Philosophy
Five Principles
These are the rules the pipeline is designed around. Every stage, every tool choice, every handoff exists to serve one of these five.
01
Lean & high throughput
Senior-only team. No handoff is artificially slow. Every tool earns its place in the chain.
02
Physically plausible
Lumen GI, physically accurate shading, real-world units. No cheat renders. What you see is the math.
03
ACES end to end
One color science across every tool. Textures, renders, comps, and the master all live in the same gamut.
04
AI as force multiplier
AI accelerates iteration and enhancement. Human craft owns every creative decision. Local processing only.
05
Render-engine agnostic
The same CC5 character deploys to Unreal, Maya, or any supported DCC without rebuilding. Assets travel.
The Chain
Six Stages
Work flows left to right. Each stage owns a band of canonical task codes (see Naming) and produces a deliverable the next stage consumes. Loops back to earlier stages are normal — the chain is iterative, not strict.
01Pre-Production
→
02Spatial Capture
→
03Characters & Envs
→
04Real-Time & Render
→
05VFX & Simulation
→
06Post & Delivery
Stage 01
Pre-Production
Idea to approved visual target.
Input
Script, director's brief, mood references, world bible entries.
Tasks
cncpt Concept Art (asset)
mdl AI base-mesh generation (early)
Tools
ComfyUIPhotoshopKritaProcreateJetsetUnreal (previz)
Deliverable
Approved concept boards (PSD/PNG, ACES viewing transform), AI base meshes (.glb), previz beats (Unreal sequence + Jetset cam tracks). Color authoring already in ACES.
Hands off to
→ Stage 02 for environment scanning briefs · → Stage 03 for asset build-out from the approved base meshes.
Stage 02
Spatial Capture
Real worlds and AI worlds, captured as splats.
Input
Approved environment concepts, scout notes, target world list (10 worlds on this production).
Tasks
cncpt Env concept continues
Capture work is not a canonical dept — it feeds raw input data into the asset pipeline of Stage 03.
Tools
XGrid PortalCamXGrid LCC StudioWorld Labs MarbleVolinga
Deliverable
3D Gaussian Splat PLY files (real-world from PortalCam, AI-generated from Marble), HDRI captures for lookdev. Read-only after ingest.
Hands off to
→ Stage 03: PLY into
assets/env/<world>/splat/, HDRI into assets/env/<world>/hdri/.Stage 03
Characters & Environments
Asset-side: build the things shots will use.
Input
Approved concept boards, AI base meshes, spatial captures from Stage 02, the canonical asset-name list.
Asset tasks
mdl Modeling
dtl Detailing / Sculpt
tex Texturing
shd Shading / Lookdev
rig Rigging
grm Grooming
cfx CFX setup (sim rigs)
anim Asset-level loops
fx Asset-level FX setups
Tools
MayaCC5ZBrushSubstance PainterMariAccuRigXGenOrnatrixYetiMarvelous DesigneriClone 8EmberGenLiquiGenHoudini
Deliverable
Per asset under
assets/<type>/<name>/: hero geometry (USD/FBX), PBR maps (4K EXR, ACES), CC5 rig packages, sim setup files, baked animation loops. Each task lives in its own canonical folder (mdl/ dtl/ tex/ shd/ rig/ grm/ cfx/ anim/ fx/).Hands off to
→ Stage 04 (assets assembled into Unreal shots). Iteration loops back from 04 if a shot reveals an asset gap.
Stage 04
Real-Time & Rendering
Shot-side: stage, animate, light, render.
Input
Approved assets from Stage 03, shot list, sequence breakdown, edit references.
Shot tasks
lay Layout
set Set Dressing
ue Unreal Scene
anim Per-shot performance
lgt Lighting
Plate-side tasks (mmraroto) live here too in productions that use plates — not active on Thresholds (full CG).
Tools
Unreal Engine 5Auto-Setup (CC5 → UE)iClone 8 (mocap to UE)Maya (lay/lgt)Houdini (lgt aux)Katana (lgt aux)
Deliverable
Per shot under
sequences/<SEQ>/<sh>/: animation caches, lighting rig, multi-pass EXR render in render/ (beauty / char / env / fx / aov). All passes ACES linear EXR.Hands off to
→ Stage 05 if the shot needs sims · → Stage 06 directly for finishing if no sims are required.
Stage 05
VFX & Simulation
Cloth, fire, fluids, crowds — the per-shot heavy lifters.
Input
Animation caches and lit shot scene from Stage 04, asset-level CFX setups from Stage 03.
Shot tasks
cfx Cloth / muscle / hair sim execution
fx Fire / smoke / fluids / debris
crowd Crowd sims (distinct from fx)
Tools
Maya (cfx)Marvelous DesignerHoudiniEmberGenLiquiGenMassiveGolaemZibraVDB
Deliverable
Cached sims as Alembic (.abc) or VDB volumes, dropped into the corresponding per-shot folder (
cfx/ fx/ crowd/). Re-rendered through Unreal if the sim is on-screen.Hands off to
→ Stage 04 (back into Unreal for re-render with the sim) or → Stage 06 (sim passes go straight into comp).
Stage 06
Post & Delivery
DMP, AI enhancement, comp, grade, edit, deliver.
Input
All render passes from Stage 04 + sim outputs from Stage 05 + DMP assets.
Shot tasks
dmp DMP integration
enh ComfyUI AI enhancement
comp Compositing
grd Per-shot review grade
Editorial tasks
edt Editing (offline cut, timing)
grd Master grade
sfx Sound design, mix, music
Tools
NukeAfter Effects (aux comp)ComfyUI (Face Scion LoRA)PhotoshopDaVinci ResolvePremierePro Tools
Deliverable
Per-shot composite EXR (ACES linear), graded master (DaVinci output), edited cut (Premiere project + master export). Final delivery: ProRes 4444 XQ + EXR archival master with ACES metadata preserved.
Hands off to
→
delivery/final/ · archival to delivery/archive/. The pipeline closes here.Color Science
ACES, End to End
Every tool in the pipeline operates in the same color space. There is no hand-off where the color science changes underneath you. The image on your monitor at any stage is the math of the next stage, just earlier.
Required for every dept
Working space is ACEScg (linear). Viewing transform is ACES RRT + ODT (sRGB or display-appropriate). Texture authoring happens in ACES color space inside Substance Painter and Mari. Compositing keeps linear EXR throughout — no display transforms baked into the comp. Final delivery transform is applied in DaVinci Resolve only.
Do not work outside ACES unless the VFX Supervisor explicitly authorises it. The OCIO config is distributed as part of the pipeline package at production start — install it before opening your first scene.
Do not work outside ACES unless the VFX Supervisor explicitly authorises it. The OCIO config is distributed as part of the pipeline package at production start — install it before opening your first scene.
TextureACEScg authoring
→
RenderACEScg linear EXR
→
Complinear EXR, Nuke
→
GradeDaVinci ACES IDT/ODT
→
MasterProRes + EXR archive
Why this matters: on Thresholds a single shot can cross Maya, Unreal, ComfyUI, Substance Painter, Houdini, Nuke, and DaVinci Resolve. Without a shared color space, textures bake wrong, renders blow out, and composites drift from one application to the next. ACES means every artist opens the same file and sees the same image, wherever they are in the chain.
Coming next
Departments — Deeper
This overview shows the chain. The next layer documents each department's internal workflow — what the input file looks like exiting the upstream task, how it is processed, and what the output file looks like for the downstream task to consume. That documentation is written per-department from the Bible's tool guidance (§7.1 Maya, §7.2 Unreal, §7.3 ComfyUI, §7.4 Nuke, §7.5 DaVinci Resolve) plus the in-flight per-task playbooks. Coming in the next pipeline release.
A
Asset tasks
cncpt · mdl · dtl · tex · shd · rig · grm · cfx · anim · fxB
Shot tasks
mm · ra · roto · lay · set · ue · anim · cfx · fx · crowd · lgt · dmp · enh · comp · grdC
Editorial tasks
edt · grd · sfx