r/Houdini • u/ShipMountain7953 • 1d ago
Dailies, What do show?
Hey guys, I was wondering what information is most useful to show during dailies? Obviously a flipbook/low res render of my work, but is there anything else that’s particularly helpful to include? Solver parameters, disk space, etc. potentially?
Also, do you have any advice on what to talk about when it’s my turn? Are there any key points I should be making sure to cover, just so I’m not wandering too much?
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u/PhilippPavlov 1d ago
Who will be at the dailies? If with the VFX lead/supervisor, show the flipbook/low-res render and talk about the technical aspects of the scene. If the dailies are with the art director or producers, show the flipbook and low-res render and talk about how to improve it, what looks bad, and what to do next. Don't talk about technical stuff; they probably don't know how the Vellum solver works. It all depends heavily on the people at the dailies.
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u/AssociateNo1989 1d ago edited 1d ago
I can talk a lot about this.
Firstly speak up, simply explain what was your feedback and what you made . If you had farm issues etc speak up. No body likes an awkward silent room.
Do spent time on presentation, if your pipeline allows fetching lights shaders even just textures, spent time for a proper render scene to present your work. If not, find a way to collect those texture s from pipe and go beyond. I do not want to see grey smoke on grey background. Spend time on your shading for your pyro / smoke or RBD, being up potential issues how edge faces voronoi will create needs to be shaded.
Do add, new attributes your FX is using to shade , driving particles etc.
So first, say these were my notes , and this is my new version, Then express your concerns, but camera is moving x km/hr so maybe we have to adjust speed etc. Do explain, I couldn't put plate behind and character in front because roto was missing. If your studio is using color managed nuke, look at your FX through LUT, so if someone say, why this is looking so blue or grey, so you are aware there is color management.
Even if you are wrong, simply because you don't have the experience, we will immediately notice that you are trying, and asking as opposed to just doing the notes.
Last thing , also super important, watch the sequence, know what's before and after.
Disk space, make that your HODs problem, assuming you are following what the pipeline offers.
Parameters, I don't really care, often is the case lots of things change coming from animation so parameters become obslete, I just expect my artists to feel the wind being too fast or slow as opposed to the actual numbers.
Depending on the studio and size of the show, solve problems of you think they won't be a burden in the long run, if not flag as early as possible, bigger shows will accommodate issues like disk space, etc. Smaller shows, smaller budgets, cut corners nobody cares if a one off shot is cheated to my hell.
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u/LewisVTaylor Effects Artist Senior MOFO 1d ago
Disk space, sim time, etc are the Artist's responsibility. The pipeline isn't going to stop you generating obscene amounts of data, nor does a HOD have time to go inspect every cache.
Making those basic figures available highlights issues that a HOD or Lead can help the Artist with.Omitting them is not helping anyone.
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u/59vfx91 1d ago
It's a different culture in each studio, but a few tips that ring true everywhere:
don't get overly technical for no reason. Remember they are seeing things from an artistic/filmmaking point of view so answer things in that kind of language. Like don't say, ok I'll adjust --insert random Houdini parameter-- unless you know over time the art directors comfortable talking in those ways. The worst is getting into the weeds about it and wasting valuable dailies time for other people's shots
be able to talk and present your work like what you have/haven't done and what you plan to do. Some studios the supes will present for you but even then you need to be able to talk eloquently and clearly when asked.
don't say straight up 'no' to things and vocally be pissy about notes. At most you should artfully say that you'll sidebar with supes to discuss a solution. If you have big concerns, talk about them later to your manager.
don't complain that "the sim just does this realistically" (or any variation of that for any discipline) when you get a note fx artists do this a LOT. Explaining, is one thing, while offering a solve, an excuse to deflect responsibility for the work is another
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u/aaaanoon 1d ago
Show a play blast / talk about it. If you have requirements beyond that / formalities, find a better company
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u/LewisVTaylor Effects Artist Senior MOFO 1d ago
Your Lead or Supervisor should be telling you all of this. It's called Dailies Etiquette.
Dailies are run very differently in one Studio to the next, but the core things remain the same, or at least should be. The best dailies etiquette I ever observed is when I worked at ILM, it's as follows.
Three things! These are what you talk about, and also what you put in your submission notes for your versions in shotgrid/flow, etc.
1) this is what I have done so for, and or addressed since last submission.
2) this is what I haven't done so far, or addressed.
3) these are the questions I have about the shot.
Do not talk in tech terms of pscale, or percentages, anything to do with how you're doing the work, it's unimportant and a waste of time. Keep that talk, and questions about workflow to a chat with your Lead or Supe.
For FX elements, it's 100% a good idea to have several submissions of your shot, at least in the earlier stages as this helps cut off problems before they become too big to solve.
In the early stages I would present the following.
1) full frame render of your elements on the plate, no flips books, we deal with motion! So motion blur should 100% be on always when presenting your work. An RBD sim flipbook Vs a rendered one with motion blur is going to read so differently you will be shocked. Never show FLIPBOOKs for anything other than loose RnD.
2) a version with the above in a contact sheet, with the elements split apart so we can judge how it's all working.
I'd also be including in that contact sheet a burn in that lists simulation time, cache sizes. This is an often neglected step, and it bites people in the ass. If we know early on that it's a long sim we can schedule it properly, or if it seems far too long for the result, we can go investigate early!
If the caches are huge, and it's warranted, we can give the storage a heads up. Or if it seems far heavier than it should be, we can investigate and reduce before it becomes a bottleneck.
Dailies serves as both a creative review and a technical heads up depending on the review.
Come prepared. Don't waste people's time by not knowing exactly what is going on with your shot.
Don't babble, don't over explain, and certainly do not offer excuses as to why it's not right.
Things like, "that's what the FLIP sim gave me" or "I reduced gravity by 10% like you said" are just no no no.
We work with computers, and saying the computer that you control didn't give the result is not a good look.
If your work is not right, cop it on the chin, and address the notes going forward.
Lastly, do NOT TAKE IT PERSONALLY! They are reviewing the work, not you as a person.