New USD production pipeline strengthens Goodbye Kansas Studios

Being tech forward and to have an efficient production pipeline is key for any modern VFX studio. One of the essential components driving the advancement of post-production
workflows is Universal Scene Description (USD). At Goodbye Kansas Studios, adopting USD has greatly improved the production pipeline.

USD is an advanced file format and framework initially developed by Pixar Animation Studios to streamline cross-artist collaboration on scenes and assets. It’s an effective solution
for simplifying the VFX pipeline by enabling the interchange of 3D data from digital content creation (DCC) tools, including Nuke, Houdini, and Maya.

Being able to store entire scenes and their components within the same file format empowers the artists to work on the same scene in different departments. This new form of collaboration has completely changed the workflow at Goodbye Kansas Studios.
Before adopting USD, artists would have to laboriously update each element of a scene, a time consuming and ineffective way to work. Now thanks to USD, changes to shots are made immediately, making it faster and more efficient to iterate on scenes with multiple shots. You can also render from USD directly since it contains all of the information. USD has also changed the way Goodbye Kansas approaches projects – building specific templates and workflows to ensure efficiency. Each project takes the studio further forward, and last year’s production of the “Father and Son” trailer for ”God of War: Ragnarök” was the first to fully utilize USD, followed by productions like the cinematic trailer for Square Enix’s action RPG
”Forspoken” and the latest season of the successful series “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan”.

- One of the key advantages is that everyone can see everything in the same context, explains Goodbye Kansas Pipeline TD Dan Englesson.
Lighting, environment artists and FX all have access to exactly the same shot structure from a USD file and don’t have to deal with shot-building tools which could end up being different  or all departments. With everyone reading the same data, it improves efficiency and teamwork. This also means any problems can be solved smoothly and quickly.
USD has the potential to be used across a range of industries and disciplines. It is already being implemented in games and has exciting possibilities for architecture and even the metaverse. We’re in the middle of a workflow revolution
– USD is changing how we exchange and visualize 3D data, and Goodbye Kansas Studios is excited to be a part of it.