This year, TPC is presenting quarterly on topics relevant to Pipeline professionals. These events are virtual, with an in-person BoF and reception planned at SIGGRAPH 2024 in Denver.
Events will be recorded if permission given, and can be found on our Pipeline youtube channel.
November 2024
Tuesday, November 12: 9am Pacific Time
Pipeline Containers using Kubernetes and Pulumi
Register here
Watch video on The Pipeline Conference youtube channel: Check back after the meeting
Thursday, November 14: 1pm Pacific Time
Pipeline Infrastructure as Code using Terraform
Register here
Watch video on The Pipeline Conference youtube channel: Check back after the meeting
Tuesday, November 12: 9am Pacific Time
Pipeline Containers using Kubernetes and Pulumi
Register here
Creative pipelines increasingly support artist teams and production workflows across the globe. This means production data, 3D assets, complex software packages, libraries, infrastructure, and bespoke pipeline code need to follow those artists, departments, and vendors around the globe. Container services like Kubernetes and orchestration solutions like Pulumi can help studio teams govern, administer, and secure pipelines with high degrees of control anywhere on the globe and with any cloud provider. This was a lively topic in a number ACM SIGGRAPH sessions this summer!
We will hear from Juno FX, a cloud-native VFX studio, taking us through their container & orchestration journey, experience, best practices, and outcomes.
Panelists
Alex Hatfield, Founder, Juno FX
Before Juno, Alex worked as a compositor, pipeline engineer, TD, and developer for Cinesite, FuseFX, Falcon’s Creative Group & Crafty Apes
Aleks / Des Katunar, Sr. VFX Pipeline Developer & TD
Aleks is a 3D artist, pipeline TD, infrastructure engineer, and DevOps Lead with history at studios like TRIXTER, Cinesite, and Momentum.
Executive Host
Saker Klippsten, CTO & Founder of ZOIC LABS & Zoic Studios
Thursday, November 14: 1pm Pacific Time
Pipeline Infrastructure as Code using Terraform
Register here
Join industry-leading technologists in exploring how Terraform is reshaping the landscape of studio pipeline infrastructure… and how industry giants like Netflix and Amazon Web Services (AWS) increasingly handle Infrastructure as Code through orchestration-based tooling.
– How do I get started with orchestration tooling in my pipeline?
– Will Terraform continue to pave the way, or will it be disrupted?
– Where can you adopt this tech and build with confidence, today?
– Where else could it be leveraged in your stack that you might not
have considered?
– When should you adopt alternatives based on orchestration?
This session isn’t about theory—it’s a practical set of instructions and case studies for IT and DevOps professionals eager to stay at the forefront of technology. You’ll gain exclusive insights from industry leaders and engage directly with industry leaders working on innovative IaC and pipeline applications.
Speakers
Ovi Borrero, Senior Principal Architect at Effectual
Tom Spalding , Chief Growth Officer at Effectual
Liviu Constantinescu, Sr. DevOps Engineer at Netflix
special guests from Animal Logic, a Netflix company.
Executive Host
Saker Klippsten, CTO & Founder of ZOIC LABS & Zoic Studios
October 2024
October 8: 9am Pacific Time
Pipeline to Success: Pathways and Career Growth in Media & Entertainment
Register here
Watch video on The Pipeline Conference youtube channel: Coming soon!
Join us for an empowering discussion on building and advancing careers in creative and technical pipelines. Our five panelists, all VFX, Animation and Game industry experts will explore pathways to entering the field, the challenges of moving up, and how to keep progressing even when lateral moves aren’t available. Learn how to turn horizontal opportunities into professional development and discover insights on navigating today’s industry landscape.
Panelists
- Leila Schemali Fouqué, Head of Pipeline, Squeeze Animation Studios
- Tram Le-Jones, Vice President, Solutions – Creative, Backlight
- Kristine Middlemiss, Senior Technology Leader
- Fran Zandonella, Senior Pipeline Technical Director, Plenoptic Cognition
Executive Host
- Rachel Rose, Director of Research & Development at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), drives technology that aids artists in the creation of feature films, episodic series, and interactive media.
September 2024
Tuesday, September 10: Noon Pacific Time
Part 1: Integrating AI / ML into VFX, Animation & Games Studio Pipelines
Register here
Watch video on The Pipeline Conference youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ha0pQd41B0&t=86s
Welcome to Part 1: Integrating AI / ML into VFX, Animation & Games Studio Pipelines! This online event will introduce strategies, best practices, technologies, and governance to instrument Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning services and capabilities within creative pipelines. Many studios aspire for fancy, more advanced AI/ML capabilities, but miss the basic concepts to effectively get started on the journey. Gain valuable insights into “How to get started” integrating AI/ML into your studio.
We are honored to have three seasoned experts in strategic, creative, and technical aspects of studio operations and production for this ML/AI session.
Speakers
Kristine Middlemiss is a 20-year strategic veteran & CTO of games, animation, and VFX.
Ishrat Badami has a master’s degree in computer vision & machine learning, playing a pivotal role in advancing AI-driven solutions in visual effects.
The Executive Host for the event is Chelsea Blasko, CEO and Partner for Iron Galaxy Studios. Iron Galaxy is one of the world’s largest independent video game companies and development studios with engineers and artists across 4 remote studio locations.
August 2024
Thursday, August 1: 2pm Mountain Time
The Pipeline Conference – Organizer Meetup Birds of a Feather at SIGGRAPH 2024 in Denver
Room 706, Denver Convention Center
In Person
Get involved with The Pipeline Conference. Come learn about our upcoming plans for 2024-2025 season.
July 2024
Tuesday, July 30: 3pm Mountain Time
Global CG Pipelines Birds of a Feather at SIGGRAPH 2024 in Denver
Hyatt Regency, Capitol Ballroom 4
In Person
Join us for a discussion with your fellow Pipeline professionals. We will split into 6 groups to discuss topics close to our hearts.
Tuesday, July 30: 5pm Mountain Time
Cloud Native and Global CG Pipelines Beers of a Feather at SIGGRAPH 2024 in Denver
Lucky Strike (Downtown Denver)
500 16th St Mall #340, Denver, CO 80202
In Person
After a day of Pipeline-themed Birds of a Feather, please join us for drinks, snacks, and bowling at Lucky Strike in Downtown Denver.
NOTE: You must attend either the Going Cloud Native or Global CG Pipelines BoF and register on Eventbrite for entry.
March 2024
Thursday, March 28: 2pm Pacific Time
Stellar Creative Labs: A practical implementation of USD
See the replay on youtube here
Stellar Creative Labs Co-Founder and Pipeline teams will share their USD R&D journey across game, cinematics and VFX workflows. Fermi Perumal, Stellar’s Pipeline Supervisor and Bert Van Brande, Stellar’s Co-Founder will share their R&D efforts and pipeline journey for feature and episodic productions.
- How Stellar has leveraged its USD pipeline efforts to support major studio projects?
- What are the challenges of instrumenting USD within pipelines?
- How Stellar has integrated USD across its tool library and studio workflows?
- Sneak Peek at a Stellar’s USD Viewer implementation
We are excited to hear from Stellar’s Pipeline Supervisor, Fermi Perumal (Fermi Perumal) and Stellar’s Co-Founder Bert Van Brande on their USD journey. Prior to joining Stellar, Fermi was a pipeline engineer and technical director at Sony Pictures ImageWorks and Bron Studios. Bert’s background includes several years with Alias/Wavefront deploying pipelines throughout Europe and the middle east. Bert later moved to Sony Pictures ImageWorks at a CG and Pipeline Supervisor on “The Polar Express”, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” and “Alice in Wonderland”.
Tuesday, March 26: 8am Pacific Time
How USD is supporting evolution of film & game pipelines at Ubisoft?
See the replay on youtube here
Ubisoft’s Technology and Pipeline teams will share their USD R&D journey across game, cinematics and VFX workflows. Cyrus Rahgoshay and Alessandro Bernardi share 25 years of technology and engineering with Ubisoft focused on efficiencies and operating
- Understanding how USD is leveraged within Games, Cinematics & VFX Pipelines
- What are the challenges of instrumenting USD within games pipelines?
- Best Practices and Tooling for Pipeline Integration
- How is Ubisoft leveraging business process flows and microservices into its USD pipeline efforts?
Ubisoft is a world leading game studio with 21,000 employees with studio production around the globe. Ubisoft is known for legendary titles such as Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry 6, Prince of Persia and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.
In 2022, Cyrus and Alex presented Ubisoft’s implementation of USD at the 2022 Digipro conference. They will present how the USD pipeline was designed on a microservices architecture to enable 3D file format interchangeability across multiple Ubisoft studio locations and teams.
That Pipeline R&D effort has evolved initially within Game Cinematics at Ubisoft and today is supporting multiple elements of the game development lifecycle.
We are excited to hear from Cyrus and Alex on their USD journey, how Ubisoft leveraged the strengths of a USD implementation and designed around some of the technical limitations of USD within the Games context.