It's also not enough to label an asset — it should be put into context, with annotations as to why, how and by whom changes were made to each version. A lockout feature is important — when a worker "Checks Out" a file no one else can work on it until he checks it back in — this avoids confusion at companies such as Pixelspell where several artists are working on the same model. Finally, the ability to view files by different categories, such as "Awaiting Modification" or "Awaiting Approval," along with the ability to list who is working on what, helps answer that most important of worker questions, "What do I do now?"

New and Better: Version 7
The latest edition of Studio, announced at the Game Developers Conference, is Version 7, which has more than 40 new features designed to enhance and speed up performance for creative teams. These include multi-threading support for workstations with multiple CPUs/GPUs, an integrated Reference Manager that provides an instant overview of 3D scenes and their related files, a new Windows Integration Framework that simplifies the integration of third-party and proprietary tools into the Alienbrain system workflow, and change sets that allow a structured approach to detailed projects — for instance, a user can unite all files that are associated with a single change into one logical change set instead of having to chase after all those files individually. You can go to www.nxn-software.com/prod_alst_prto.php for a quick tour of the product, and there is a trial version available. If you are not already a user of this collaboration tool, you may want to consider that you really have better things to do than suffer the deep frustration and painful loss of time that often follows the question, "Omygawd. Where is…?"

Christopher Harz is an executive consultant for new media. He has produced video games for films such as Spawn, The Fifth Element, Titanic and Lost in Space. As Perceptronics svp of program development, Harz helped build the first massively multiplayer online game worlds, including the $240 million 3-D SIMNET. He worked on C3I, combat robots and war gaming at the RAND Corp., the military think tank.