Depends: workflow management software for visual effects production

In this paper, we present an open source, multi-platform, workflow management application named Depends, designed to clarify and enhance the workflow of artists in a visual effects environment. Depends organizes processes into a directed acyclic graph, enabling artists to quickly identify appropriate changes, make modifications, and improve the look of their work. Recovering information about past revisions of an element is made simple, as the provenance of data is a core focus of a Depends workflow. Sharing work is also facilitated by the clear and consistent structure of Depends. We demonstrate the flexibility of Depends by presenting a number of scenarios where its style of workflow management has been essential to the creation of high-quality results.

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