Just get on with it: a managed approach to AOV manipulation

Abstract

It is 5 pm and you have just finished addressing the notes on your comp of the giant alien robot ship explosion and are looking forward to the end of the work day. Then out of nowhere your supervisor comes in and says "The client called....they want a big change to the look of the CG....and they want it now". Depending how the compositor managed their script, addressing the changes can range from mild discomfort to excruciating pain. Many of these problems come from the way that AOVs (Arbitrary Output Variables) are managed when grading CG. We present a system using a node based graph in a novel way to manipulate AOVs to maintain mathematical continuity which can be shared between CG renders. This approach normalizes the complexity of changing the grading on a CG render allowing the artist to focus on the task at hand and not juggling of complex channel arithmetics.