As for technology, Piezas says, “It helped a lot to use techniques and internal technology that reduced the overhead costs of rendering. When you think low-cost, you have to act like you can’t wait on the computer to do anything. Rendering -- even if it’s tens of seconds per frame -- is unacceptable. Artist time is paramount and they can’t be waiting on feedback constantly.”

Of course with larger-budget productions, it's great when you find that you can do more with what you have, but what happens when you discover you must cut back on visual effects?

“If you're consistent with your look, people will focus on the story, which is the most important thing,” Shepherd explains. “If people are focusing on your animation walk-cycle, then they’re not lost in the story. An aesthetic style can be both simple and effective, like South Park. Just make sure your production value is even.”

Erik Shepherd (l), CG supervisor for Fluid Animation, finds that the big challenge for any CG production is adhering to schedule, while Fluid’s assistant director Patty Jordan thinks that a consistent style is paramount.

Lucy’s assistant director, Patty Jordan, agrees that it is all about a consistent style. “It’s not about making cuts across the board. It’s about finding a consistent style that can be achieved within time and budget constraints throughout the entire show, film, or commercial, and then picking and choosing the shots to plus. There is a lot of back and forth and open dialogue between the production company and the client to find out which aspects they are comfortable with cutting back and simplifying and which parts they are really concerned with perfecting and focusing a lot of energy on.”

“I guess the visual effects bug was whipped out of me a long time ago,” explains Piezas. “Visual effects can be a wonderful addition to a story. But they are not the story. Compelling experiences are not hung on effects. It’s the other way around. Everyone can name more than one film where effects lured them into buying a ticket, but they felt pretty empty, poorer, and sometimes abused leaving the theater. Maybe that’s just the theater I go to (joke). Lately, I’ve had a very welcoming attitude to cutting back visual effects. It also helps amazingly when you have a director like Loren [Bouchard], who champions the same thing.”

Setting the bar at a realistic level is necessary when adjusting the pipeline and workflow for low-budget CG. Fluid knows things are not going to be up to film standards, but they stick to what works for efficient production and good storytelling.

When it comes to adjusting your pipeline and workflow for low-budget CG, Shepherd recommends that you set the bar at a realistic level. “Things are not going to be perfect and up to film standards. With our combined experience, we've learned what to avoid. We've seen what bogs down productions and pipelines. We stick to what works for efficient production and good storytelling.”

Patty Jordan adds, “It’s extremely helpful to hire people who can multi-task, generalists, as we like to call them. That way, when they have any down time and are waiting for feedback on their primary task, they can move on to other things.

“A lot of legwork in the early stages of a project must be done -- lots of planning, lots of scheduling -- so that supervisors are prepared to shuffle resources and re-arrange tasks if anything unexpected comes up.”

“I think I said this before,” Piezas reiterates. “Remove anything that delays artist feedback. Computation time. Communication delays. Boxes in front of doorways. Anything. And I agree with Patty. Perhaps the largest adjustment required is training people to expect the unexpected and balance accordingly.”

How do they think they did with Lucy? “I think we did pretty well,” responds Piezas. “We combined efficient production technology and techniques with an interesting style and managed it with an eye for anticipating production stalls. In this way, we were able to run three episodes in production, deliver on time, and have the crew work at a pace that I think was quite manageable. That’s one of the things that I was proudest of. I am not a fan of burning out a crew. That’s no way to run a company for the long term.”