrated by the end of the year.
Part of the Nuke product family, Hiero combines multi-shot management, conform, editorial and review workflow functionality with the shared Nuke timeline. It gives editorial and production teams visibility over projects from ingest through delivery, and lets them monitor progress and share feedback in context.
"Alongside our in-house developed, open source review tool xSTUDIO, transitioning to Hiero has helped us to enhance our editorial processes, as cut updates and shot management for large sequences containing hundreds of shots were proving cumbersome," said Chris Kowal, global head of production operations at DNEG.
"Using Hiero has given us the ability to work with a level of efficiency we would have previously never dreamed of," Abigail Cadogan, head of editorial at DNEG, said. "We have the flexibility to adapt our workflows in response to client demands quickly."
"Hiero's Python API allowed us to build a one-stop shop for our entire editorial pipeline," said Danny Di Donato, senior software developer at DNEG. "Custom soft effects, timeline-driven Nuke farm rendering, and even ShotGrid cut comparisons built directly into our own panels. Our team can conform, publish, and track changes against production without ever leaving the timeline."
The integration includes a custom-built shot manager that links to DNEG's production tracking database, letting editors see live updates and frame ranges while working in the timeline. It also provides automatic optical character recognition for shot naming, cutting manual work on productions carrying large shot volumes. DNEG plans to bring plate handling and color grading workflows into Hiero next.
DNEG has been honored with eight Academy Awards for visual effects since 2011, along with BAFTA, Primetime Emmy and Visual Effects Society awards. Foundry, founded in 1996 and headquartered in London, has software credits on every VFX Academy Award-winning film since 2007 and holds four Academy Sci-Tech Awards, for Mari, Katana, Nuke and Furnace.
Source: Foundry
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
